Yet another film festival scandal!


Hanoi viewThere has been yet another film festival scandal. this one involving the Newport International Film Festival (among others).  It makes you wonder how common more subtle forms of cronyism or abuse must be…

See the Universal Film Magazine, Issue 9 article – look here: http://bit.ly/149y9AW

There has been discussion (on Doculink, the D-word,  and similar boards) in the last year or two regarding the worth of film festivals to independent filmmakers.  The common wisdom has been that a path to success for Indies – including documentaries – was to submit your film to a bunch of festivals, win some awards, then sell to a distributor.  But that happens less and less, with self-marketing and educational sales maybe more important.

And the cost of entering festivals is high – to “do it right,” you pay the entry fee, spend money on publicity, spend a lot of time on publicity, and shell out for travel.  Perhaps we are better off spending our time and money to build a niche audience – for example, screenings and appearances with organizations interested in our topic.

On the other hand, festivals can be fun, and a time to schmooze and network.

Got advice?

 

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2 responses to “Yet another film festival scandal!”

  1. I don’t drop many responses, but i did some searching and wound up here Yet another film festival scandal! – Casual Dog Productions, LLC. And I do have a few questions for you if it’s allright.
    Could it be just me or does it give the impression like a few
    of these responses look like coming from brain dead folks?
    😛 And, if you are writing at additional places, I’d like to follow everything fresh you have to post. Would you list of all of all your social sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?

    • This is the main place I post film related material – you can find a related Facebook Page. And when I turn narcissistic, I’ll tweet about it.

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