Is it time for a film festival overhaul?

1/21/2013

by Katie Carman-Lehach

I’ve often joked that if my film-directing career doesn’t work out that I will just start a film festival. It seems easy enough: Set up a website. Get your withoutabox.com profile and bank account active and voila: instant film festival.

It’s no wonder there are more than 1,000 festivals listed on withoutabox.com. Much like the fellowship/diversity program racket, they seem to be the only part of the film industry that is making money, mainly because they reach deeply into the pockets of hopeful, but naive filmmakers while promising nothing. It’s all reward with no risk (unless you consider dealing with angry filmmakers a risk).

indieWIRE.com has posted a great investigatory article on “The Dark Underbelly of the Film Festival Circuit,” detailing (sadly) what we all already know: that the vast majority of film festivals exist only as money-making machines.

Some have been set up by well meaning folks who just didn’t understand the massive undertaking of producing a festival, and subsequently failed or turned their festival 'digital' without advising the filmmakers. Others purposely named their festivals so that they'd be confused with more prestigious festivals in the hopes of baiting an unknowing film director or two,(then charging exorbitant amounts for ‘awards’ and ‘dinners’, etc. (again, without actually screening any of the films).

Others are just downright deplorable people who have made their careers as swindlers and con artists, like Marie Jocelyne, the subject of a new documentary being made titled “The Mystery of Marie Jocelyne.” From the Director, Martha Shane, who is co-producing with Dan Nuxoll (program director of the absolutely legitimate Rooftop Films):

“The story of how this all came about is quite unusual. You can read much more about this at the link above, but basically it all began when Marie Castaldo, then the director of the Queens International Film Festival, rented some equipment from Dan’s company, Rooftop Films. She never paid them afterwards, and she initially disappeared without a trace. By the time she re-surfaced to present the next year's film festival, Dan and I had met, and we started doing a little bit of research on Marie. One thing led to another, and we discovered that Marie had a long list of names that she'd used over the years, and under these various aliases, she had been running ethically suspect film festivals and film companies across the country for over twenty years.” (source: http://filmcourage.com/content/the-mystery-of-marie-jocelyne)

This is only one story of hundreds I’m sure - I would bet there are other con artists out there doing the exact same thing, they just haven’t been caught yet. But all this begs the question: Are film festivals yet another area of the industry that needs a massive overhaul? Or do we, as filmmakers, need to realign what it means to succeed, making these festivals and their corresponding ‘laurels’ something we no longer need to chase after?

5 Comments

Duprelon "tizzz" Tizdale link

1/22/2013 07:29:21 am

Hello.

My name is Tizzz.

I read your blog and feel the need to respond a bit.

As a film festival organizer, I wanted to share my 2 cents. First, We are not a scam. Second, most film festivals are not scams. Sure there are a few so called “film festivals” that are actually an “awards programs” with the sole intent of misleading filmmakers to believe they are legitimate festivals and charging fees for screenings, awards, trophies, dinners, etc. But not truly that many.

So for a moment lets take out Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, Toronto. These are LARGE organizations with hefty staff, large budgets, major corporate backers, and a seemingly endless supply of ticket buyers that pay a large sum for a festival pass. But these are the exceptions.

Most film festivals are actually quite small. They are run by dedicated individuals that love film and want to share their love of film to their audience. Most do not make money at all. Most lose money. They only survive by donations from local businesses, hotels, restaurants, discounted printing cost and pulling money out of their own pockets. Most film festivals have an overworked/ under-paid staff that that may be only 2 or 3 people for 3 months and then a slew of volunteers for a couple of weekends.

As for me, I am a professional in the industry, I have worked on many large budget major studio and TV productions ( Thor, Lone Ranger, 310 Yuma, Little Miss Sunshine, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Breaking Bad). I have also worked on a tremendous number of small budget independent films, and have helped plenty of up and coming student filmmakers get a step forward in the right direction.

I have run (or help run) several film fests. Taos Talking Pictures (10 years) Santa Fe Film Fest (6 years) MountainFilm Fest, Taos Mountain Film Fest (10 year) and currently Taos Shortz Film fest (7 years).

I personally love the independents. The quality of storytelling and production values of independent films rival that and many times surpass their big cousins. But who sees these?? The distribution networks of non studio projects rarely see the silver screen at all. That's what a Film Festival does.

It strives to shine light on those that may get lost in the sheer weight of numbers of new releases every year. But even for a film festival, finding those gems take work and it is not cheap.

We, thankfully, do not use Withoutabox. I have in the past but I personally felt far too many filmmakers just submitted to the biggies and then anybody else they could afford. Most do not really take the time to investigate the festival to see if it is even appropriate for the personality of the fest.

I have watched ALOT of crap. I see over 3000 movies in a year. All of my festivals have a submission committee that consist of 7 or more folks that watch every single submission. The sheer cost of DVD duplication and server bandwidth is a large part of our budget. And this is just for the submission process. We try to keep our submission fees low to encourage more folks to submit, but the $20-$30 fee we charge does not even begin to cover our cost of the submission process.

Does the film festival industry needs some tweaking?? Sure.. Does it need a complete overhaul? Probably not. But certain things, the idea of a “premiere” limits sooooo many festivals because filmmakers want to premiere at Sundance, even if the odds of getting distribution rights is very low.
But the “prestige” is a badge, not a future. As for Laurels, we are a juried festival with top notch judges and we want to show the filmmakers how much we love their films. We want to show our support to the film. Perhaps with laurels from smaller festivals, the films have more of a chance to find their own audience.

The numbers of films or filmmakers that have started from the festival circuit to go on to be known by a large audience is staggering. I would dare to say most.

But my question goes back to the filmmaker. Why are you making movies?? to win an Oscar?? to get accepted into Sundance? To make money.? To make a statement about a cause? Or to just make Art?

But I assume most filmmakers want their film to be seen and hopefully liked or at least enjoyed.

Film Festivals are but one avenue to help one achieve that goal. Even with the ease of new online platforms, someone has to weed through the thicket to find the good one. That's a festival. Someone has to stand up and say. “this is a great film. Watch it” That's a festival. Someone has to bring an audience ( no easy task mind you) take a risk to show an unknown movie. That's a festival. Someone has help showcase the films that “Hollywood” will never show. That's a festival.

But do film festivals do that for money? Absolutely not. There truly is no money to be made by running a film fest. It is a tremendous undertaking that only some brave souls seem to want to do and then only for a few years.

But

Katie Carman-Lehach link

1/25/2013 08:06:25 am

Hi Tizzz,

Thank you so much for posting your comment. The festivals you work with certainly sound like very legitimate organizations working for the right cause, and with a passion for film!!

I think the error in my post was in my saying the 'vast majority' of festivals exist to make money -- I used that much too casually, as it was a comment only from my personal experience, not backed up by my own research (as well as not taking into account the many submission-free festivals that exist). I apologize for that carelessness.

You make some really great observations in your comment -- especially in asking about what the filmmakers goal in submitting to a festival is.

Personally, I am always trying to create art for art's sake, but I know I can only continue that work if each project is funding the next. Coupled with a natural desire to want my work seen, I feel the festival circuit is the best way to both have a screening opportunity to a new audience, and to find a distributor (and an even larger audience). All in the hope that it propels me into my next project, and on and on. (I am fine living a hand to mouth existence as long as I can still make films!)

So yes, while I do agree that the better film festivals that are out there (small and large) help filmmakers achieve those goals, there are also a fair amount that don't, and they need to be weeded out so that they don't hurt the reputation of festivals like yours.

I'm not sure how that could be possible though -- perhaps some sort of Better Business Bureau for Film Festivals? :)

The WAB 'festival message board' used to be like that but they took it down! It was really the only place one could go to learn about how a festival, whether it was produced poorly, if it was legitimate and worth your time, etc. I can only imagine the few festivals being complained about got upset and forced them to shut it down.

In any case, I think fixing that one aspect of the festival circuit will make it easier all around, for filmmakers and for director's of legitimate festivals.

Marian

1/22/2013 02:11:15 pm

Aha. This is news to me, though I'm not surprised. Fascinating! Would love to hear about more filmmakers' experiences, good and not-so-good. Withoutabox so huge now, it's hard to know about pitfalls like this. Thanks!

Olivia Antsis link

1/23/2013 12:13:59 am

Hi Katie,

Being both a film festival director and a filmmaker who has sent many submissions to film festivals before, I have been on both sides of this process. I cannot comment for every film festival, as I am sure there may be a few that match the profile you speak of. However, I can comment for the many film festivals that I have had the opportunity to connect with through my work, that I have learned about at film festival conferences, or that I have attended as a spectator. First, just because there may be a chance that hack festivals exist, does not mean that all film festivals are hacks. There are hack businesses, companies, corporations, lawyers, doctors, writers, etc. That does not mean we have the right to undermine every business, company, corporation, etc. The truth is many film festivals are struggling to stay alive, as funding is ever more scarce and the digital revolution continues to challenge film festivals to outshine state-of-the-art home theater systems, or one's ability to access media in the palm of their hands -- anywhere, anytime. Generally, I have observed that most film festivals are understaffed, with most staff underpaid and working day and night to make sure that the festival is successful and meaningful. Most film festival directors and programmers do this as a labor of love, as they believe that film has the power to transcend our daily experience and bring us closer to meaning, understanding, connection and art. I, personally, care deeply about film as an art form and work many hours overtime, unpaid, to make sure that my festival is the best that it can be. Treating my filmmakers right is a must. Building community around film, equally important. Film Festivals are very special places. I hope they stick around for a long time.

duprelon tizdale link

1/24/2013 01:22:18 am

... and just to finish..... (it cut me off))

But for those of us who love film, the filmmaking process, and the joy of a young filmmaker recieving accolades for a job well done in front of an appreciative audience, we will continue to produce film festivals. Even if I gotta pay for it all.

sooo on that note.. I always have my eye out for great films.

Got one??

Duprelon "tizzz" Tizdale
[email protected]
www.taosshortz.com

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Is it time for a film festival overhaul?

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