How to spot 'scam' film festivals
“It’s a scam!” is one of the most popular catchphrases these days, and even film festivals are not spared from this. There are thousands of film festivals worldwide, and this amount increased since last year when lockdowns forced cinema screenings, film fests, and other industry events to migrate to digital platforms.
Despite being battered by so many losses due to Covid-19 restrictions, the global film industry was still able to adapt quickly to the crisis at hand. However, this has led to the proliferation of fake film festivals, giving more problems to the industry already so challenged in trying to recover from the pandemic situation.
A film festival is an organized public event that showcases films in at least one screening venue held in a town, city, or region. The selection of films would depend on the festival’s categories and focus, and organizers can opt to feature international titles alongside local ones.
The columnist with actress Mara Lopez at the 2019 Cannes International Film Festival in France
Aside from the public film screenings, industry events gather the location’s film community composed of audiences, members of the press, filmmakers and industry representatives.
Festival side events could include press conferences, awards ceremonies, film talks, panel discussions and project markets. According to ScreenDaily, the film festival is a “vital link in the chain of global film culture,” and I couldn’t agree more.
More than being a showcase of films, it is a platform to generate buzz for films, projects, and filmmakers. It is also a way for filmmakers to market their works, learn more about their craft, and meet possible collaborators regarding development, production, distribution, and exhibition.
Based on my experience as Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chairperson and personally participating in numerous film festivals over the years, I would like to share some “Notes from the Chair” on how to spot film festival scams, especially for our filmmakers and producers out there.
1. Assess the film fest’s legitimacy. Film data researcher and filmmaker Stephen Follows noted that a festival must have held events in the past two years for it to be considered active. This criterion narrowed down Follows’ estimate of active film festivals to 2,954 in his 2013 Film Festival Survey. He mentioned that 9,706 unique festivals were held at least once in the past 15 years.
For FDCP, one of our standards is to refer to the accredited list of film festivals of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). The FIAPF accreditation system classifies film festivals as competitive, competitive specialized, non-competitive, and documentary and short.
One may also check out lists from reputable film institutions like the New York Film Academy’s “Most Comprehensive List of Film Festivals on the Internet” and the list of international short film festivals by New Zealand’s premier short film festival, Show Me Shorts.
2. Consider the location, rules, and regulations. It’s important to confirm with the venue of a festival in question as soon as possible. If a venue representative is unaware of the festival schedule, then the fest is indeed a scam. Also, the organizing committee’s office location is in the same place as the festival, more often than not. Jason Guerrasio of IndieWire wrote about the importance of confirming locations and added that one must carefully read the festival’s rules and regulations.
Filmmaking.net cited another red flag: having a prolonged submission period. A three-month Call for Entries is the usual window, which can be extended by another month or two. However, if a submission period is for a year, one might have to think twice about joining the said festival because having a lengthy submission period could equate to gaining more submission fees.
3. Gauge if the fees are reasonable. Usually, there are fees involved in film submissions, but legitimate festivals do not charge a lot. Filmmaking.net stated that high submission fees could indicate that a festival is a scam, but not all the time. Some European film fests do not charge fees, especially for short films. There are also submission fees in the US, but these do not amount to $100 per submission.
Another aspect to consider is the presentation of optional fees. Although this does not automatically label a film fest as a scam, Katie Kilkenny and Alex Ritman of The Hollywood Reporter warned that filmmakers must be extra careful when shelling out for additional fees.
The Kilkenny-Ritman report said that “below-the-radar” film fests could take advantage of struggling and aspiring filmmakers by charging fees for travel, lodging, promotional materials, and participation in the awards ceremony. Some festivals give free extra passes for screenings and other events, while some charge only nominal fees for passes.
4. Look at the festival program. Filmmaking.net provided more warning signs about fake film festivals. As per the definition of a film festival, it must offer screenings to the public. Filmmakers should not agree to screen their films in empty rooms, even if the festival has promotional materials for such screenings.
One can also check if the festival has partners and sponsors. Not all film fests are fortunate to have corporate sponsors, so if there are, research on the stature of the companies.
It would also help if the festival is supported by an organization, a government agency, or an academic institution. Like in the Philippines, the FDCP, under the President’s Office, is a staunch supporter of national, regional, and community film festivals. Therefore, it can be checked if the concerned national film agency supports an international film fest in question.\
5. Evaluate the awarding system. The jury members and judging process must be made known to the public. Ideally, the awards set must be limited. The winners’ announcement may be done during an awarding ceremony or through a public post on the official website or social media account. Filmmaking.net stressed the importance of it being a public declaration, as an announcement of winners via email is unacceptable.
6. Do research on media footprints. It’s not enough that a festival has an official website and engaging social media accounts. Claire Harris wrote on Medium that a scam festival could still have a slick website.
One should also look into the festival’s presence on social media and traditional media. Has it been featured by a blogger or posted about by a moviegoer? More importantly, has it been covered by a journalist, mentioned by a columnist, or promoted on print, broadcast and online media?
Harris added that if there are mentions of the festival’s previous attendees, feel free to reach out to them as they could provide more comprehensive information on the festival in question.
By sharing these six pointers, I hope that this will guide filmmakers in selecting the film festivals to which they will submit their precious labors of love. I also hope that this will educate industry stakeholders on the importance of patronizing legitimate film festivals to encourage the whole film industry to support efforts in putting an end to film festival scams.
Notes from the Chair is part of the Arts Awake section of The Sunday Times Magazine published by The Manila Times. Click HERE to view the article on The Manila Times website.