Barry_Green
Moderator
Blue Food, I can see exactly where you're coming from. And normally I would agree with you. And I think I do this time too, but -- gotta rant my justification first.
The problem I have here is with a "festival" that extorts massive amounts of money from gullible, desperate people, then slaps "awards" on their pictures. It's dishonest from top to bottom. Every single aspect of what happens here reeks of dishonesty.
It's not the filmmaker's fault. He worked hard to create something he thought was good. But instead of getting a realistic assessment of what he's done, now we have a guy who's unfairly, artificially, and one might even say nefariously, had his ego inflated, and he's understandably running with it, and he really, honestly has no idea how good (or bad) his picture is, because he's been propped up by a "festival" which has taken his money and told him whatever he wanted to hear.
I don't think he came here to "spam" in "defense" of the "festival", but he brought his work here as an example of how legitimate he felt that organization is.
Normally I think I'd be taking your side on this. And if I was thinking clearly, I probably would. And, by the end of this, I think I will. But, just try to understand...
I just get sick to my stomach by the high-pressure, offensive nature of how this "festival" operates. They push you for a $300 (or more!) festival fee, and they prey on the desperate filmmakers who've failed to get into any other legitimate festivals, and who are gasping for recognition. But instead of coming to an honest reckoning of the state of their work, this organization takes advantage of their emotional state by guaranteeing them acceptance (but only if they fork over the $300 entry fee) and then they start pressuring them to spend $1,000 or $3,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 for exhibition space, a booth, things like that.
It's cruel. What they do is, in my opinion, cruel. They get people whose films frankly aren't very good, and they fill them with false hope while taking their money, and then they push them to spend thousands more to "market" a film that in all actuality has little to no potential whatsoever. Having an unmarketable film is pretty much a prerequisite for even deciding to enter the a fest like this, because with such an exorbitant entry fee, any reasonable filmmaker would send their pic to 10 or 20 regular festivals, for the cost of entry to this one.
Did you watch the trailer posted? You should. The filmmaker is proudly crowing about winning six awards, claiming that this film is breaking Charlie Chaplin's record of the most awards won for one person for one film. Is it worthy of such accolades? Watch the trailer and decide for yourself. So where on earth did he get this idea? From the "festival" telling him anything and everything he wanted to hear, as long as he paid their fees.
Filmmakers need HONEST feedback. Not harsh criticism, and even far more damaging is the BS praise of family, friends, and organizations like this "fest". They set him up, they flat-out set him up to be royally embarrassed, and it's cruel.
Sooner or later, all these filmmakers will hear the real truth. They'll hear how good (or bad) their picture is. And for those who've made terrible pictures, it's going to be a sickening, gut-churning, horrible nauseating feeling to realize that they've made complete asses of themselves. Trust me, I've been there and done that. I invited hundreds of people (including the frickin' Mayor!) to a screening of my first disastrous horrible awful picture, because I was so sure it was great and everybody said so. When the ga-ga was pulled off my eyes and I realized just how bad it really was (and oh, it was!) I wanted to crawl away and disappear and never, ever see any of those people again.
Sure wish one of them would have had the cojones to tell me how bad the thing was before I went that far.
So I had no desire to denigrate the filmmaker or his work, what I wanted to show was how that organization occupies what I consider a low, greedy, vile and destructive position on the food chain, preying on those who have nowhere else to turn.
But you are correct, I didn't take this human being's feelings into account, and he isn't the perp here. He's a victim, and he shouldn't be further victimized. And whether I meant well or not, I have caused harm, and I apologize for that.
The problem I have here is with a "festival" that extorts massive amounts of money from gullible, desperate people, then slaps "awards" on their pictures. It's dishonest from top to bottom. Every single aspect of what happens here reeks of dishonesty.
It's not the filmmaker's fault. He worked hard to create something he thought was good. But instead of getting a realistic assessment of what he's done, now we have a guy who's unfairly, artificially, and one might even say nefariously, had his ego inflated, and he's understandably running with it, and he really, honestly has no idea how good (or bad) his picture is, because he's been propped up by a "festival" which has taken his money and told him whatever he wanted to hear.
I don't think he came here to "spam" in "defense" of the "festival", but he brought his work here as an example of how legitimate he felt that organization is.
Normally I think I'd be taking your side on this. And if I was thinking clearly, I probably would. And, by the end of this, I think I will. But, just try to understand...
I just get sick to my stomach by the high-pressure, offensive nature of how this "festival" operates. They push you for a $300 (or more!) festival fee, and they prey on the desperate filmmakers who've failed to get into any other legitimate festivals, and who are gasping for recognition. But instead of coming to an honest reckoning of the state of their work, this organization takes advantage of their emotional state by guaranteeing them acceptance (but only if they fork over the $300 entry fee) and then they start pressuring them to spend $1,000 or $3,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 for exhibition space, a booth, things like that.
It's cruel. What they do is, in my opinion, cruel. They get people whose films frankly aren't very good, and they fill them with false hope while taking their money, and then they push them to spend thousands more to "market" a film that in all actuality has little to no potential whatsoever. Having an unmarketable film is pretty much a prerequisite for even deciding to enter the a fest like this, because with such an exorbitant entry fee, any reasonable filmmaker would send their pic to 10 or 20 regular festivals, for the cost of entry to this one.
Did you watch the trailer posted? You should. The filmmaker is proudly crowing about winning six awards, claiming that this film is breaking Charlie Chaplin's record of the most awards won for one person for one film. Is it worthy of such accolades? Watch the trailer and decide for yourself. So where on earth did he get this idea? From the "festival" telling him anything and everything he wanted to hear, as long as he paid their fees.
Filmmakers need HONEST feedback. Not harsh criticism, and even far more damaging is the BS praise of family, friends, and organizations like this "fest". They set him up, they flat-out set him up to be royally embarrassed, and it's cruel.
Sooner or later, all these filmmakers will hear the real truth. They'll hear how good (or bad) their picture is. And for those who've made terrible pictures, it's going to be a sickening, gut-churning, horrible nauseating feeling to realize that they've made complete asses of themselves. Trust me, I've been there and done that. I invited hundreds of people (including the frickin' Mayor!) to a screening of my first disastrous horrible awful picture, because I was so sure it was great and everybody said so. When the ga-ga was pulled off my eyes and I realized just how bad it really was (and oh, it was!) I wanted to crawl away and disappear and never, ever see any of those people again.
Sure wish one of them would have had the cojones to tell me how bad the thing was before I went that far.
So I had no desire to denigrate the filmmaker or his work, what I wanted to show was how that organization occupies what I consider a low, greedy, vile and destructive position on the food chain, preying on those who have nowhere else to turn.
But you are correct, I didn't take this human being's feelings into account, and he isn't the perp here. He's a victim, and he shouldn't be further victimized. And whether I meant well or not, I have caused harm, and I apologize for that.
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