The current festival organizers (2023) make decisions with no thought as to how the filmmakers or anyone else in the festival will be affected. I hope someone familiar with film festivals saves this sinking ship ... but DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AT THIS FESTIVAL.
My short film was selected to be included almost a year ago. It was the end of our festival run.
I corresponded with the organizer for several months to get details about the festival as the website had none. Finally, two weeks before the festival he told me my short film was scheduled to play in the 12:30 narrative shorts block on Saturday.
-- A few days later the director of the festival emailed me to say my film had been cut for time. -- (Put a pin in this.)
Plans to go to the festival had already been made. Time taken off work, tickets bought, hotels booked. So I went to Bozeman with relatives and went to the festival anyway.
Other filmmakers I talked to said the festival organizer and director had been making changes to the schedule of their films up to a few days before the showings. A BIG PROBLEM IF YOU HAVE A FOLLOWING WHO WANT TO SEE YOUR FILM and have already planned their schedule according to the details the filmmaker shared with them.
I will say this: the filmmakers at this little festival? They were lovely human beings and artists who had made beautiful films.
Over the weekend, all of the filmmakers I spoke with had an uncomfortable feeling about the organization of the festival to an issue with the communication or scheduling around their own film.
When I ATTEMPTED to politely talk with the festival director about what happened to my film and gently lay out the consequences of the decision during the opening reception, he changed the subject immediately and ended the conversation.
In the narrative shorts block my film had been selected for, two filmmakers out of five films had q&as right after their films were shown. Only one of those was on the schedule. Filmmakers from each film were present in the audience but did not get q&as.
HERE'S THE KICKER. Before the final short film in the block, the organizer came onstage and said, "We're ahead of schedule, so we're gonna have a ten-minute break before we show the final short film!"
-- I sat in the audience, stunned. Multiple filmmakers (who had watched my film on their own) commented to me later that there was plenty of time for my film to be shown, and from a storytelling perspective and after watching other films at the festival, they did not understand why my film had been cut.
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Lessons learned:
- stand up for yourself. If you feel like something is weird, call out the BS.
- don't waste your time on a festival that is going nowhere and whose management DO NOT CARE ABOUT FILMMAKERS.
- it seems like this festival is about the personal STATUS of the organizers. They do not seem familiar with film festivals.
Ironically, I spoke with local business owners who used to be involved in the festival but had not been notified it was happening the past two years. Several art patrons well-known in Bozeman who used to be heavily involved in the festival have not been since it changed hands a few years ago (though two bought tickets to watch my film and didn't bother to come when it was cut). The audience was at least 90% filmmakers: this event did effectively or intentionally engage with the local community in Bozeman.
- if you are looking for a solid, great little Montana film festival, submit to the Flathead Lake Internation Cinemafest. They communicate clearly, have over a decade-long good track record, and have an engaged community audience.
Next time I will be equipped to approach this kind of situation differently. I am honestly thankful for the learning experience, especially for the advice given by older filmmakers. This festival was silly ... and a surprising upside-down gift of laughter and connection over its unorganized bumps and bruises.
-- "Do not be fooled... a man reaps what he sows." --
