For our first screening at a film festival, the 2019 Charlotte Black Film Festival was a good experience. We were able to watch a lot of great films and network with some great individuals and talk about what we are all passionate about; films.
I will say that the Festival was a little unorganized and there was a lack of communication especially with my team and I. As participants in the festival, we didn't feel as welcomed as the other filmmakers probably had felt. The first incident happened when we were sent an email confirming that we made it into the festival, but we were not posted on your website until we notified someone. The second incident was during the festival on that Saturday, myself and a few of our crew and actors sat and watch countless films and each of them had a Q&A right afterwards; however, when our film showed, we didn't get a Q&A. The third incident was that we were told we were nominated for a few awards, but during the Red Carpet event our film wasn't shown on the screen as nominees for any category.
We felt pretty disrespected because we were highly overlooked since the beginning of this whole festival process. It honestly felt as if you all put way more energy in the films that probably "highlighted" the festival. For example, films that had bigger budgets, films with known actors, or films with known music producers. Some of our cast and crew traveled from out of state for this festival and paid their hard earned money just to be overlooked as if we didn't have a short film screening at your festival.
My review for you all would be to make sure that each group of filmmakers feel equal and try your best to not overlook a film no matter how small. You never know who those filmmakers will become. Nonetheless, Thank you for your time and stay blessed.
