This festival is scam. They conned me into applying by telling me that I was already accepted into their other festival (Silicon Beach), and I would be guaranteed admittance into both, so I gave them extra money (even though they already knew and liked my film from my submission to Silicon Beach), because I could tell they really needed it to build up their fledgeling 2nd year festival... and then they didn't accept my film into Silicon Beach! They lied to me, and I wrote to them about my disillusionment before writing this review, but they never replied. The other films in my lineup were literally some of the worst films I've seen on the circuit (I'm sorry to say). While some of them looked ok, none of them made sense. And it was extra embarrassing because I'd brought a (famous) actor from my movie to the screening, and he had to sit through it all. I was mortified. Then, at the awards ceremony, they gave out about 250 certificates, totally cheapening the value of being an award winning filmmaker. They even gave awards to different films for best lighting and best cinematography-- as if they had no idea that it's the same job! You had to pay for the parties yourself, and the one panel they put on had such bad audio, that nobody could tell me what anybody on the stage was saying, and most of us gave up on listening, and just had our own conversations. After the panel, I asked at least 10 other people who were closer to the stage, and I couldn't find anyone who'd heard anything. Overall, this festival was a very frustrating amateurish experience, despite the professional movie theater it exhibited in. The only good thing I can say is that the Chinese Theater has amazing projection and sound, and my movie looked and sounded exactly how it was meant to. These guys also put on the Culver City Film Festival, and the Silver Screen Festival in Las Vegas. You should consider avoiding all 4 of their festivals.
