I can appreciate a festival just getting started, I understand that it was their second one, however, did they not learn from the first? Here are a few concerns I had at the festival (BTW I won an award, so this is not a bitter comment, this is something I hope they understand and take into consideration to learn from)
- Communication - very poor and lacking, we had to reach out and message them several times before and during the event
- They had a rule about length and number of submissions they took - however, they allowed us to pay our money for films that did not qualify for their festival (not rejected but would not have been considered) but they took our money)
Other festivals will block your submission attempt if it did not meet qualifications of the submission to be considered and reviewed, but this festival allowed you to submit whatever you wanted and they would inform you that it was too long or too many... but yes, after we paid. And would not even consider refunding our money for the misunderstanding.
- Unorganized, let's just leave it at that...
- Winnings: Our film won a cash award, they asked for my Cash App information, and nothing... we even followed up and they mentioned they needed to get with "their accountant"... still nothing.
- You DO NOT GET what you paid for: They were very pricy to submit $40 an entry... it was LOW BUDGET... again as I said in the beginning, I can appreciate just getting started, but what are we paying for...? It was held in a small church, screen was as big as a living room TV, there were about 10 people in attendance, and they had someone out in the lobby that had alcohol at a folding table, and they charged for those... what did $40 cover? They played our movies on a projector that was mirroring their laptop. Will not ever consider them again and anyone who asked my experience, I will be honest.
