[Frameworks] Film Festivals in General.

[Dominic Angerame]

An off the cuff remark about a certain trend appearing in Film Festivals in
the States. I am hearing more and more film festivals stating that they are
receiving more entries than the festival can show at their venues. I
suggest that rather than punish filmmakers for the increased in entries,
that they should extend their festival dates according to entry levels.
Festival are continually talking about more and more entries. Therefore,
they are receiving more and more entry fees. I think that these fees should
be able to cover the costs of expanding the dates of festivals to allow
more films to be shown. It is not certainly a case that fewer and fewer
good films are being entered.

Most recently a festival in the midwest sent out a form letter letting
numerous amounts of filmmakers know that their films were not included into
the festival using form letters not mentioning names, etc. There became a
privately based email discussion (off any list) where filmmakers could
speak freely of the shabby way they have been treated at many of the well
and lesser known festival. As a matter of fact I asked these rejected
filmmakers who were communicating to each other to send me copies of their
works so that I could see if their films would be appropriate for the
experimental section of the Havana Film Festival that I have curator for
the past seven years.

Not to my surprise more than 75% of these rejected filmmakers and films are
now going to be shown in Cuba. Their work, in my opinion were very
acceptable to be shown to a festival audience. In Cuba there are no entry
fees, no prize monies, etc. ergo no financial concerns. The venues are
provided for free. Many of the rejected films were by filmmakers who have
worked in the experimental film arena for decades are well known and they
too were treated as if they did not win the publisher's clearing house
sweepstakes.

I have witnessed growing frustrations among filmmakers regarding the shabby
treatment towards themselves and their work from film festivals, both the
directors and the staff of such. These festival have become like huge
pyramid schemes where filmmakers pay for others to receive prize money or
showings and support the "Festival Organizers, etc." at the expense of the
film artists they supposedly support and/pr represent.

Please spell my name correctly when corresponding to me.

Dominic Angerame
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