The Circuit

I just had my film debut in the Sept 08 edition of the NYIIFVF festival in NYC and I had a wonderful time. The event was very well organized the the staff was very helpful and courteous to me and my film was only a short. Now, it is true that this was my first showing at a festival and for all I know, other festivals may be better somehow. But my experience was wonderful and I must say that anytime I had a question about anything I needed to know, the festival''s staff responded to me immediately. I can only imagine how expensive it must be to rent out a theater in Manhattan plus pay their staff and all the other things that goes into putting on a festival like this so, the entry fee seems reasonable to me. How other festivals go about doing the same for less is a mystery to me but at the same time, not my concern. My only concern is getting my film seen by the right audience and in the right place, and that DID happen in this case... I have no complaints.

Posted by: film maker | 10/4/2008 1:17:29 PM

Hi, I have submitted my movie just about 4 days ago. The shipment costs for me were huge as I live in Europe. Moreover, I was amazed by the fact that the screening format must be in NTSC which is typical of USA, however in Europe the sysem used is PAl. The festival is called international...which is strange.... The thingthat interests me the most is the music used in these films that are submitted by various authors- like me. Could you tell me if you have ever heard about any problems that a filmer had becouse of lack of rights for using music in his films (after submitting his films). What I mean is, what happens if I used songs in my film for which I do not have any rights. What can I do to avoid any problems? Shoukld I write the names of the songs authors in the film? Or simply have their approval? Help me please

Posted by: Aloki | 9/25/2008 3:14:34 PM

The event is terrible, it's a bunch of amateur event organisers who think they are Hollywood stars putting on some incredible show... It's the worst event I've ever been to, if you think it was 'fantastic' then I guess you haven't been to many film events before. For international filmmakers the website and photos are very deceiving, it's by no means the biggest independent film festival in the world, and they dazzle you with Hollywood Megastars names who apparently have had their work screened at the event, no one ever sees them at the festival so what's the deal? This is a true story, we were at the theatre on Sunset waiting for a film screening to commence when Leonardo DiCaprio walks past and goes into another theatre to see a real commercial movie, nothing related to the festival. Then a few days later I see the NYIIFVF has posted on their website this huge fuss about Leonardo Dicaprio being at their event. Comon guys, do a little better then that. The biggest name they could get at the event was Burt Young (Rocky), but the guy was only there to hopefully sell some of his artwork, and he told me how embarrassing it was for him to even be associated with such a disgraceful event. It's really really shocking, why do you think IMDB refuse NYIIFVF films in their database? Because NYIIFVF include films that are terrible, as long as they get your $300 entry fee, they'll run your film, that's no exaggeration. I am embarrassed to put the award from the NYIIFVF next to my name, because I feel it's a cheat.

Posted by: xox | 8/19/2008 5:00:13 PM

I got accepted to the film festival. Will let you all know how it went after its over. By the way, I think this is more of a buy sale film festival that the traditional ones. There seems to be a lot of money moving, but they are still in Business so I think they are ok....maybe???!!

Posted by: Sounds Scarey | 8/18/2008 2:09:20 AM

I have experience the festival with my feature film. It was not just a festival it was a event. the whole seven days was fun. I met lots of people and had a great experience. I got good feed back. I also place my feature film with thier sister company (ITN distribution)My film was sold. They are a giant company that really helps filmmakers. I have submitted to lots of other festival for $25 and $35. Most of them I never heard from them again. The NYIIFVF was on the ball. Great expeience! Would do it again and again. MY experience was great. People need to take in to note that this festival been around a long time. They must be doing something right. Tim Follins itsazrwllgood200379@aol.com

Posted by: Tim Follins | 6/25/2008 9:53:04 AM

My documentary played at the NYIIFVF in Los Angeles in 2006 and I had a great experience. I think all the speculation around this festival is based on two or three people questioning the submission fee of $300 or $400, and then this snowballing into rumors and speculation. I found the fee, which is refundable if your film is not accepted, to be much fairer than paying $50 or $75 to a festival which does not refund your fee, and will probably screen primarily studio backed films with big stars at their fest. Because of NYIIFVF, my film played at a major LA theater, the auditorium was about half full, and I had a great time. I met a few industry people after screening which I thought was a bonus. After I paid my fee, and my film was reviewed, I got a call from one of the folks at NYIIFVF who gave me some comments (basically about my editing) which I used to improve the film. I also watched several other films at the festival and saw everything from very good to kind of hard to watch (the one that was hard to watch was a feature that went on for way too long and the acting was terrible, but it had good stunts). Most of the films I saw were quality, especially the shorts. As far as all the talk about scams, the entire festival system is bordering on a scam. Tens of thousands of submissions for each of the big festivals times $50 or $75 fee and a large percentage of the films at the big festivals have big time actors and studios behind them, that sounds kind of like a scam to me. Did I really hear that the Olson Twins film premiered at Tribeca? I don’t think any filmmakers are getting fleeced by NYIIFVF. Everyone who is paying the fee is doing a cost analysis between submitting to 6 festivals and probably getting turned down and losing their $300 or submitting to NYIIFVF for $300 and either getting shown or getting your $300 refunded—sounds like a good gamble to me. However, I think it would be great if the NYIIFVF (and all the festivals) posted somewhere how many films they accept and reject, this would probably resolve the entire issue.

Posted by: Victor | 11/17/2007 3:11:59 PM

I'm a writer for a short film that was recently screened at the festival in L.A., and while we did receive a solid feedback from audience members, and some of the other shorts and documentaries I saw were interesting, I was shocked to discover the submission fee only recently (again, I'm just a screenwriter). $300 sounds like an awful lot of money for such a fee. And I was told that I was lucky that our movie was backed by an interesting line-up, because some of the other films that played on other days were dreadful. Live in and learn, but I told the director and producer (who came up with the fee) to be a little more cautious in the future since we're having great luck getting into many other film festivals with submission fees that are nowhere near as high. Seriously, I like what I wrote, but even I wouldn't shell out $300 for the world to view it.

Posted by: Mike | 10/29/2007 3:09:16 PM

also because I complained about the event and the fact that my film should have won a better award because the content that was screened was b-grade they threatened to take my award from me. Stuart Alson is the man behind the event, I think the entry fee pays for him and his girls to jet around state to state.

Posted by: xox | 8/20/2007 11:09:51 PM

the NYIIFVF is a scam! I have had an absolute nightmare dealing with these people, I was part of the 2007 festival. The event was appalling, firstly it cost me $300 USD to submit the film, and I now figure that they don't even look at the films, they wait for a certain amount of submissions then close it off. They wouldn't stop chasing me up for the $300, the communication was great, then soon as I paid them that was it. No contact, 6 months later and I still haven't got my award, and now they are saying there won't be an awards ceremony for us. DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH NYIIFVF, they are liars and put on a shocking event, they didn't take care of us as filmmakers, even though I had come half way around the world by myself, they didn't give a rip. The event organisers should be put behind bars for this, they are dishonest and a disgrace to society, I have nothing good to say about them, they have lied to me from day 1 and I feel hugely ripped off!

Posted by: xox | 8/20/2007 10:45:00 PM