Why The Flint Film Festival Blows...

Howdy All!

Long time no blog.  As you can tell by the heading I am not pleased with the Flint Film Festival. I debated long and hard about posting this, but in the end I just felt like sharing. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but I feel like if people do a bad job they need to have their feathers ruffled from time to time just to keep them hungry and honest.

And without further adieu, here's why the Flint Film Festival blows...

1. They never told us that our film, Wingmen Incorporated, got in. I found out just a couple days before the festival that we got in because on a whim I went to their website and saw we were screening on the Friday night time slot (7:30, which is a great time slot, too bad no one told us).  

On the Tuesday before the festival I emailed the director (Dave) and said "I see that we got in. I never received notification from you. I know it may be too late, but is there anything you need from me? Stills? Posters? Let me know and I'll get it to you ASAP."

So that brings us to #2...

2.  I emailed them and they ignored it. How do you ignore someone that got into the festival? I understand festivals are bombarded with emails from filmmakers that don't get in, but you have to acknowledge the filmmakers that DO GET IN!

Despite being ignored, I decided to keep my mouth shut just in case this was a mistake and I didn't want to rock the boat in case we won an award. I figured our chances were good since in every interview the festival gave they gushed about our film. It was always the first (and usually the only) feature film they talked about when doing interviews with the local newspapers and TV stations.

Here's some of the interviews...

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2013/10/flint_film_festival_to_showcas_1.html

Thomas said two films that have garnered the most phone calls, emails and Facebook messages for interested viewers are "Flint's Best Rock" and "Wingmen Incorporated."

"Wingmen Incorporated," directed by Jason Schaver, is about a jaded psychologist who forms a company to teach desperate men how to pick up women. "Flint's Best Rock," a 1988 film by Jim Baadeln, is about the history of WWCK 105 FM, "Flint's Best Rock," the top rock station in the country during the 1970s and most of the 1980s.

Here's one from the local ABC affiliate.  There is an article + a video of the local news. In the video, be sure to watch 0:58 to 1:15, which is where they show the clip of Wingmen Incorporated.

http://www.abc12.com/story/23649018/flint-film-festival-to-celebrate-10th-anniversary

There was another article, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it.

So, yeah, they talked about our film quite a bit leading up to the festival. So I figured despite them completely blowing off telling us we got in that I could easily forgive them if we won an award.

Well, we didn't win. The Rebound, a local film the festival directors did NOT talk about in any of their interviews, somehow won "Best Feature".  (go ahead and re-read the articles I posted, no mention of it anywhere)

Below is the trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS3rqOtmQbo

Now I'm not going to bash another person's film, but there was a reason why the festival used Wingmen Incorporated to lure people to the festival and not this film. So they clearly thought our film was better, yet somehow, The Rebound managed to win the award.

So that was kind of the last straw. I filed a complaint with the film festival submission website www.withoutabox.com and the festival itself and got my refund.  The festival director couldn't have been more rude or condescending.

Here's a few snipets of his emails...

"Well they (withoutabox) forwarded me your nasty letter..."

First off, it wasn't a "nasty" letter. It was a letter of complaint. I told him about how I didn't appreciate not being notified of being selected or them ignoring my initial email.  I also asked how a film that they gushed about in every interview could lose to a film that they never mentioned at all in any of their interviews and that if I knew they were just going to give awards to their friends* I wouldn't have wasted my time submitting to them in the first place and would like a refund.

*Now I'm not sure if they are actually friends, but it was a local film. I called them "friends" to get my point across to them that from an outsider's perspective this looks really really really fucking shadey.

Here's an excerpt from another email...

I personally liked your film, and it was strong as far as the competition. Our scoring as far as the placement is by scored in certain criteria, and is just by number and not emotion or whether we like it or not. I hope you understand.

That being said, I saw nothing from The Rebound trailer that made me think it was a far superior film. In fact, I'd take our film over it any day of the week. He still never answered my question how a film that he used so valiantly to promote his festival could lose to a film that he didn't feel was good enough to even mention to the press? If it was so great, why didn't he talk about it more? Or at all even?

In well over 2,000 submissions we have never been asked for a refund.

I'm not sure if I buy that. If so, how unlucky am I?  Seriously, that's like a 0.05% chance of fucking up, and they fucked up the one time I deal with them.

 I'm sorry that things worked out the way they did or the way that you perceive they did...

This pissed me off. I didn't "perceive" any of this. This is what really happened in real life. There's no lack of communication or crossed signals or not being on the same page or whatever cliché you want to use. They really didn't contact me and they really didn't respond to my initial email and they really did award a local film "Best Feature" despite the fact that they really did never talk about the film at all in their promotional interviews.

....but kicking up all of this dust isn't doing any good.

Worked out okay for me. I got my f*cking refund.  (well, most of it, my submission fee was $25 and they sent me a check for $20. So they shorted me $5, but honestly, as incompetent as this festival is I will consider that a VICTORY!)

Anyway, I hope I don't come off as too pissy. Part of these blogs are to vent and get things off your chest and this has been in my mind for the past week or so.  If you are a filmmaker I would definitely recommend skipping this festival. I have been treated better by festivals that rejected me than this one, and they loved our movie. I can't imagine how they treat people who's movies they don't like.

Jason W. Schaver