Film festivals can make a healthy contribution to filmmaking culture.

They provide an audience for films that are in much need of one and, in a small number of cases — they can lead to sales and exposure.

However, in the last couple of years with the advent of companies like Film Freeway, we have seen a long tail of infinite film festivals around the world, many of which spring up and exist for the sole purpose of profiteering off the hopes and dreams of aspiring filmmakers.

These need to be weeded out.

If a film festival exists to showcase the work of a passionate filmmaker they should do so by focusing on bringing in an audience to watch films with the promise of a night unmatched by any other local event. They should use only the revenue generated from attendance or sponsorship opportunities to fund their festivals — not from entries.

For filmmakers, in a perfect world, all film festivals would be free and festivals would be begging the filmmakers for their content. Instead, some festivals are using filmmakers to prop up their budgets in the hopes of receiving laurels or other forms of minor acclaim which won’t result in sales or distribution.

There is an argument to be made that there are prestigious film festivals that must exist for a healthy filmmaking culture and community. While I’m not going to dispute that, I will argue that the long tail of exploiting film festivals should really cease to exist and the only way this can happen is if filmmakers joined together to name and shame.

A festival ‘bad list’ could help filmmakers decide where to part with their money for entry — coupled with a mass boycott to smoke out the festivals that exist solely to make a buck.

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Did you know?

We have an open source youtube channel open to anyone to submit?

MINNIMAL MOVIES:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm24R0l8RVUZZ8s2PFXFjWA

If you have a film in need of an audience, email a downloadable link toMinnimalfilm@gmail.com along with a blurb and it will go up ASAP.

The goal of Minnimal Movies is to (one day) scale the channel with as much content and as much of an audience in order to monetize.

Once that is achieved, the filmmakers who participate and have an active audience — will get paid.

Help us by submitting your film today.

Regards,

Jim Minns.