<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Thanks, Jasper. Searching online, it seems people are making a distinction between fake film festivals and pseudo film festivals. The latter is like the ones you mention, which do things like give everyone an award but make you pay for it, barely do any screenings, etc. But they do exist and they do something, though nothing like a full fledged film festival. The former, however, only take entry fees and then disappear. A total scam. These seem to be increasing in number since COVID. There are now a number of guides online on how to spot fake and pseudo film festivals. <div><br></div><div>Aaron Gerow<br><div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>8/25/24 午後12:07、Jasper Sharp <jasper_sharp@hotmail.com>のメール:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><meta charset="UTF-8"><div class="elementToProof" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sadly an all too common phenomenon, especially since the advent some time ago now of online submission websites like Film Freeway where filmmakers pay a submission fee to various events of dubious legitimacy and find not only do their films not reach an audience, they don't reach critics or juries either. All you get in return for your money is a jpeg of some festival Laurels to add to your poster and promotional blurb.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This has been going on for years, especially in North America, but also numerous small towns in the UK. I remember reading one such report in the Guardian about the Swansea Bay Film Festival as far back as 2011:<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/27/swansea-bay-film-festival-disaster" id="LPlnk">https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/27/swansea-bay-film-festival-disaster</a></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></div><div class="elementToProof" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The object lesson here is if you can't get a film into an established film festival that has a reputation and a sizeable online presence, you probably shouldn't bother submitting.</div><div class="elementToProof" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></div><div id="Signature" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div dir="ltr" id="divtagdefaultwrapper" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style=""><br></div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><b><i><a href="http://www.creepinggarden.com/" target="_blank" id="OWA80559fb6-1fe9-0e57-2321-413083727222" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">The Creeping Garden</a></i></b></span><i> </i>- A Real-Life Science-Fiction Story about Slime Moulds and the People Who Work With them, directed by Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp. </div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Available now on Dual-Format Blu-ray/DVD from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a href="https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/the-creeping-garden-dual-format/FCD1435" id="OWA7d80d1fa-cf80-a685-e95c-584e3b68936f" class="OWAAutoLink" title="https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/the-creeping-garden-dual-format/FCD1435
Cmd+Click or tap to follow the link" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Arrow Films</a></span>.</div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The book,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Creeping Garden: Irrational Encounters with Plasmodial Slime Moulds<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>is out now from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><a href="http://www.alchimiapublishing.com/creeping-garden/" target="_blank" id="OWA66c6f091-43fd-bd20-f241-66ea2b3babda" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Alchimia Publishing</a></span>.</div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"A surprising investigation of perception, thought and life itself", Nicolas Rapold,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/movies/review-the-creeping-garden-on-the-wonders-of-the-slime-mold.html" target="_blank" id="OWA5882736d-c0c0-2bd4-2975-c43f256f94bc" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">The New York Times</a></i></span>.</div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"An out-of-left-field nerdy delight", John DeFore,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><i><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/creeping-garden-fantasia-review-724416" id="OWA20fbb982-b04e-519e-70e1-a8f18142256a" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Hollywood Reporter</a></i></span>.</div><div style="font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">"Strange, eccentric, diverting", Peter Bradshaw,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);"><i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/09/creeping-garden-review-slime-mould-film" id="OWA49446289-35bb-5ec1-e757-33227c98f30a" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">The Guardian</a></i></span>.</div></div></div></div></blockquote><br></div><br></div></div></body></html>