LA Short Film Festival: Worst in the world?

[3ldfilms]

Since noone has slagged a festival yet, I thought I'd start out with possibly one of the worst organized festivals on the planet: The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.

With a name like that (and the fact that the festival is sanctioned by the Academy so if you win at the fest you are eligible to be nominated for an Oscar) a lot of filmmaker's gladly drop the $50 USD to submit.

I was one such schmuck last year. Two of my films were accepted and I made the trek over to LA. Now I can't really complain. I got a travel grant to pay for my trip, but I met dozens of filmmakers who flew in from France, Germany, UK and beyond to participate in this "prestigious" event.

Here's the lowdown.

Last year they decided they wanted to be the "biggest" short film festival in the world. Palm Springs and the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Fest had been running neck and neck in North America, and Clermont-Ferrand certainly had the international reputation, but LA SHorts wanted to be the BIGGEST (insert reminder that size doesn't always matter). So they accepted over 400 films. WOW, they must be good.

Unfortunately they only have like three staff members (and no print traffic co-ordinator I might add). So don't even try getting someone on the phone.

When I got to LA, I discovered that we had to pay for a) tickets to ALL screenings (we got one free ticket to our own), b) parties, c) the AWARDS ceremony, and d) even the goddamn festival brochure!

And don't be wooed by the idea that "This is LA! Movie moguls will be there!". Almost no industry people were there. Frankly, most people in LA don't even know about the festival! There is virtually no coverage. My distributor, who happened to be in attendance lamented the fact that, with 400+ films, there's not even a marketplace or video library so how is a distributor supposed to even find films he wants to buy (since there are tons of screenings at the same time).

Once the screenings began, the real chaos ensued. They had booked 35mm prints into theatres that didn't have 35mm projectors. They cancelled screenings. They shuffled screenings.

There were technical glitches, bad sound, wrong aspect ratios, and not to mention SOME OF THE MOST GOD AWFUL CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY PIECES OF CRAP movies that I have ever endured. I just sat in the theatre, rocking my head, thinking "The horror...the horror..."

At one screening, they screened a 35mm print (with about 30 of the cast and crew in the audience I might add) UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS! They then stopped the screening, spent an hour trying to resplice the all the films and fix (shorts are often spliced together for projection). Then after an hour, they began screening the film again EXCEPT THEY FORGOT TO REATTACH THE FINAL REEL OF THE FILM. A lot of screaming ensued.

My personal favorite, while standing in line at one of the venues, a young woman was perusing the program (which she shelled out five bucks for) and then exclaimed: "Holy shit! My film is actually playing in this festival! Nobody told me!"

Turns out, she was scheduled to screen that afternoon (of course since they never told her they would soon discover that they didn't have any kind of print to screen).

It went on and on.

And then at the awards ceremony, the final slap in the face, they gave an award to John Woo for his BMW short.

Many unhappy people ensued.

So my advice, BUYER BEWARE. Save your fifty bucks,

[xrats]

Thanks for the heads up on this fest. Just from the name I almost sent in my short. But luckily I balked when I saw the $50! entry fee.

Sounds like a horrid experience. I haven't seen any fest nearly that bad.

[Katharine]

Yes, thank you for the heads up on that...I think there are a lot of scams pointed toward hopeful moviemakers...good to get the word out about them.

At least you weren't one of those people who flew in from overseas to witness it.

[Madame Jeanne]

Though your statements are undoubtably correct for last year, I just returned from LA where I happened upon this very Shorts Fest. Unfortunatly, I was able to attend only three programs, and they were all excellent. Out of 25 shorts, only one was bad, one okay, and the rest were quite good. The programs were held at the ArcLight Cinema, which is professional and posh. The program book was very well laid out and free. I suggest you give them another look. Going on my experience as a viewer, if I'd submitted a film I'd have felt it was $50 well spent.

[Paul Kersey]

STAY AWAY FROM THIS FESTIVAL!

[Madame Jeanne]

Mr. Kersey,
Without giving any reasons for your interjection, you don't display any credibility. Do you have any objective reasons for your opinion?

[Paul Kersey]

Mme Jeanne,
You obviously have a vested interest in the LA Shorts Fest - soon to be discredited by AMPAS, defunct, bankrupt and drowned in law suits.

[Madame Jeanne]

Wow, that's quite a leap. I have no interest at all; I happened upon it last week quite by accident while in LA attending a different film festival all together. I attended 3 programs and found them to be outstanding, and wrote of my experience, which differed considerably from the original poster's experience with last year's fest.

Your interjection was not credible because it lacked any objective information whatsoever, and a posting of that nature (in all caps no less) smacks of a personal grudge.

[DragonflyGirl]

The are two major concerns I have about this fest, just having attended and screened a short in the fest:

1. Their claim to fame is that they are the largest short film festival, and it's hard to fathom why this is in any way a good thing.

2. They don't seem to do anything to drive attendence to their festival other than setting up shop at the ArcLight during the fest.

The extreme number of films means a lot of "filmmakers" even with only one per film in most cases. The producer is left out in the cold. But then, so's the "filmmaker." The opening night and closing night were $25 each, with a lame party after each by festival standards. The closing night they actually came around with trays of cut sausage from the Arclight concession. Further, each short program is $10 for everyone, although directors get a 50% discount during the weekdays. So even other filmmakers couldn't come to your screening without paying. Which leads to point 2...

Many, many of the programs screen to a practically empty theater. For a friend of mine's screening there were less than 15 people. And they pause in between each film for Q&A, which is basically an invitation to get up and leave if you've seen the film you've come to see. Right before my film screened, the previous filmmaker left with like 20 of her friends. Broke my heart to see them walk out before my film screened. Fine, you can't control your posse, but a FILMMAKER! So rude.

I could go on, but basically, I would investigate before submitting to this festival. It's an expensive proposition, and I'm nowhere near sure it's worth it. My experience was seriously lukewarm.

The best part was to see my film play at the Arclight. It was the best it has ever looked - just beautiful. If that alone is worth your $50, then there you go.

[Catty Girl]

Sounds like an awful experience! I think it a shame that these festivals market themselves as this particular one does only to have the hopes of many shattered once they get there. Its unfortunate that in a town like LA more respect isn't given to this festival. The Starz Denver International Film Festival is a good one for new filmmakers and since it runs for two weeks artists in town actually have the chance to have a conversation with producers, directors, writers, and may or may not sell their project, but they never walk away from this one feeling like they didn't get something out of the experience of attending.

[Madame Jeanne]

As I mentioned in my original post, my enthusiasm was that of a viewer not a filmmaker, and many of "3ldfilms" concerns about the previous years fest had been corrected (poor theater viewing conditions, bad films, and paying for fest brochure).

The Arclight is a great theater, the brochure was free and nicely done, and the films I saw were top notch (as I said, I was only able to attend three programs, which amounted to ~25 shorts).

That said, I concede to both of your points of concern, and conclusion, as a filmmaker! I too noticed a fairly small attendance at the screenings I attended -- I attributed it to, apparently wrongly, the screenings being early in the day. In addition, I also noticed a disparity in the number of people representing the films in attendance. In one program of 9 films, there was 1 (a producer); at another program of 9 there were 4 or 5 (mostly directors); and at a program of 5 there were 5 (all directors), plus two actors.

It is unfortunate that filmmakers are not having good experiences at this fest -- that's one thing that everyone seems to agree on, and something that has not improved since "3ldfilms" experience last year. Ultimately they will die (as Paul Kersey suggested) or improve, and I hope for the latter.

[3ldfilms]

Just a little footnote, it was actually at the arclight where I saw a film play upside down and backwards.

As a filmmaker you have to be particularly careful when you play at a multiplex like that as the projectionists are not really trained (that job is no longer unionized and they can hire anyone) and the projectionist rarely, if ever, stays in the theatre. S/he usually goes over to the next theatre to start that movie.

So if there are any probs during the screening (like "oops I spliced that reel on upside down") they aren't even there to notice.

Especially if you have any special requirements like mono sound (which sounds dreadful if they try and play through Dolby Digital) or a specific matte, you really need to personally make sure that the projectionist knows . At one festival where I screened at a multiplex, the projectionist didn't even know HOW to set the sound to mono since all they normally screen are big Hollywood movies that are Dolby Digital.