Film Festivals: Positive Reviews & Deserved Boos: Pt. 33.5 - Woodstock Film Festival Follow-Up

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL CO-FOUNDER BERATES US TO PROVE HE IS FRIENDLY

Film Festivals: Positive Reviews & Deserved Boos: Pt. 33.5 – Woodstock Film Festival Follow-Up

Article by Justin Bowler

Last week, I gave a Negative Review to the Woodstock Film Festival for Filmmaker Friendliness. This is an update. Seriously, this is rich. Okay, here is a quick catch-up…

For those of you who don’t know, this is an ongoing review series about my film festival submission experience.

Let me set the scene. I have a short film called OH, THE EFFING HORROR. Check out the trailer HERE.

Clearly, it is a genre picture. In addition to the gore and general subject matter, it contains nudity. Finally, with a run time of almost seventeen minutes, it may be too long for some festivals to program. All three of these points give rise to questions I have for festivals. So, I send emails to festivals I’m interested in with three specific questions.
– First, do they program horror films?
– Second, do they accept films with nudity?
– Third, do they realistically program 17 minute films?

My journey began by contacting the festival through the informational email they listed on FilmFreeway.com. In my email, I asked for the contact info for the Artistic Director or Programming Director.

Woodstock Film Festival
Submission Price – Up to $95

I originally contacted the festival email, entries@woodstockfilmfestival.com. I waited. And waited. No response. So, I sent another email on 2/10. Then, I waited and waited again. I sent another email on 3/2. I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. NO RESPONSE. They never got back to me.

WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL gets a NEGATIVE REVIEW for Filmmaker Friendliness. Do not submit to this festival.

UPDATE:

Though they never responded to any of my three emails, they were very quick to respond to the review. The Co-Founder, Laurent Rejto wrote this on TheMovieGuys.net site:

Just noticed this so I had everyone here check their email. One email was indeed received in spam folder on January 31. It reads “Hi there, Do you have the contact info for the Artistic Director or Programming Director?

No other email was ever received.
Our phone number is readily available on our site or by googling.
Our staff info is on the about us page.
Our entry fee for a feature film was $45 for early bird and $55 for regular deadline. The extended deadline price is to dissuade people from making late extended deadlines.
We’re here to answer any and all questions, as we have been since 2000. To read what filmmakers think of our festival, see http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/quotes.php
At least Paul Rudd thinks we’re cool…
“It’s a great festival… It’s what a film festival should be, which is really independent films and showcasing the work of filmmakers you might not know about, I love that, and Woodstock is a town that goes hand and hand with that. I can’t think of another place that seems better suited to have an independent film festival than Woodstock.” Paul Rudd (Actor)
Our film commission promotes and creates sustainable economic development by helping, supporting and attracting film, video and media production in the Hudson Valley and Catskill counties. See http://www.hudsonvalleyfilmcommission.org
Here’s a nice comment from Larry Fessenden of Glass Eye Pix…
We always rely on the Hudson Valley Film Commission to guide us towards great resources, locations and production facilities. What the commission provides is a strong sense of community that begins at pre-production when the always proactive commission head will send out dispatches to rally locations, actors, musicians, props, catering, crew members and interns for specific films, regardless of budget size. The efficiency and enthusiasm of the Hudson Valley Film Commission has earned the enduring gratitude of film producers both local and visiting.” •Larry Fessenden, Glass Eye Pix (STRAY BULLETS)
Here’s a few films we’ve worked with…
Departures • The Ranger • Shotgun • Furlough • A Vigilante • Nancy • Diane • Ten • Coin Heist • The Miseducation of Cameron Post • The Awakening • Unwanted • La Devotee by Panic at the Disco! • It Comes at Night • The Strange Ones • Before Mars • One Percent More Humidity • Welcome the Stranger • What Children Do • The After Party • Super Dark Times • Love After Love • A Different Sun • The Independents • Little Boxes • King Cobra • The Seagull • Jack Goes Home • Stray Bullets • OCC: American Made • Look Away • Amy Makes Three • My First Christmas • HAPPYish • The Ticket • King Jack • What Happened, Miss Simone? • My First Kiss • The Tuba Thieves • Growing Up Smith • The Inherited • How He Fell in Love • Approaching the Unknown • Azeroth Choppers • I Dream Too Much • Small Miracles • Hits • Cold in July • Katie Fforde Films • Mi America • About Alex • Loitering With Intent • Late Phases • Uncertain Terms • Magic Men • The Fly Room • Jamie Marks Is Dead • True Story • The Sisterhood of the Night • The Better Angels • Dovid Meyer • We Are What We Are • Doomsdays • Deep Powder • The Bourne Legacy • Franny • Bottled Up • Frances Ha • Why Stop Now • Happy House • Happy & Bleeding • Brass Teapot • Keep the Lights On • In Our Nature • Marwencol • Harriets Traum • Our Idiot Brother • Rhymes With Banana • Another Kind • First Winter • The Last Keepers • Francine • Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding • Martha Marcy May Marlene • Higher Ground • Return • Rocksteady • Bitter Feast • Stake Land • Man on Wire • Whisper Me a Lullaby • Taking Woodstock • Meskada • Handsome Harry • American Gangster • Michael Clayton • Splinterheads • Against the Current • The Human Footprint • The Cake Eaters • Racing Daylight • The Night Listener • Stephanie Daley • War of the Worlds • Down to the Bone • Personal Velocity

After seeing that. I responded on TheMovieGuys.net as well:

Hmm, did you just quote a celebrity to prove how your festival isn’t elitist? That’s your plan to defend that your festival is filmmaker friendly to the unknown filmmaker?

It looks like you spent as much time digesting my article as you did looking for my other 2 emails, because you completely missed the point of this series. It’s for cold submissions from nobody filmmakers. You demonstrated you don’t have time to answer emails from some yahoo at a movie website, but, you have time for a celebrity like Paul Rudd. Good defense.

However, you are correct, I sent that email on 1/31. As far as it being the only one you received, sure we could blame it on electronic mail, it’s a convenient alibi, but, honestly, I don’t believe that. However, for arguments sake, let’s say it’s true, then, why wouldn’t you check your spam folder. Has it never occurred to anyone at your festival that messages may go into your spam? I check my spam folder every day. And I’m not charging people up to $95 per film.

You listed a lot of great films with a ton of accolades. Did those award winning films cold submit to your festival? Did they go through the same process as nobody filmmakers like me? Or did you invite them after you saw their awards?

Understand, I don’t believe that you or the staff at your festival are bad people. But, I also don’t believe the purpose of your festival is to serve the average or unknown filmmaker. Your festival serves the festival, which is why you defend yourself with celebrity quotes. After all, they can promote your festival more so than… someone like me, Joe Nobody.

He never got back to me (not surprised) (FYI, when you leave a comment on TheMovieGuys.net, you have to enter your email. Then, you can be notified if someone responds to your comment. So, if he didn’t respond to that comment, does that mean he didn’t check his email, again? Are we seeing a pattern here?).

Unrelated to my comment, but, related to the review, I also received an email from Evan, the Office Manager. It had a very different tone. It was quite pleasant.

Hi there Justin,

We just saw your negative review of us on TheMovieGuys website and Instagram. We are so sorry that we did not get back to you promptly with an email, but apparently your email went to our spam folders, so it was never seen and opened. Sorry to have missed it, we would have definitely replied.
Please know that though we are a small not for profit arts organization with 3 full time staff, we take the time to answer promptly every email we get, and we get thousands of emails from filmmakers each year.

We take supporting and accommodating filmmakers from near and far very seriously. Since 2000, we have been committed to presenting a high quality, diverse program of independent filmmaking, with the filmmakers and artists as our prime focus. We have received rave reviews on our friendly hospitality and in person care from press outlets, industry members and most importantly, from filmmakers from all corners of the country and the world.

We understand how incredibly time consuming, expensive, and sometimes borderline annoying applying to film festivals can be, which is why we keep our entry fees as low as we can, offer numerous submission platforms, and take the time to respond to filmmaker questions whenever they arise. We watch all films that are submitted, realizing that these films were made with much care, soul, and heart. We take great pride in giving filmmakers a platform to share their stories and spend many months watching thousands of films. All filmmakers are personally notified via email whether their films are accepted or not (unless they request otherwise), and, should filmmakers ask why their film wasn’t accepted, we make every effort to offer whatever constructive criticism we can, because we truly care about the craft of filmmaking and the work and passion that goes into this art form.

In the words of Mark Duplass, from his Woodstock Film Festival Fiercely Independent Award acceptance speech; “Go make your movie. Don’t stop until you make your movie, but still be nice and generous and loving while you do it. Let’s do that and raise each other up.”

Please feel free to call me at 845-***-**** if you would like to discuss this further.

Very best,
Evan Thomas
Office Manager
Woodstock Film Festival

Advisory Board:
Aidan Quinn, Annie Nocenti, Bill Plympton, Christine Vachon, David Strathairn, Eamonn Bowles, Ethan Hawke, Fisher Stevens, Gill Holland, Griffin Dunne, Joe Berlinger, John Sloss, Jonathan Gray, Judy Arthur, Lemore Syvan, Leon Gast, Liev Schreiber, Lori Singer, Melissa Leo, Michael Lang, Ron Mann, Peter Saraf, Robin Bronk, Ron Nyswaner, Sabine Hoffman, Stephen Nemeth, Steve Savage, Ted Hope, Vincent D’onofrio, Zachary Sklar

I was very impressed with Evan and his thoughtful apology. But, I still had questions for him that seemed unanswered. Hoping to have a rational, level-headed discussion, I emailed Evan back (you may recall, in some of this series’ previous installments, some festivals who neglected to respond to me, contacted me after the fact. This led to a sensible discussion about how no festival is perfect, but, sometimes things slip through the cracks. For example, check out my positive follow-up interaction with the Breckenridge Film Festival HERE).

Here is my response to Evan.

Evan,

I appreciate you reaching out. Also, I appreciate that your email was less contentious than the comment posted on our site by your co-founder.

As far as the content of your email I have issues with a couple of statements. First, I honestly don’t believe you didn’t receive all of my emails. One email failing to go through is less than likely, but, two? That seems improbable. Your fest isn’t on a small island north of the Arctic circle. Furthermore, even if they all went to the spam folder, why doesn’t your staff check that folder on a regular basis? The subject line of the emails were your festival’s name. Clearly, it wasn’t some spam mail offering prescription drugs from south of the border.

Second, you can’t really call yourself a small organization. Boasting 40 people on the personnel page of your festival illustrates your are not a small festival. That is a lot of people. In addition, I’m sure you have countless volunteers helping out as well.

Third, you say you try to keep costs down. But, in reality, your submission fees are higher than Cinequest’s, and they are a top notch fest. In fact, your submission prices are higher than most festivals out there. At nearly $100, filmmakers could submit to 20 festivals and spend as much on submitting as they did on their whole film. What would their $100 get them? Maybe their film would be watched? Or maybe the fest would just take the money, watch half of the film, and then, fill their screening line up with Ethan Hawk’s latest project.

Fourth, as far as your rave reviews… that’s awesome. Congrats. (I’m being 100% serious here.) That is really cool. Furthermore, I bet you deserve those accolades. I bet you treat those filmmakers attending your festival with great care. If you didn’t you wouldn’t have an advisory board with name celebrities. (It’s quite impressive btw.) But, don’t confuse that with being accessible or filmmaker friendly. Because I don’t believe you are either of those things. I’m a no-name filmmaker who sent you three emails. None were ever even responded to. Would you call that filmmaker friendly? I’m not asking to be a jerk. I’m genuinely asking. Is that filmmaker friendly?

You show great films at your fest. But, how many are cold submissions? How many are courted because of their previous festival wins? How many have celebrities?

You, personally, seem to recognize the plight of the average filmmaker, as you stated in your email, but, your festival doesn’t seem to nullify any of the problems associated with cold submitting. But, when it comes down to it, you don’t need to. Once again, look at your price tag and your advisory board. Your festival is doing great. No doubt it makes a lot of money. It doesn’t need/want no-name filmmakers like me. And that is precisely what my article is about. No-name cold submissions should not submit to your festival.

Do you disagree? Once again, I am genuinely asking.

You should check out my friend Paul Osborne’s documentary “Official Rejection”, then let me know what your fest does to stop those problems from happening. Because, honestly, if your fest provides me with a number of excuses why they couldn’t return a 10 second email, then I just don’t believe my cold submission would be watched/judged with the same care as Paul Rudd’s submission.

Understand, I don’t WANT to write negative reviews. And to be honest, it’s exceptionally EASY not to get one. All a festival has to do is respond to me. That’s it. Just respond. Is that too much to ask? Answer a few questions before a filmmaker gives you his money. Take a look at my series and you can see countless examples of how little festivals have to do in order to get a positive review. Sadly, your fest couldn’t even do that.

Thank you for responding,
Justin

I was hoping to have a rational discussion. However, what happened was a first for me. This series has been going for 33 weeks. I have reviewed nearly sixty festivals. I have yet to have a festival lash out, become enraged, and call me a liar regarding how many emails I sent (I’m still confused as to why they would say that since they admit they received my first email but never responded) (I don’t know, maybe it’s misdirection?), Anyway, I was a little taken aback to see what followed.

As you can guess, my email may never have reached Evan. For all I know, Evan is dead. Instead the composed conversation I thought I was engaging in was hijacked by the Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder, Laurent Rejto. Once again, it was contentious to say the least (by the way, I hope you have some popcorn and a comfy seat, because, he went OFFFFFF) (Cue the marathon music).

Saturday, May 13th, 2017 2:34PM

Evan,
I appreciate you reaching out. Also, I appreciate that your email was less contentious than the comment posted on our site by your co-founder.

There’s nothing contentious about the truth. I simply pointed out some facts.

One single email was found in the junk folder. Staff doesn’t check the junk folder. They’re too busy dealing with work including on weekends. Over the past 18 years, we have found that when people feel that they don’t get an answer in a timely manner, they use the telephone. We answer emails every day and we answer the phone. Emails going to junk or trash is hardly improbable and has nothing to do with the arctic circle.

The festival has 2 full time employees – Meira and Evan. I work part time on the festival and part time on the film commission, which provide free support to filmmakers.
The 40 people on the personnel page basically work 1 to 8 weeks prior to the festival, depending on the position. Most of them work for one week.
We have volunteers for the week of the festival. We live in a rural area. Volunteers are certainly not countless by any means, but they are incredibly kind and dedicated.
WFF spends $167,000 on salaries (3 full timers and 18 independent contractors hired during festival).
Cinequest, by comparison, spends $431,000.

Laurent Rejto
co-founder & director

Before I could respond, he sent me another email.

Saturday, May 13th, 2017 2:51PM

Third, you say you try to keep costs down. But, in reality, your submission fees are higher than Cinequest’s… In fact, your submission prices are higher than most festivals out there. At nearly $100, filmmakers could submit to 20 festivals and spend as much on submitting as they did on their whole film. What would their $100 get them? Maybe their film would be watched? Or maybe the fest would just take the money, watch half of the film, and then, fill their screening line up with Ethan Hawk’s latest project.

Can you let us know where you came up with this?
Please see screenshots below from Without A Box.

For features, early bird and regular deadlines are identical. We provide a $10 discount for students.
For shorts, we actually charge less, and much less for student shorts.

Late fees and Extended deadlines are much higher.
This is to dissuade people from making late entries.

Your $100 comment is based on bullshit reasoning so I won’t answer that.
I would recommend that you do you homework.
In 2016, 95% of the narrative features and documentaries were selected from entries and not through distributors or through Ethan Hawke, which is spelled with an e after the k, by the way. In our 17 years, we’ve shown ONE FILM that was directed by Ethan Hawke – CHELSEA WALLS.

100% of the shorts were selected from entries! If you look at our archives, you’ll see that we show very few films with distributors.

FYI, some fests contact filmmakers for films they want in their fest, then, they grant them a waiver and ask them to submit. That is hardly a cold submission. In addition, the screen grabs he sent were INCOMPLETE. Perhaps, Laurent Rejto doesn’t think others know how to check the internet. Later in this article you can see full submission prices.

He sent another email twenty minutes later (as enthusiastic as he is, I would have given him a great review had he ever answered my three emails). For the record, he still hasn’t answered the question from my first email. Instead, he has been pre-occupied with being hostile.

Saturday, May 13th, 2017 3:11PM

You show great films at your fest. But, how many are cold submissions? How many are courted because of their previous festival wins? How many have celebrities?

Do you disagree? Once again, I am genuinely asking.

Your presumptions and accusations are not based on research or fact.
You could have done the research, but it was easier for you to attack us.
Most of our filmmakers are no-name filmmakers and as I stated before, 95% of features come through cold submissions and 100% of shorts come from cold submissions. Look at our archives and you will find hundreds of no name filmmakers, and you’ll notice that most films have no celebrities.
Here’s a list of films that screened in 2016. Asterisk indicates a film that was solicited. Most films are by first time no name filmmakers.

11:55
A Nearly Perfect Blue Sky (Un Ciel Bleu Presque Parfait)
Adam
Afuera
*American Epic: The Sessions
Baby Teeth
Bad Vegan and The Teleportation Machine
Behind the Schoolbag
Black Canaries
Blind
Bone Guitar
Borrowed Time
Burn Country
Cacophony
Chop, The
Chronically Metropolitan
Circus Kid
Clean Hands (Schone Handen)
Club Policy
Confession, The
Cookies
Cop Dog
Cracked
Cuddle Party
Day By Day
Disturbing the Peace
Domar: To Tame
Drowning, The
Dynamic Double Standard, The

Filthy but Fine
For Your Own Safety (Zu Ihrer Eigenen Sicherheit)
Freedom Runners
Fury, The (De Helleveeg)
Get in the Way:
The Journey of John Lewis
*Gimme Danger
Girl Flu.
God Knows Where I Am
Graffiti
Green /is/ Gold
Halfway
Halfway to Zen
He, She
How You Look At It
Islands and the Whales, The
Junction 48
Kivalina
La Laguna
Leonarda
Liner Notes
Listen
Little Boxes
Look-See
Loving
Madhab
Magnificent Burden
Makeshift Satellite
Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing
Marquis
Monster in the Mind
My Feral Heart
My First Kiss And The People Involved
Nasty
Neruda
New York Nocturne
Nuts
One Day on Carver Street
Operator
Opus 40
Paint It Black
Patti Smith – Blank on Blank
Perched
Perfect Houseguest
Pickle
Play the Devil
Porgies & Bass
Potatoes for Pado
Promised Band, The
Quantified Self, The
Rated
Real Boy
*Rebel Citizen (solicited to honor WFF friend Haskell Wexler who passed away in December 2016)
Sea is Blue, The
Sensitivity Training
Serendipity: The Genius Behind Electric Lady
Shame
Shepherds and Butchers
Sisters
Slow Wave
Spiral
Story, The
Stray Bullets
Striking a Chord: Instruments of Healing
Stronger than Bullets
Suffering is the Easy Part
Surprise, The (De Surprise)
The ABC of Travel
The Last Dalai Lama?
The Last Night of the World
The Rain Collector
There’s Too Many Of These Crows
They Played for Their Lives
Thirsty
*Ticket, The (solicited and granted waiver because it was produced locally)
To Keep The Light
Two Trains Runnin’
Wake O Wake
Water!
Women of Maidan
Year by the Sea

Then he sent me another email, 17 minutes later.

Saturday, May 13th, 2017 3:28PM

And lastly, your email address bounces.
You should take care of that before someone accuses you of being a scam.

Your mail message to the following address(es) could not be delivered.
This is a permanent error. Please verify the address(es) and try again.

<movieguysla@aol.com>:
64.12.88.132 failed after I sent the message.
Remote host said: 521 5.2.1 : (HVU:B2) https://postmaster.aol.com/error-codes#554hvub2

Wow. There were a lot of emails there and they certainly don’t seem to have the kind of profanity-less demeanor that says, “Hey, you’ve got the wrong impression of us.” You’d think someone who feels I got the wrong impression of their fest would instead act in a way that they’d want to be represented in these articles.

But, I will respond briefly. First, he claims I never sent any emails. I’m not sure why he thinks I would lie about this, but below is my Woodstock Film Festival history. The first three were never responded to.

Second, here is a quick recap of the research/homework he says I didn’t do. The first screen grab is from the WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL WEBSITE.

Yup, it says up to $95, which I have said from the beginning (it’s odd that he doesn’t know that) (But, he’s gotten a few other things wrong too). By the way, how could he possibly think that people wouldn’t check his work? Just because he states something, is everyone supposed to blindly accept what he says? (#Trump) Anyway…

The next screen grab is from the CINEQUEST WEBSITE.

I know my math skills peaked in 6th grade, but fortunately I learned Greater Than and Less Than before that. Therefore, using my sixth grade education, I can see that $95 is Greater Than $75. So, yes, as I previously stated, The Woodstock Film Festival charges more than Cinequest (Cinequest is an Academy Feeder Festival by the way. So, I don’t know why Woodstock is charging so much more)

Now just in case, there was a typo regarding fees on those two pages, here are some screen grabs from WithoutABox, which has no spaces in it, by the way.

Yup, Cinequest costs up to $75. And here is a screen grab from WithoutABox for Woodstock Film Festival.

Wow. This says they charge up to $100. I guess I’m surprised/not surprised he doesn’t know how much his festival charges for submissions. If they’d like to be represented differently, they should take that up with WithoutABox (no spaces).

As far as everything else he went on about… Well, I guess through all of his shouting, profanity, insults, and accusations he sure showed me how friendly he is. Furthermore, I’m positive Joe Filmmaker out there will read this and definitely want to spend up to $95/$100 so he can deal/not deal with Laurent Rejto.

The review stands. WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL gets a NEGATIVE review for Filmmaker Friendliness. There are 5,286 other festivals on FilmFreeway. Do not submit to this festival.

If you would like to know more, check out the past articles for this series with the links below. They are not all as happy and positive as this week.

Once again, I’d like to hear your stories about festival submitting. If you think there is more to be said about any of the festivals I have reviewed, then I would love to hear it.

Justin Bowler
IG @IndyFilmTwittic and @OhTheEffingHorror
Twitter @JustinTBowler

One thought on “Film Festivals: Positive Reviews & Deserved Boos: Pt. 33.5 – Woodstock Film Festival Follow-Up”

Becky Filmmaker says:

August 17, 2017 at 3:23 am

Something that’s actually useful for a filmmaker who may end up on this site:

Two years ago, I was a first time filmmaker who made a genre short film that was 19 minutes long, with nudity. I was not famous, connected, or rich and there were no famous people involved with my film whatsoever. I made “cold” submissions to over 50 film festivals for a year costing me on average $55 per submission. In the end we were accepted to seven very strong festivals and I attended four of them in person. We felt very lucky to have found professional people who thought our film was special. It was worth the investment of paying for all those submissions but I had also factored that into my post-prod budget.

The support of festival programmers, fellow filmmakers, and audiences was absolutely invaluable for me as a director. This is what filmmakers should know and aim for. Festivals, especially strong mid-level ones, are one of the few ways that our work can get set apart from the crowd. Programmers are looking for great films, films that make sense for their festival. That’s it. They aren’t trying to screw filmmakers, quite the opposite. Programmers who like your work pass it on to other festivals and programmers, sometimes even when they don’t accept it. Festivals who dig your short film are there for you when you make your feature. Most of all, festivals are for people who love films and you should want to get in on that in any way you can. And if you’d rather say fuck them and try to get your video to go viral on youtube or vimeo, go for it, save the money– plenty of people do.

Programmers are also tasked with sifting through a LOT of submissions to pick a relatively small number they like and THEN they have to squeeze them into programming times and line-ups. I’m not surprised that you have such varied “submission experiences” considering that the answers to most of your questions can be found online with less than 5 minutes of internet research, if not immediately. You certainly don’t need to insist on talking to the “Programming or Artistic Director” of the festival, an intern could answer your burning questions– regardless, you’re wasting their time so they may be less than lovely.

Are there occasionally incorrect dates, fee prices, and other details on all these many different festival sites, sure. Welcome to dealing with human beings and human error. Are there festivals that are money-making scams, sure. Again, do your research. But decrying an entire film festival like Woodstock (a stand-out, legit indie festival that embraces many unknown filmmakers) on the internet because they didn’t answer your redundant questions in the manner you would like is ridiculous.

I post this comment really to say that your “reviews” are useless. Perhaps you should focus more on making films, better ones, instead of complaining egregiously about how everyone is trying to fuck you over.

– Becky Filmmaker