Acorns

Jesus, where do I start? Let me try to be brief.

There’s no audience. Because there’s no marketing. The films are screened in the wrong format. All of them. There is no presentation for the short film programs, they are just screened. No Q&As for them either.

The panels and workshops are also scantily crowded and although they have some interesting guests they also have the (dis)organizer and all the B.S. you can possibly imagine coming out of his mouth, from badmouthing new filmmakers to badmouthing Sundance and other festivals.

The parties also suck – and that’s because the embarrassment for being in such a horrible festival spreads out like a plague and therefore the filmmakers either don’t feel like partying or prefer to go to a secluded place together and share their hatred and disappointment in the festival. Or maybe it’s because every single time the (dis)organizer talks to a filmmaker the line is, “I hope you have been learning a lot here from us”. The question here is WHAT are we suppose to have been learning: How NOT to do a festival? How to select festivals better? Where NOT to come next time around?

The guy also has a second favorite line, which is: “I am a successful commercial filmmaker”. But that one is not meant for you, but only for himself. ‘Cause all it takes is to watch one of his films to prove him wrong. If he’s a filmmaker a hot dog vendor is a chef. Maybe that’s why he makes a living working at a theme park ride. Nonetheless, there he is trying to convince himself he’s a filmmaker and us on the other side having to hear it. Over and over again.

But that’s not the only illusion he tries to create – after the festival is over he divulges information about it to the press and the amount of people he states attended the festival to my knowledge is not correct AT ALL. I should know since I’ve been there for the whole thing.

The amount of films submitted is also not right in my opinion. Because although we’ve had some truly great films there there were also some stinking turds that make you wonder how come somebody selected that. The answer came from the grapevine – it seems there were so few films submitted that they were forced to select all (bar the unwatchable) in order to have a complete programming. Sadly enough, some of the good films were just screened once, so if there were a brain behind the programming some of the trash could’ve been thrown out on behalf of the real good ones. Oh, well.

Something funny: he introduces the Mayor of the town to everyone. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? “Mister Mayor, those filmmakers came from miles away to offer our town their fine films. Let’s thank them”. But no, which makes clear that the (dis)organizer doesn’t make this in order to promote films, but to promote himself within his community. So DO NOT SUBMIT TO CENLFO, all you’ll be doing is financing his personal marketing in his little town.

The only thing they did right was the closing party (some the award choices were rather questionable, however), but there’s a reason for that: a) it was the guy’s wife who did it and not him; b) they think that by giving you a good last impression you’ll forget all the bad ones which came previously. Well, think again.

Acorns

Amazing filmmaker support. Fly you in, put you up and feed you like there was no tomorrow. Cool, and very exclusive programming. Savannah’s an amazing town too. Great experience.

Acorns

Pretty cool festival. Amazing connections within the industry. My feature got it’s Variety review from here. Good all around experience.

Acorns

Good points:
- amazing projection (at least in 2009).
- in the centre of London
- has a good reputation when you tell people you have a film there.
Bad points:
- really pretentious
- founder, Elliot, wants to be known as the Robert Redford of London, but he ain’t no Robert Redford.
- awful filmmaker support
- it’s really all about them (the Festival) and not about you (the filmmaker).

Bottom line, could be amazing, but held back by pretentious, egoistic leadership.

Acorns

What’s there to say. It’s great.
- Fantastic programming. Very independent minded.
- Great projection.
- Industry heavy, and everyone is kind of chilled and not hyper like in Sundance.
- Austin. Great city.
A celebration of Indie Film.

Acorns

Cool fest, run by really great, enthusiastic Cineastes. Glasgow Film Theatre is an amazing 1930s art deco venue. Great programming. Very well intentioned.

Some teething troubles. The festival is still finding it’s feet and growing, so some things fall through the cracks, but this could end up being a great audience orientated festival in one of the best cities in the UK.

Good projection, some travel grants, one or two days of accommodation.

Cool fest, run by really great, enthusiastic Cineastes. Glasgow Film Theatre is an amazing 1930s art deco venue. Great programming. Very well intentioned.

Some teething troubles. The festival is still finding it’s feet and growing, so some things fall through the cracks, but this could end up being a great audience orientated festival in one of the best cities in the UK.

Good projection, some travel grants, one or two days of accommodation.

Acorns

I have to disagree with all these ratings. The festival could be cool (I think it desires to be a Mill Valley style fest), but it falls short in key areas. First of all, good points:
- Lovely key staff
- nice accommodations for filmmakers
- they feed you really well.
Based on this, I would have given the festival 3 or 4 stars BUT:
- it’s very cliquey. It seems to be orientated more at impressing the wealthy patrons and residents of Sedona itself than caring about the filmmakers. It’s kind of lame for industry and networking with other filmmakers.
- awards are given in what seems to be a hap-hazard and sometimes crooked way. For example, the Audience Awards were given out before some films had finished their screenings. i.e. ballot papers for the final screenings weren’t even considered.
- programming is a bit weird. Often two shorts before a feature, sometimes up to 30 mins of shorts before the main feature. One short is fine, but two 15 min shorts before the feature is a bit much. Also leads to a cluster in the Q&A when all filmmakers are present.
- Front line staff are often poorly trained. As a feature filmmaker, I was refused entry to my own film (even to stand in the back) and had to get the manager to sort it out.
- No travel allowances for feature filmmakers.

At the end of the day, Sedona is a weird place full of somewhat self-satisfied, navel gazing hippies. They mean well, but they never going to be cutting edge. That said, wealthy sponsors mean this fest is here to stay.

Had a really bad time here with my film last year. Completely disorganized. No one to meet the filmmakers at the venue in downtown LA. No one introduced the filmmakers to the audiences. Unbelievable. My friends just walked in the theater without paying. No one was even at the door! Definitely a cut-rate outfit.

Acorns

First Sundance experience just ended, and – while the locals reported that attendance AND films submitted was down due to the great recession – this organization does LOTS of things right. The FREE transportation to all venues was on time, easy to locate, and the army of white-jacketed volunteers were so friendly that I kept thinking I was in Canada! Some of the programming did not go on as scheduled (You Tube?), the ASCAP music venue is too small, and a second stage is needed so there’s no “lull” between artists, and – honestly – MORE venues are needed for films to be shown. Kudos to Sundance for taking the first step toward spreading the festival coast to coast. I found audiences to be VERY supportive although filmmaker Q&A’s were not very compelling. Expensive trip but…it is a must-attend.