Comments on: A Journey to the Film Festival Abyss, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being A Bomb http://www.nativevue.org/blog/?p=550 Native American Film and Media Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:59:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: ronin-redshade http://www.nativevue.org/blog/?p=550#comment-18411 ronin-redshade Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:32:46 +0000 http://www.nativevue.org/blog/?p=550#comment-18411 <em><strong>Then, Lo and behold, Ernest Whiteman III comes to the rescue.</strong></em> I hate to brag, but...  I told you I was a superhero. Then, Lo and behold, Ernest Whiteman III comes to the rescue.
I hate to brag, but… 

I told you I was a superhero.

]]> By: shonie777 http://www.nativevue.org/blog/?p=550#comment-18338 shonie777 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:22:57 +0000 http://www.nativevue.org/blog/?p=550#comment-18338 Your post sounds all too familiar to me Rod. I too have spent way too much on festival fees. I came to the conclusion, "Why pay someone to watch my film?" Now I only submit to festivals that are free or invite one of our films. As with Mile Post 398, the film is not for everyone and definately not for Sundance as I had learned. I don't believe that Sundance is for people like me any way. Nor are any of those other so-called "BIG" film festivals. I make films simply because I love too. I make films for me and and my people. My people are my target audience first, and if anyone outside of that targeted audience happens to like what we make, then that's good too. Rejection letters suck, and they are really just a nice way of saying your film sucked. If I had a dollar for every one I got, I'd have enough to fund our next feature. What really sucks is when you get one of those rejection letters from a Native film festival. There really are not that many Native festivals out there, and there really isn't all that many Native film makers out there either if you really think about it. I really don't know what some of these Native film festivals want in a "Native" film these days, but I think they want what the non-Native general public wants and expects to see in a Native film. Feathers, leather, visions, flutes, long hair, etc...you know, the typical cookie cutter image of a Native film the public has been brainwashed to expect.  I really don't think that some of these festivals undestand that we have stories to tell that don't deal with things like that. We are people that live basically the same as any other person in this world. I don't think that I have ever been walking through the mall and had a vision out of nowhere and heard a hawk scream at the same time, then swing my long hair (if I had long hair) to the side and squint into the sky. With the film festival we are running (Monument Valley Film Fest) we acceppted every film submited and didn't send out a single rejection letter because I know how much I hated getting those. We wanted to screen films by emerging film makers to give them the opportunity to have their work seen by others. By doing this it gives the film maker valuable insight to their work from the audience. We also did not charge a submission fee because I hate submission fees. I don't belive in paying someone to watch your film. I know most festivals use these fees to help fund the festival. But if you are going to run a festival, there are other ways of funding it other than submission fees. You have to love film in order to run a film festival. It's hard work. Just like film making, you have to love it. If not, it's just a job. And I hate my regular job. We plan on running this film festival every year. Someday it will be big, but not so big that we over-look the true independent film makers out there. This is a Native American film festival, not an Indigenous film festival. The festival is open to all Native Americans across North America. All films must be written, produced, or directed by a Native American. That's our criteria, pretty simple. This is our first year and it's a lot of work, but we love it.   Shonie Your post sounds all too familiar to me Rod. I too have spent way too much on festival fees. I came to the conclusion, "Why pay someone to watch my film?" Now I only submit to festivals that are free or invite one of our films. As with Mile Post 398, the film is not for everyone and definately not for Sundance as I had learned. I don’t believe that Sundance is for people like me any way. Nor are any of those other so-called "BIG" film festivals. I make films simply because I love too. I make films for me and and my people. My people are my target audience first, and if anyone outside of that targeted audience happens to like what we make, then that’s good too.
Rejection letters suck, and they are really just a nice way of saying your film sucked. If I had a dollar for every one I got, I’d have enough to fund our next feature. What really sucks is when you get one of those rejection letters from a Native film festival. There really are not that many Native festivals out there, and there really isn’t all that many Native film makers out there either if you really think about it. I really don’t know what some of these Native film festivals want in a "Native" film these days, but I think they want what the non-Native general public wants and expects to see in a Native film. Feathers, leather, visions, flutes, long hair, etc…you know, the typical cookie cutter image of a Native film the public has been brainwashed to expect. 
I really don’t think that some of these festivals undestand that we have stories to tell that don’t deal with things like that. We are people that live basically the same as any other person in this world. I don’t think that I have ever been walking through the mall and had a vision out of nowhere and heard a hawk scream at the same time, then swing my long hair (if I had long hair) to the side and squint into the sky.
With the film festival we are running (Monument Valley Film Fest) we acceppted every film submited and didn’t send out a single rejection letter because I know how much I hated getting those. We wanted to screen films by emerging film makers to give them the opportunity to have their work seen by others. By doing this it gives the film maker valuable insight to their work from the audience.
We also did not charge a submission fee because I hate submission fees. I don’t belive in paying someone to watch your film. I know most festivals use these fees to help fund the festival. But if you are going to run a festival, there are other ways of funding it other than submission fees. You have to love film in order to run a film festival. It’s hard work. Just like film making, you have to love it. If not, it’s just a job. And I hate my regular job.
We plan on running this film festival every year. Someday it will be big, but not so big that we over-look the true independent film makers out there. This is a Native American film festival, not an Indigenous film festival. The festival is open to all Native Americans across North America. All films must be written, produced, or directed by a Native American. That’s our criteria, pretty simple. This is our first year and it’s a lot of work, but we love it.
 
Shonie

]]>