During the research phase for our expose documentary on scam festivals we have spoken to many filmmakers and festival directors from all over the world.

What we learnt is that there are so many scams out it can be difficult to distinguish between them. There is however one common dominator that enables the scam festival to operate with impunity, and that is that filmmakers do not look into a festival, they simply submit their film and they hope their talent is going to be recognised by a fellow professional. Thinking like this is naive and you would be better off buying a lottery ticket.

Nowadays filmmakers really have the cards stacked against them and are not left with a lot of options. One thing all filmmakers should do and that is to check out the film festival before submitting a film, not to do so is pure folly.
Look at the history of the festival; make sure they have a address and telephone number. What are the names of the festival directors and programmers, does the festival have a selection committee. Are the festival directors connected to and have they an interest in any of the films in competition, look at the history of the festival and cross reference the winning films with the festival directors names on IMDB.

There is no point in submitting a film to a festival if all the awards are going to the festival directors own films. Also If a festival is charging $200 - $300 and is giving you a guarantee screening for your film, look at the previous years festival. Contact the crew of films previously selected. Ask in particular about the organisation and the previous years publicity for the festival.

Do not rely on any of the online submission providers to weed out scam festivals. They are in business to take a percentage of your submission fee. One of the main providers seem to ignore complaint about scam festivals or festival impersonating longstanding legitimate festivals

Dont be stupid, rely on yourself, If a festival seems odd in any way - pass them by

We wrote an ethical code of conduct to help stop scam festivals. If a film festival has adopted the new ethical code of conduct through www.uffo.org (Universal Film Festival Organisation) you can be reasonably certain that you are not getting ripped off and that the festival will actually view you submitted screener. UFFO will also have a history of the festival and contacts for the festival so get involved this is your organisation. UFFO is an open organisation for filmmakers and film festivals and the code of conduct is free, its easy and it works

The UFFO web site is under construction www.uffo.org

So
DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR FILM TO A FILM FESTIVAL BLINDLY, CHECK THEM OUT!