Britley B.

I often find links on FilmFreeway via dedicated art video sites that are trustworthy. It is reliable 98% of the time. And it is often indispensable.

However, FilmFreeway can unintentionally rarely list scams, so beware. IMDb recently wrote this year that they were forced to "de-listed 42 international festivals in the past few years"..."'Scammers' are believed to set up fake festivals, upload them to portals such as FilmFreeway and take small submission fees for filmmakers to submit their work. But the 'scammers' allegedly never watch the films and there is no proof the festivals even exist."

One might think this business would pre-edit suspicious sites or ones that have already been exposed, but there so far appear to be no consequences in collecting money by endorsing malfeasance. The definition of a "film festival" is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues".

I was recently accepted to a film festival, ECRÃ advertised as live, but they showed the selected work "online" only (with no excuse...it was well after COVID).

Another "festival" that I was accepted into this year was the BuenosAires Indie Film Festival - buenosairesindiefilmfestival.com. They don't show the work to an audience - neither online nor live. They take money for a supposed prize without any sort of public viewing. They have a website with no mention of judges or past winners. There is zero evidence that this festival exists and no Goggle presence other than an inadequate web page with very little information.

Edit: FilmFreeway removed their listing after being alerted to the site.

This site can be a scam. I used it once successfully. I rehired the freelancer for another job that was a month late and in the end, one out of 3 animations worked.

Other times I tried to hire freelancers where all the bids came in at least 1/5 the final price.

Many of the people on the site initially bid at a reasonable price. Later, when in in conversation with the freelancers (in the "chat" box) they charge as much as five times their bid (e.g. They may bid $50 for a project that would take at most an hour to complete at a stated $25 per hour USD. But then they inevitably altered the price higher 5-6 times that price... often with the same line: " "we provide high-quality service sir" (see the screengrab below... and please forgive my spelling :) ).

I was so tired of bogus bids for one project that I hired a recruiter for $10.00. For unknown reasons (I have asked several times), they removed the project. They told me that it violated their "terms and agreement", with no explanation of what term it violated (I could see none), and never returned my money. I'm guessing tthat they removed the project because I lodged the complaint above.

I have been practicing and teaching art for 40 years. I recommend this site as an excellent place to start for young artists. It also provides nice venues for veterans who live off the beaten track.

I generally avoid paying for private competitions, but this organization exhibits in nice locations, with online promotions and high-profile judges. Some of their exhibitions are spotty. But there are always gems to be found. The only complaint is the somewhat "desperate" name, "SeeMe".