been given an invite to a film festival

[Richrebel]

So I have recently been ignoring the festival circuit and have instead been screening films locally to audiences. Anyway I have received an email from a film festival called "American Online Film Awards" saying that they think one of my old films would be a good fit into a showcase next year.

When I clicked the provided link it brought me to the normal submissions page for the film festival and it had a paywall behind it. The film they have expressed interest about was a film that got finished and was shown at a couple of film festivals in 2011. I am just wondering if anybody had any experience of the festival and if so how legit they are. Also if it is normal for festival links to have a time limit on the links that they have sent me?

 

[IndiePaul]

I would be suspicious given the entry is not free.

It's a great way (and very unethical) to generate $$$ - mass email film makers with an invite like this and mention a film they have made (often gathered from previous non-related contest results).

They do have a very professional looking website but that does not say much really...

Another concern is that if they were legit why do they not have a page mentioning previous winners, runner ups, who was screened etc. All I found was this...

1980 and 1982 winners
http://www.americanmovieawards.com/past-winners

Another warning, under judges - no names are mentioned:

http://www.americanmovieawards.com/about/mission-and-judges

Yet another warning, no names are mentioned in About:

http://www.americanmovieawards.com/about/about-submenu

I would stay well clear of them.

 

[Zensteve]

Sounds like they are trying to drum up some revenue, tbh.

Still, why not email them back and find out if you've waived the fees? If they genuinely wanted your film, and they're asking you for it... no way would I be ponying up any bux for that filmfest. Follow up and see how it pans out. Just keep that wallet closed.

 

[moonshieldmedia]

Don't do it. The Alexa ranking on their site is really really bad, meaning they have no traffic coming in. Also about 85% of their Twitter followers are fake accounts.

Very nice website, very nice scam :/