NYIIFV so close to as scam as to be indistinguishable
Wow, you guys are great. No sooner had I posted than I got the first response suggesting that I Google the festival and see what had been written (admittedly, where I should have started). What I found was eye-opening.
Every negative post I read elsewhere was followed by a laudatory response talking about how good the festival is and the fact that Sundance and the other festivals are the real "scam." What's amusing is that, while all the negative posts were written by filmmakers who had been burned by this "festival," all the laudatory posts were identical, down to the bad grammar. Someone had simply re-posted the same response to different forums. Insert logical conclusion here.
Anyway, I called my friend and told him what I had found. He was embarassed and angry but was happy to discover he had "only" spent the initial $300 to get accepted. He is not going to send them another dime. When I read him a Village Voice article from 1997 detailing how they work their scam, he said "That's exactly what they did, they needed an answer right then and there about what kind of a package I wanted. And they made it sound like I was the loser for not wanting to promote my film."
It's possible that the legal threshold of a scam is not met by what these (rich) cowards are doing. But that's not because the festival is not a scam, but because the law hasn't caught up to them.
DO NOT GIVE THESE IDIOTS ANY OF YOUR MONEY! Please spread the word, any legitimate festival will work hard to promote the films it accepts. The "festival" in question charges YOU their promotion costs by taking ads on their website and program. What?!
Man, I could go on. But I am too disgusted and none of this will get my buddy's money back. I just hope no one who sees this falls for it.