9 Messages
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228 Points
Will IMDB delete all the scam festivals it has listed in All Events?
Hello there,
Filmmakers and festivals are now unfortunately accustomed to scam festivals (see article here https://www.screendaily.com/news/call-for-film-festival-regulator-following-spate-of-scam-events/5142968.article)
One of the main ways those festivals use to deceive filmmakers is that they claim to be "IMDB qualified". (Actually it's one of the red flags in the description of a festival).
Sadly, Filmfreeway does nothing to fight them, it's even worse, they promote them because they bring comission fees (I suspect a very, very large proportion of Filmfreeway listings are scams), and even more sad, a large number of scam festivals have ended on the IMDB All Events page. In the latter case, I don't believe IMDB is trying to deceive anyone, they have likely been deceived themselves.
Would IMDB consider cleaning up their list of events? It's a little bit time consuming, and sometimes require arbitrary decisions, but a trained eye identifies those scam festivals in a glimpse.
Thank you!
manu_1126883
9 Messages
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228 Points
3 years ago
A bit more background, there are 2 (or more) types of scam festivals:
- Festivals that never take place anywhere. They hand over awards to anyone who submits their films.
- Festivals that take place in a venue that has been rented for the occasion, with no real attendance except the filmmakers who have paid a fortune to attend and pay for their awards
Both have in common to give awards to anyone who submits their film and pay the fees. Very often they have a very long list of categories to submit to, like 50 categories costing 50$ each.
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Michelle
Employee
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18.2K Messages
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321.3K Points
3 years ago
Hi @manu_1126883 -
The festivals listed on IMDb and our events page must meet very specific eligibility criteria as outlined on our Help Guide. If you have identified lists on our event page that are scam festivals, you can report them here and our staff can investigate further.
Cheers!
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manu_1126883
9 Messages
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228 Points
3 years ago
Hi Michelle!
I appreciate the answer on this!
I am familiar with the eligibility criteria, but unfortunately I'm afraid is not fit for the modern world anymore. Scam festivals have managed to exist for more than 4 years, so they get accepted by IMDB (some others get accepted even while being younger than 4 years old). There are dozens of scam festivals on that list, it would be a long work on my side, but I'm not sure it would be useful unless there is first acknowledgment by the IMDB staff of the festival deceiving tactics, and the fact that the acceptance criteria is unfortunately obsolete.
Here are some examples I identified in a just a few seconds:
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0053033/2022/1
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0020230/2017/1
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0021286/2022/1
https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0006093/2023/1
As I noted they have different styles. Most are just online events, with no real juries. Some hold pay-only events so they have a red carpet picture, but the filmmakers pay large amounts and as long as they pay, they get an award. All have in common that they have a ridiculous list of entries that are very expensive.
Thank you for your help! I believe it would be good for all parties, IMDB, the real festivals, and the filmmakers, to have a list of legit festivals only listed on IMDB. (As I mentioned earlier, one red flag is that they advertise themselves being "IMDB qualified".)
Thank you!
(edited)
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Michelle
Employee
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18.2K Messages
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321.3K Points
3 years ago
Hi @manu_1126883 -
Thanks for the additional feedback concerning our current festival eligibility criteria. I have filed a ticket with our policy team to consider a review of the current criteria.
Cheers!
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manu_1126883
9 Messages
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228 Points
3 years ago
Thanks Michelle! Glad to read that.
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Michelle
Employee
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18.2K Messages
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321.3K Points
3 years ago
Hi @manu_1126883 -
Thanks again for highlighting our festival criteria guidelines, I wanted to provide an update on the issue.
We are so sorry it has taken this amount of time to resolve, due to our backlog we don't have the resources to review the policy at this given time, for this reason we are closing this thread but know that we are still tracking the request and will pick it up when we have the bandwidth to handle it.
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