The Film Festival Guild Exposed Excerpt from the Universal Film Magazine www.ufmag.biz
FILM FESTIVAL GUILD EXPOSED
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ince the inception of the Universal Film Magazine, we have fearlessly tackled and exposed many disreputable film festivals all over the world. From the Swansea Bay Festival in Wales, UK, to the Famewalk Film Festival in Los Angeles, to the Queens International Film Festival in New York, and many more all over the world that have taken advantage of filmmakers to make a tidy profit for themselves. Some of these festivals have perpetrated unconscionable scams such as selling awards, bestowing festival awards to their own or their friends’ films, and blacklisting filmmakers on a whim.
The Film Festival Guild was founded in 2006 and is operated by Stuart Brennan, a man who, by all appearances, is a successful actor, writer, director, producer and more. He has won an award for nearly every one of his filmic efforts. Surely he must be a gifted individual – or is he? Upon closer inspection, it turns out that Brennan may not be as gifted as it would seem. UFM has uncovered evidence that Brennan and his cronies have been using the Film Festival Guild and its festivals to shower themselves and their friends with accolades, while other filmmakers pay submission fees
to submit their films legitimately to the Guilds’ festivals for consideration. Many of these awards – handed out like candy at a kiddies’ birthday party – go to films produced by “Burn Hand Film Productions,” a company owned and operated by Stuart Brennan and his friend Neil Jones. Our investigation has shown that one of the more dubious festivals run by the Film Festival Guild is the Newport International Film Festival, operated at the Riverfront Cinema in Newport Wales, UK – not to be confused with the festival of the same name in Newport,
We are now faced with yet another breed of film festival animal: The Film Festival Guild (FFG). A small company based in Dorset, UK, FFG operates a number of film festivals, including the Newport International Film Festival, The British Independent Film Festival, The British Horror Film Festival, The British Animation Film Festival, and its new endeavour, The Hidden Film Festivals, allegedly based in Paris, Toronto, Dublin and London. All of these festivals are registered with the online submission provider, Withoutabox (WAB), making them eligible to receive submissions from the filmmaking community (more on Withoutabox later).
Owners of Burn Hand Film Productions Stuart Brennan and Neil Jones
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How can the Film Festival Guild give its own directors so many awards other filmmakers paid for..
Riverfront Newport Wales Rhode Island, USA, which went out of business some years ago. Confusion between the two festivals is understandable given that Brennan’s NIFF, out of Wales, UK, is using the same domain name and IMDb page held by the former USA NIFF before it went out of business.
Jones had a stellar year, winning awards left, right and centre – at Brennan’s own festivals. At the Newport International Film festival, “Risen” was again submitted, selected and nominated, winning Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and the Best Picture. At this stage it should come as no surprise that Brennan’s and Jones’ film won, despite many other filmmakers having submitted films to the festival for consideration. We (UFM) contacted Stuart Brennan, who told us that all of his awards are “audience choice” awards. Since we had been tipped off as to the festival’s suspicious activity, our former editor at-
tended the 2010-11 festival. After arriving, our former editor was turned away from an apparent full house (“standing room only”) by Stuart Brennan himself. After much debate, the UFM former editor was eventually admitted. According to our former editor, the screening room was three-quarters empty, and the small audience consisted of mainly the cast and crew of Brennan’s movie. Tyrone D. Murphy, UFM former Editor, said: “If this was being passed off as an audience choice award, then it was a slam dunk, no chance of losing.” Newport City Council made the following statement: “Newport City Council is not involved with the running of the
The first year that NIFF operated in Wales saw Stuart Brennan’s and Neil Jones’ Burnt Hand Film Productions win the awards for Best Feature and Best Actress for their own film “The Lost.” Here is their IMDb page for that year: http://www.imdb.com/event/ ev0000492/2007. This is just a taste of what was to come over the next few years. In 2008, “Jack Says,” a film produced by Simon Phillips and directed by Bob Philips, earned awards for Best Film and Best Actor at Brennan’s NIFF. The following year, Brennan managed to land a role in the movie, “Jack Said,” also produced by Simon Phillips. In 2009, another of Brennan’s and Neil Jones’ ultra-low budget films, “Risen,” won an award at that year’s NIFF. The fact that, at the time, the film was not even finished did not stop Brennan from giving his own film the award.
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2011 - Newport International Film Festival, Neil Jones and Stuart Brennan clean up at the NIFF awards from Brennan’s own festivals
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In 2010-11 Stuart Brennan and Neil
Stuart Brennat at the British Independant Film Festival with winnser Martha Pinson
Martin Scorsese
SCORSESE’S STRANGE BEDFELLOWS festival. It also does not endorse or promote the festival, except to include it in its programme of events on the website along with all other activities.” They did not say whether the NIFF will be held at the Riverfront in 2013. The Festival Guild state on their web site “An impressive student attendance rate means your film is not only going to get to be seen by film lovers, but the social networks will be buzzing once they’ve enjoyed it!” With this PR hook, which seemes to be targeting students, should it be a cause for concern that the NIFF is only 100 yards away from the Newport Film School where legions of young impressionable filmmakers are eager to have their work play at a festival. The Newport Film School issued the following statement in relation to the Newport festival: Professor Barry Atkins, Head of the School of Film, Photography and Digital Media at the University of Wales, Newport, said: “The University of Wales, Newport Film School has no connection to, or involvement with, the Newport International Film Festival. The University understands the importance of integrity to any awards process, and
would encourage the fair operation of any festival which showcases the work of talented filmmakers.” The Founder of the Iris Film Festival, a major festival in Wales had this to say “I’ve been involved with film festivals and film production since 1989. The idea of awarding your own work at your own festival is at best delusional, and possible dishonest. Most credible festivals who present awards ask independent juries to select the winners completely independent of the festival organisers, as is the case with the Iris Prize. The idea that any of the people involved with the Iris Prize were to submit their work into the Iris Prize is laughable. The idea that one of our films was to win the Iris Prize is even more hilarious! The Film Festival Guild invites website visitors to “EXPLORE OUR PREVIOUS FESTIVALS”. However, there is no link on the Film Festival Guild’s website for the Newport Film Festival prior to 2012, in fact there is no history going as far back as 2006. The only link is for the 2012 festival so it’s not possible to view the activity prior to this.
The Guilds website also state “The festival comes to a close with its highly respected Awards Ceremony, where the following honours are up for grabs” BEST FILM - BEST NEW SCREENPLAY - BEST ACTOR - BEST ACTRESS - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - BEST DIRECTOR BEST SHORT - WELSH DRAGON AWARD - AUDIENCE AWARDS. However, since 2006 onwards we now know that many of these awards have been awarded to Brennan and Jones own films. This activity is not limited to the NIFF – it’s a similar story with Brennan’s other Guild Festivals. We had an undercover reporter attend another one of their festivals; this time it was the British Independent Film Festival, which took place in the Poole Lighthouse Theatre in Dorset, UK. The Brennan/Jones film in “competition” here was “Masterpiece.” As with the Newport Festival, no advance tickets were available through the Guild as the screening was apparently sold out. Nonetheless our reporter managed to obtain a ticket in person, at the box office. As with the Newport screening, the room was almost empty, and yet the film won an award. “Risen”
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arose yet again at this festival, and was officially selected and a Q&A session after the screening with Mr. Brennan’s old pal, Neil Jones, the director. In 2011 at the Guild’s other festival, the British Horror Film Festival, and another of Brennan’s and Jones’ low-budget films from Burn Hand Film Productions, “The Reverend,” was officially selected and had its world premiere there.
Stuart Brennan Film Festival Guild Newport International Film Festival British Independant Film Festival British Amination Film Festival British Horror Film Festival The Hidden Film Festivals
Swansea Bay Film Festival Several of Brennan’s films were nominated and received awards from the Swansea Bay Film Festival – another notorious film festival that hit the headlines – run by Binda Singh. The festival rose to infamy over allegations that Mr. Binda Singh was running a scam operation that included at least 16 international film festivals. In 2006, the Brennan/Jones film, “The Lost,” was officially selected at the Swansea Bay Festival. Then, in 2008, their film, “The Feral Generation,” was also selected and won an award.
The Scorsese Connection – Strange Bedfellows We picked up on a post on the WAB forums made by Martha Pinson, who is a former script supervisor for Martin Scorsese. She asked if anyone had heard of the British Independent Film Festival. Apparently, she was nominated for an award at Brennan’s festival, although she had never heard of the little festival to which she’d submitted her script via Withoutabox. Pinson was obviously relying on Withoutabox to ensure the integrity of the British Independent Film Festival. We corresponded with Pinson at the time, as we were intrigued that Brennan had selected Pinson’s script for BIFF. We were very interested to see how Brennan would take advantage of the Pinson/Scorsese connection. It was revealed recently that Martin Scorsese himself is slated – along with Neil Jones – as executive producer for “Tomorrow,” a feature being co-written by Brennan. Martha Pinson is directing the film, which is to be produced by the pairs Burn Hand Film Productions. UFM wrote to Martin Scorsese’s agent, William Morris Endeavor, and to his production company, Sikelia Productions, several times, asking for a comment on the Film Festival Guild and the activities of Brennan and Jones. We have received no reply to date. Given the unethical history of the Brennan/ Jones oeuvre, it will be interesting to see how this proposed endeavour with Scorsese plays out. Withoutabox We contacted IMDb and Withoutabox and asked if this sort of activity is acceptable; we outlined the evidence, and we have not received a reply. Many of the festivals that UFM has exposed as disreputable have only one point of access to the world of filmmakers, and that is Withoutabox, a site which lets filmmakers submit their work to multiple festivals electronically. Though it could be argued that filmmakers should care-
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Companies TBFG LIMITED BURN HAND FILM PRODUCTIONS LIMITED POOLE NIGHT DOCTOR LIMITED Registered Office 7 Barbers Gate, Poole Dorset England, BH15 1ZA
fully research each festival to which they apply, many filmmakers rely on Withoutabox to do this for them. It seems that many may place their trust in Withoutabox simply because it is owned and operated by IMDb/Amazon. There’s an old saying that is pertinent here: buyer beware! Simply put, a filmmaker cannot rely on WAB to root out scam operations or disreputable festivals. WAB/ IMDb CEO and founder, Col Needham, was quoted as saying, ”We are running a business; it’s not our job to protect filmmakers’ money.” It is UFM’s contention, however, that WAB should take the steps necessary to ensure that filmmakers’ submission fees are safe from underhanded film festivals. It only makes sense, since they are, after all, making huge profits from the filmmaking and festival community. In addition, WAB has made it extremely difficult in the past for a film festival to choose another submission provider, as WAB had an exclusivity clause in their contract. WAB is now facing hostility from some areas of the festival community; for example, a Facebook group is advocating the boycott of Withoutabox. UFFO There is only one organization in the world we know of that is tackling this issue head on, and that is UFFO, the Universal Film and Festival Organization. The organization has a simple ten-point code of “Best Business Practices” which has been adopted by 192 international film festivals. The code is also a blueprint for filmmakers choosing which festival to which they’ll submit their work. UFFO is also free: www.uffo.org. Reviews An important question is why would filmmakers like
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The number of awards that Brennan and Jones have bestowed upon themselves and their films is staggering, and rather embarrassing from a professional filmmaker’s point of view. Despite the denials of Brennan’s Film Festival Guild, the fact remains that he submitted, programmed and selected his own films over a number of years, eschewing hundreds of submissions every year from unsuspecting filmmakers via Withoutabox.
FILM FESTIVAL GUILD, STUDIO 30, CLINK STREET STUDIOS, LONDON, SE1 4HS +44 (0) 20 7378 7840 info ‘@’ filmfestivalguild.com www.thefilmfestivalguild.com
UniversalFilm Film Universal Issue 9 - 2013
Brennan and Jones need to shower themselves with so many awards? Could it be desperation, insecurity or vanity? Perhaps an answer can be found in the fact that their films have been thoroughly panned by film critics. Here are some of the reviews for “Risen”: Hunts Post: “There are obvious budgetary restrictions, most evidently in the sparsely attended international fights and the way the director tries to hide Winston’s injured hand out of shot or under a towel, and the largely unknown cast often struggle with their performances, with uncomfortable pauses as they try to remember their lines.” Eye for Film: “With its lack of character insight and misdirected lack of focus, “Risen” is never going to be the knock out its central character once was. Jones is not going to bring in anyone new to the sport or Winstone with his poor storytelling, and with its shallow look at events and characters it’s not going to teach fans anything new or enlightening.” Best of Film: “It’s a shame, then, that director Neil Jones and his cast of relative unknowns fail so uniformly and entirely to bring any gravity or dramatic weight to a real life story that plays more like fiction than fact.” Guardian: “Unfortunately the film doesn’t quite get to grips with it on anything other than a superficial level.” Empire Online: “Stodgy fare that eulogises the man rather than delving deeply into his compelling life.” Total Film: “KO-ed by a flabby screenplay and lacking the money to do justice to the ’60s setting.” Endorsing Other Film Festivals Given all of Brennan’s shameless selfpromotion and self-bestowed awards, one would think that he would be satisfied with his own “achievements.” Well, apparently not. Brennan has now taken it to a whole new level, setting up the Film Festival Guild as an endorsing body or accrediting organization for other film festivals – a leader in the industry to look up to, a name to be trusted. As far-fetched as this sounds, the following
was posted recently on the Guild’s website: “To get your festival endorsed by the Film Festival Guild and get some of the many benefits such as cross promotion, industry endorsement, increased audience awareness and participation, please contact us directly, using the details above.” This sounds very plausible; even the name itself, “The Film Festival Guild,” has an air of authority. Of course, given the absence of any information to the contrary, it is understandable that some gullible film festivals have actually bought into the Film Festival Guild’s endorsement programme.
vals should be measured, is akin to this same dictator announcing that since he has achieved his idea of the perfect nation, others should follow suit. There is nothing more grotesque. – Fianna MacGregor, M.A., film journalist, New York “Such film festivals should be exposed and banned, and if required, Monopolies and Restive Practices Act brought against them. Such festivals are highly demoralising for filmmakers, and they should rise in protest. Maybe they should even boycott such bogus festivals.” – Jacob Isaac, Technical Director, SCRIPT ISFF, Kochi, India
These developments are more than a little disturbing. Should we now be concerned about the future of film festivals? Is it not reasonable to assume that if a film festival is to be regarded as practicing a standard of excellence, it should be fair, open and transparent in every way? Is the notion of a fair and ethical celebration of art becoming an unachievable ideal bound for the scrapheap?
“It is shocking that any group of people would freely and confidently exploit the concept of a festival, as one of the only vestiges for young filmmakers to show their works. Accepting entry fees for these festivals from aspiring and eager filmmakers is fraud when the festival is rigged. These people should be prosecuted under the law. – Patricia J. Pawlak , Distributor
Comments from the Industry
“It’s these types of actions that make it hard for legitimate festivals to function or profit. Sadly there is not much other festivals can do, as even some of the big name festivals participate in such practices. This is why the UFFO and other organizations are so important, and a reason for every filmmaker to do their homework before submitting their film to any festival.” – Joseph Hardin, HorrorQuest Film Festival, USA
“There is a code of conduct in place to eliminate any board member from participating in their own competition. If these festival organizers dare to award themselves they have transgressed the principles of ethical conduct, which will reflect on the credibility of their festival.” – Chantal Denoux, filmmaker, Australia “For film festival organizers to award their own films is a gaping chasm in the honorable ethics of the film festival and filmmaking community. When a breach of trust enters into the film festival world it undermines the hard work and vision of small, medium and large festivals around the world.” – Adrienne M. Anderson, International Black Women’s Film Festival “When Filmmakers and Film Festival Organizers, or any other creative body, generate and bestow awards on themselves, for doing exactly what they wanted to do without any meaningful jurying or competition, it is no different than a dictator awarding himself medals for ethnic cleansing. Such a practice not only cheapens the award system but it gives films, which might otherwise have been well received at other festivals, the taint of nepotism. Worse, to have these organizers set themselves up as the standard by which other festi-
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