I can’t afford to ship my film, can you pay?…
And when we say we cannot pay, said filmmaker gets quite belligerent. This suggests that you are not following Tip #2. If you did, you’d see that while we do pay for return shipping and are always willing to forward your film to another festival, we do not have the means to pay for the shipping of your film TO the festival. This goes for Panorama and Competition films. Think about this before you enter. If you ain’t got the mullah to ship, then don’t enter.

Beta transfers.
A minor problem… but again we make it VERY clear that we cannot accept PAL system Beta tapes (sorry… I didn’t make up this ridiculous region system)… yet every year we get blasted because for not accepting PAL (suggesting, again, that Tip #2 was overlooked). In a lot of cases we do make transfers, but they cost us about $70 (CAD) per five- to 10-minute film. It’s not just an issue of money. When we make a transfer from the PAL tape you send, you’re losing a generation during the procedure. So you’re, let’s say, 40-year-old Pops comes out looking 50 with 10 extra pounds. And you can guess what happens next… this unable-to-pay-for-a-tape-but-able-to-pay-for-an-international-flight filmmaker shows up at the festival and gets all heated when his/her film don’t look so good up on the screen (and hey… we have damn good video projection so don’t go there pallie.) Bad situation all ‘round.

A little Sugar, Baby.
We’re generally pretty proud of the films that win at Ottawa. Every year we try and organize Best of Ottawa programs that tour around North America and, sometimes, Europe or Asia. These tours are a MAJOR pain in the rectum to organize, but we do it because it promotes our festival and we’re trying to ensure that short animation gets seen by as many folks as possible. But ya know what? How about a little return on that? How about some of you winners listing your award win in Ottawa (or any other animation festival for that matter) on your festival poster, press sheets, videos, DVDs or even a film print?

Some of you animators are sluts. You’ll love animation festivals like moist whores until you get your film into a live-action festival and then suddenly you tighten up like a nun. All that matters now is Cannes, Venice or Berlin. And yeah… I get it… you just want to be accepted period… not just within the realm of animation. You wanna be loved by everyone and not just treated as one of those retards from that “special” world of animation.

Animation festivals EXIST to show your films, and the least you can do is acknowledge these festivals if you win an award. Why aren’t you putting that Grand Prize from Ottawa, Annecy, Stuttgart, Holland, etc.… on your posters? If we’re not good enough for you, then why the fug are you even entering your film in our festivals? You owe it to you and us to show your award off. It helps you. It helps us.

That goes for studios too. If you win the Best TV Show award in Ottawa or Annecy, I wanna see/hear you telling people about it. A motley crew of international animation folks from wide and diverse backgrounds are judging you. If they’ve chosen your show… that’s a pretty high compliment. Take it, embrace it, flaunt it, lick it.

I know that you spend a lot of time and money making stills, videotapes, film prints, paying for postage and posters etc… All I’m asking is that you take more care when you’re sending your films to festivals. Certainly read the entry forms, but also find out more about the festival you’re submitting too. Don’t just go to their Website… cause you ain’t gonna find anything objective there. Post questions on discussion forums, ask other animators, do a Google search, see if there are some (ha ha) past reviews of the festival. There are a lot of festivals appearing and disappearing each year and you owe it to yourself to take better care of your work. I mean you spent all this time and energy on it, so why wouldn’t you care more about where it’s being shown?

As a writer, I send out articles and manuscripts. I make sure that I read the requirements of the magazine/publisher carefully before I send anything. I also check out what they published before and keep track of every place I’ve sent my material. This IS pain in the ass work, but folks, it’s part and parcel of the artistic process. The work does not end when you finish the film or manuscript… that’s just the beginning.

P.S. Ottawa is going annual as of 2005. You heard it hear first.

P.P.S: Before SAFO 03 we had maybe two to three Panorama filmmakers decide VERY late in the game that they were not going to send us their film to screen. That's an INCREDIBLE pain in the ass. Not only are you screwing up our program but more importantly you've just taken away space that could have gone to a fucking filmmaker WHO WOULD HAVE APPRECIATED THE SCREENING TIME.

A few (not many) of you seem to think that being accepted for Panorama is a slap in the face. How's that? You're being shown in the same venue as the competition films and being seen by the same audience? So you're not gonna get a chintzy prize or small amount of cash... big deal... neither are 95% of those in competition.

In fact, most folks I know actually prefer the Panorama screenings and often go there looking for overlooked gems.

Chris Robinson is but a man. His hobbies include squirrel taunting, goat thumping, meat dancing and elderly peeping. You can find the results at http://asifa.net/robinson. Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.