This documentary short was posted to YouTube about a year ago but it's taken a while for it to reach my notice. In the film, doc filmmakers Steve Rosen and Terry DiBono chronicle what they expect to be an exciting and productive trip to the Swansea Bay International Film Festival to exhibit their doc feature, Boyhood Shadows. Unfortunately they (and other filmmakers depicted in the short) felt that the festival failed to deliver on its promises.
Of course this is the story of a festival as viewed through the eyes of these filmmakers, but it certainly seems like a haphazard event that doesn't represent the good that festivals can do. There are always filmmakers who feel entitled to certain perks from festivals but that doesn't seem to be the case here. The loss of both Michael Sheen and Catherine Zeta Jones as festival patrons doesn't bode well either. It's too bad – Swansea Bay seems like a beautiful place to attend a festival.
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