Reviews

Reviews are a special addition to what Schweitzer Lakedance has offered its entering filmmakers since its inception. At a very minimal cost, filmmakers can learn why their film was or was not accepted into the year's festival.

If a filmmaker requests a review when entering, the screening committee and judges will record their summarized opinions of five categories: visual, audio, creative, technical, and overall. This is done specifically for the review and is not included in any judging for our competitions.

These reviews are honest and insightful, they are meant to be a third party's opinion for the filmmaker into the merits or shortcomings of their film. For some, simple oversights in editing, audio or visual mastering may be strong enough to make a film unprojectable, and yet how is this filmmaker to know?

Our festival has received many compliments from filmmakers for offering this service, and we are pleased that it has been used so effectively. There has even been an example of one filmmaker who received our review, took our comments seriously, "fixed" what we suggested, submitted their film the following year and were accepted! What's even more amazing is this filmmaker had no idea that we had changed names from 2006 to 2007, so we knew before they did!

Your review will be sent on or before August 8th, 2008 if your film is not accepted. If your film is accepted, your review will be sent by September 26th, 2008. The format is in .doc and is on one page.

Here is a sample from 2007 with names changed: