Write it like they’ll read it
Because they will. Every word, probably more than once, about something they spent months making. That doesn’t mean being soft — it means being useful.
Criticise the film, never the person
“The third act loses me” is feedback. “You clearly have no idea what you’re doing” is not. The first one tells them where to look; the second tells them nothing and costs them something.
Harsh is fine. Vague isn’t.
You are allowed to dislike a film and say so. What we ask is that you say where and why. “Underwhelming, expected better” is the single most common comment in this festival’s public threads and it has never once helped anybody.
Not allowed
- Abuse, threats, or anything aimed at who someone is rather than what they made.
- Hate speech or harassment of any kind.
- Promoting your own film, or any links, handles or contact details.
- Reviewing a film you worked on, or one belonging to someone you know — swap instead, it’s free.
- Reusing the same text across films, yours or anyone else’s.
If a review crosses a line
Every review has a report button, and a creator can hide one while a moderator looks at it. Reviews caught by the language filter are held before the creator ever sees them. Moderators can suspend an account; they can never edit what someone wrote, and they can never tell a creator who reviewed them.
If you’re on the receiving end
Read them at your own pace, one at a time if that’s easier. Mark the ones that helped — it’s the main thing that decides whose reviews get shown first. If something in a review didn’t happen in your film, say so: that flag is taken seriously and it is checked.