Oxford and Jerks

So a bunch of months ago, for my final masters degree project, I did a documentary film called Book Whore.

It was all about the lengths authors go through to pimp books, and it was shockingly joyful. I loved every minute, learned a lot, truly dug the process.

Anyhow, just for kicks I entered Book Whore for consideration to a small handful of film festivals. I knew it was a super longshot. Like, the film is severely flawed and done by an amateur non-filmmaker on an iPhone. But, still, it cost about $10 a pop to submit. So … I submitted.

Yesterday I was officially rejected by the Oxford (Miss.) Film Festival. They sent me this e-mail, which was fair and kind and fine …

So, of course, I asked for the feedback. Because … why not? And it was mostly cool and kosher. There were 10 judges, scoring on a scale of 1-to-10. I received:

3.1

7.3

5

3

7

5.2

9.6

5

1.8

6

3.3

It’s a weird totaling, not unlike the Leonard-Hagler scorecard. I probably would have given me a 5 or 6. The woman also sent along comments. Some loved the film, some liked the film, some took issue with the film. There was a lot of good advice offered, mainly about sound quality, tone, etc. And then, lastly, there was this. It has to be from the person who gave me a 1.8 …

Hmm … “Book Whore,” a film about the difficulties in selling books today or a self-indulgent venture by Jeff Pearlman. Perhaps Pearlman’s books are difficult to sale [sic] because they are as random and boring as this film.

Now, I am, admittedly, thin-skinned. But not about this. Again, it was an end-of-semester project that was fun and quirky. Nothing more. What I will say, however, is I loathe people who anonymously write comments like the one above. A. Who the fuck are you? B. You can’t give me something constructive? C. Who the fuck are you? D. The power of anonymity.

Ugh.