International Film festivals can be an exciting place for filmmakers to get an audience outside their own circles. However one man seems to be ruthlessly exploiting film makers. In May 2005 Binda Singh created The grandly named 'Academy of Media, Recording, Interactive, Television & Stage Arts' (AMRITSA). Recently filmmakers have been sharing their experiences of the shambolic AMRITSA events, most notably his Swansea Bay Film Festival.

My own films were shown at the first Swansea bay film festival in 2006. I joined other filmmakers outside the finale festival dinner as none of us could afford the overpriced supper. Whilst chatting we realized that we all had the same experiences. No published programme, no posters, no advertising of any kind so not surprisingly no audiences.Meanwhile during the corporate gala dinner my films was announced as winning 2 awards. These turned out to be an empty tin can, sprayed gold and stuck to a piece of MDF. So no money is being spent on the awards.

Four years on and very little has changed. While I only traveled 3 miles for the Swansea Bay festival, one couple traveled 7000 miles from California in 2010 to be told by the festival founder, Binda Singh that 'it was up to the filmmaker to find and bring the audience to the showing of their film, Boyhood Shadows .'

Not to be deterred, Steve Rosen,and his co-director Terri DeBono, went out into Swansea, a city they had never been too before, and managed to persuade people to attend their showing. Unannounced Binda Singh decided to change the time and venue. The filmmaker did what filmmakers do best- they picked up their camera. Their film 'Looking for an Audience' has been released on Swansea Telly which follows their journey from the USA to Swansea, collecting interviews with other film-makers who attended the festival from Denmark, Scotland and USA. It is a shocking insight into an event which has actress Swansea born Catherine Zeta Jones (photo) as a patron and Port Talbot born Michael Sheen (photo) as vice president. When I asked Steve if he saw any publicity for the festival anywhere in Swansea he replied-

'No. In fact even the place I rented the tux (for the festival gala dinner) didn't know about the festival, and Binda sent us there!'

When asked why Steve made his film about his journey to the festival he said
'We had an Executive Producer for BOYHOOD SHADOWS who graciously paid for our trip to Wales.There is an obligation of accountability when you're spending someone else's money. This little film is the result of the promise we made to our funder to document our experiences at the festivals in lieu of her attending.'

Their video can be watched here  http://swanseatelly.org/video/60/looking-for-an-audience-swanse

Once again no programme was printed for the 2010 festival, no synopsis of the films are published online, and no visible signs of any advertising for the festival around the city. So again no audiences. The film makers paid $100(£63) to have their film chosen for the Swansea Bay film festival.

Another film-maker drove across the UK, from Kent, to attend the awards ceremony only to be ushered into the bar. Colin Holt recalled;
'We sat in our hired tuxes watching the goings-on upstairs on a plasma screen, along with plenty of other disgruntled attendees who also didn't want to pay £50 to have dinner...It was a complete waste of time, money and effort.'

Another director traveled 600 miles to the Swansea event and explained;
'I turned up with my other half at the start time advertised to us in emails and weblinks, only to find out that the place wasn't even open yet. Eventually we got fed up and went for a walk, returning half an hour later to discover that, an hour after schedule, Mr. Singh and co had arrived.'

He described the room that had been set up for the showing of films;
'A poorly calibrated, off-colour projector against a battered old screen. left the room feeling very disappointed, not just for my film, but for all the other filmmakers who had spent their money and effort getting to the 'festival'.'

An AMRITSA spokesperson explained in an email to a German film-maker;
'Binda Singh founded AMRITSA, and its role is to act as an umbrella organisation or one-stop-shop for film makers who wish to access international film festivals without needing to apply to events separately.'

While his website states 'AMRITSA Film Festivals do NOT charge an entry fee until you have selected status. Unlike many other film festivals which charge you just to enter, AMRITSA Film Festivals put you, your film and your money first.'
So if a film maker enters their film via AMRITSA, they shouldn't be surprised that all 10 festival have chosen their film to be shown. Since all the festivals are linked directly to Binda Singh, it is clearly in his own financial interest to get each film maker paying $30 for each festival. However having their film shown in his festivals could mean 4 chairs in a broom cupboard in Ireland or a portable TV in a corner in South Africa. With no festival expenses such as a programme or posters, the $30 appears to be profit for Singh, while his website claims 'Enter now, you've nothing to loose'(sic)

One Australian film maker recently submitted her film to the AMRITSA Gay film festival and was surprised to receive an invitation to screen her film in Ten other AMRTISA festivals. She declined when AMRITSA requested $330 from her.

Michael Sheen, is vice president of the Swansea Bay Film festival.In his online video (displayed on this page), the Hollywood actor from Port Talbot states that 250 videos were shown last year in the Swansea Bay Film Festival. Do the simple maths (250 x $30 = $7500 (£4700).Since Singh gets his venues for free, spends nothing on publicity or programmes, where does this cash go? AMRITSA accounts show no sign of any income so what happens to the cash? AMRITSA accounts clearly display Cash in bank as only £1 on March 31 2010.
Replicate this with 10 other festivals worldwide and you get a picture of how Mr Singh is funding his lifestyle.His latest scheme is persuading filmmakers to pay him $40 to upload their own films to his amateurish website.

I asked the Vice President of Swansea Bay Film Festival- Hollywood actor Michael Sheen who replied;
'Allegations of financial misdealings are obviously very serious and those making the claims, as well as those that the claims are about, need to be sure that they are working with fact.'

On March 16th I received official confirmation that Michael Sheen has withdrawn his vice-presidency of the Swansea Bay Film Festival. He gave his reasons in the following statement;
'When I first got involved with the Festival, I was happy to be a part of something that was encouraging young and new filmmakers. The inclusivity of the Swansea Film Festival was something I felt could benefit a lot of people. However, I am concerned about a film festival that does not have the quality of its films as a top priority.'

Michael Sheen continued;
"While there are so many issues unresolved at present, no matter what the agenda of those raising those issues may or may not be, I feel until those issues have been resolved openly and fairly, I need to withdraw my endorsement."



Singh's chaotic Swansea Bay film festival is not an isolated event.The Swansea man is running similar festivals in Australia, Egypt, USA, Ireland, Thailand, as well as the Caribbean amongst others.His South African Film Festival last year was such a shambles that it ended with Singh dumping all the DVD's on an unsuspecting audience member before he left the country. A Canadian film maker who traveled to the festival explained Singhs management style. She said
'it is important to note that B.S blames the locals on poor organization and when I confronted him about the film festival, he just said it was all the locals' fault and he had nothing to do with it. All the local South Africans did their very best and they weren't given any information or tools to accomplish the job.'

South African newspapers and media journals have written about the festival describing it as the 'Phantom film festival' writing that AMRITSA South African International Film Festival 'had no publicity material, no programme, only make-shift screening facilities, hardly any audiences and no jury.Despite this, at the end of the festival a long list of films that had won in many categories was published.'

Another film maker who also traveled to South Africa wishes to remain anonymous said;
'There was no audience, only other duped independent film makers. Between us we made the most of it, but unfortunately that wasn't much at all. The "gala dinner" drew upon local businesses and media, none of who attended any of the screenings. The screening rooms were pathetic empty spaces where a lousy projector was hooked up to the left channel of a semi-working PA system. The projectionist would throw things on at random and stop films mid-credits.'

Singh creates the jury for the film festival awards in a bizarre way. To nominate a film for one of the numerous awards in his festivals, a person has to first pay £25 to join AMRITSA.In an email exchange with one AMRITSA member, Binda Singh appears to be stating that film-makers can win awards just by paying for them. Singh wrote;
'Unfortunately every process no matter how we attempt to safeguard it, the ingenuity of those focused on winning, will always find a crack.Even the £25 fee to join AMRITSA doesn't deter folk who just WANT that nomination... irrespective of the quality of the piece.... or the price they pay.'

One film-maker, who is a paid up member of AMRITSA complained;
'I have never received any information about awards, nominations, meetings, bylaws,
rules, regulations..nothing. Basically my 25 quid was sucked into the void and while my name appears listed as a "member" that is the sum totality of what I got.'

Binda Singh's festivals, including the Swansea event, is focused on the dinner for the corporate sponsors and the celebrities he can attract (few of whom bother to attend any of the film showings). Film-makers are generally excluded from the gala, unless they can afford £50 per head. With glitzy dinners and celebrity presenters, Singh uses that one evening to present his festival as a well organised event. By inviting the local newspaper editor to present one of the numerous awards, he has ensured uncritical media reviews from the South Wales Evening Post. However the newspaper which produced enthusiastic video podcasts promoting the festival in 2007 has now backed away from being involved.

Cathy Duncan, Assistant Editor of the South Wales Evening Post said
'The South Wales Evening Post has sponsored the festival in the past but was not a sponsor in 2010. We covered it for our publications as we would any sizeable event in the city. We have no plans to sponsor the festival in the future.'

The main company engaged in promoting Swansea is also no longer involved in Singh's event. Fiona Rees of Swansea Bay Futures said
'We did have some involvement with the Film Festival in the first couple of years - providing welcome packs for visitors from outside the area who were staying in the region and hosting a reception for the international film makers - but have not been involved since 2008'

None of this has affected Singh, as he displays no signs of stopping, creating International film festivals in West Wales in Llanelli.. For 2011, he has created a Gay film festival,Digital Arts and also a Youth event.Singh appointed a new director for his Spiritual festival- a man who operates under the pseudonym of Darren Michael and promotes himself as Psychic Darren- the clairvoyant medium.

Having high profile celebrities as Patrons of his events is a key part of Binda Singh's operations. In March 2011 Huw Edwards of BBC News was listed as a Patron of Singh's 'International Film Festival of West Wales', at least until I contacted Mr Edwards agent with my findings. The BBC news anchor is no longer involved.

Singh has still managed to keep the local radio stations on board as supporters, perhaps because he was a presenter for Swansea Sound, The Wave and Real Radio Wales from 1995 to 2000. Meanwhile as the pressure grows on the Swansea Bay Film Festival, Karen Struel-White, the festival Executive Director finally acknowledged that there was a problem and released this quote;
'Its a great shame when some excellent films get small audiences and we share the disappointment of film makers who fail to get the numbers they would wish to see attend their screenings. To that end we are increasing the number of venues for 2011

This shows how AMRITSA have ignored what the problem actually is. Just having more places to show the films is not enough. If anything, this suits Binda Singh as more venues means he can squeeze more films into over packed schedules, hence taking even more money from film-makers. Since AMRITSA made their statement, two venues have pulled out of the Swansea Bay film festival while others are considering their position. Their logos have been removed from the Swansea Bay Film Festival website.

On the AMRITSA website is a list of people who make up the 'Swansea Bay Film Festival Team'.Alongside a photo of Swansea Councilor Nicolas Bradley, is a few paragraphs of his supposed involvement. However when I pointed this out to the Councilor he replied 'I am certainly not a member of the festival team' adding he has 'never actually been to one of the events'. He also replied 'some of that statement is completely made up!'

Why is there so many discrepancies in this festival? Just what exactly does Binda Singh and his company AMRITSA hope to achieve?

The 6th Swansea Bay Film Festival takes place in May 2011. Binda Singh is using the event for self promotion by premiering his new play entitled 'Encore'.The new main venue will be Apollo Cinema in Port Talbot, hometown to actor and former festival vice president Michael Sheen. They have offered the venue for this year's festival for free.

A spokesperson for Apollo Cinema told me;
'We do not have any involvement with the organising and running of the Festival, and will continue not to.'

Apollo Cinemas continued to say:
'Until your email alerted us to the growing number of complaints from filmmakers about Mr Singh and his company, AMRISTA, we have not directly received any complaints.'

Perhaps this is how Mr Singh operates.By moving his venue from Swansea to Port Talbot, perhaps he hopes to leave the criticism behind. But I am getting reports from film-makers who have entered their films but are now contacting AMRITSA demanding to withdraw and have a full refund. Perhaps in a desperate attempt to divert the criticism, Binda Singh has closed submissions a month early to his Swansea Bay Film Festival. Originally planned to close on April 1st 2011, his website stated on March 3rd that 'SBFF 2011 deadline for entries has expired.'

I smell panic in the air. Most film makers enter their films in the last few weeks for festivals so I suspect he is battening down the hatches and waiting for the barrage of criticism coming his way. On March 12th 2011, Binda Singh radically changed his AMRITSA website. Gone are any links to his AMRITSA portfolio of 'actors' and his 'video on demand channel'. Now it just links to a page stating that his events are now being run by a William E. Edwards under the name of Planet Film Festival.

It is important that film-makers understand the full story about AMRITSA / Planet festivals, before they part with their hard earned cash and films.

The latest sponsor is TheBestofSwansea . Elizabeth Hollingworth-Evans of Thebestof/swansea told me her company plans to write blogs and interviews about the festival. She said; 'We are not organising the event nor are we being paid for this service as we publicise all local events for free for the benefit of the community and those coming to Swansea'

In theory anyone can post their own review (or testimonial) of the festival,but in practice only reviews supporting Binda Singh and his festival are being allowed to appear. The only published testimonials allowed so far are by people linked directly to Binda Singh and mostly directors of his events. Perhaps it is worth posting your own experience of the Swansea bay Film festival?

However any testimonials which don't give glowing reports about the event will not be published. Instead Elizabeth Hollingworth-Evans stated they will be 'passed onto the businesses for them to deal with...It is up to them to deal with any negative feedback.'
If thebestof does not publish your review, please post it in the comments section below.

On March 30th the mainstream press finally took notice and published an article in both the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail about the festival. However I find it laughable that Binda Singh is allowed to frame the serious issues surrounding his Swansea Bay Film festival as a simple tale about his Hollywood star being harassed by journalists.Mr Singh is quoted as "It is obvious why Michael Sheen has withdrawn. He is being harassed and asked questions for which he has no answers."

Micheal Sheen was vice president of the event so he should spend the time to find those answers. He needs to pull his finger out and work out what is going on in any event which uses his status to promote itself to film-makers worldwide. This event needs a full investigation into the allegations being raised.

Written by Paul O'Connor, co-founder of Undercurrents- an award winning alternative news service  http://www.undercurrents.org