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Berlin International Film Scoring Competition - Register Now

arafaratanran said:
They should call it Sofia Scoring competition and everything would be ok! Isn’t there a law against using a city’s name in such a fraudulent way? Actually, they should also not give it the Sofia tag, as it seems to be exclusively an online thing with no actual event taking place in the real world.
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The word "fraudulent" is quite strong and specific (fraud is well defined by law and this is not fraud). As far as I know, there is no law preventing someone from calling a festival with the name of any city, and why should it?

Other issue would be if they were claiming that they are representing or speaking in the name of Berlin, it's government or its artists, but as far as I know, calling your festival "Berlin" is as illegal as buying a T-shirt with the text "New York" from a french fashion chain in Italy, or calling your Spanish rock band "Toronto's connection", there's nothing wrong about it in my humble opinion.
 
BosquesDeMiMente said:
The word "fraudulent" is quite strong and specific (fraud is well defined by law and this is not fraud). Be careful with throwing it out easily. As far as I know, there is no law preventing someone from calling a festival with the name of any city, and why should it?

Other issue would be if they were claiming that they are representing or speaking in the name of Berlin, it's government or its artists, but as far as I know, calling your festival "Berlin" is as illegal as buying a T-shirt with the text "New York" from a french fashion chain in Italy, or calling your Spanish rock band "Toronto's connection", there's nothing wrong about it in my humble opinion.
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If you think it is ok to use all kinds of misleading labels for marketing purposes, I guess we have to disagree on that. Also, I am not a person working in any branch of law, so it is irrelevant to judge my choice of words (or that of any other forum member) by that standard. And lastly, this is an international forum. Different countries have a very different ideas how fraud is defined, anyway.

But all of that is besides the point! I consider it fraudulent how these guys label their privately organised competition as if it was centred in the capital of Germany, while it is nothing more than an online-competition (and by the looks of it a profitable one for the organisers!). They abuse the name of that well-known city to fake some kind of gravitas. No kind of real-world legitimacy to use the word Berlin (e.g. OT Berlin Series because it is recorded in Teldex/Berlin) can be found about that competition. Whether that is actually fraud by law (in Germany ... or wherever the responsible people live), I am not qualified to say. I just say I consider it fraudulent by personal standards. I can also call it "highly pretentious" or "fake-show" if you prefer any of that.
 
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As I mentioned, I don't see anything misleading in using the word "Berlin". The band "Berlin" was from California, should they be called "Fraudulent" because they were "pretending" to be from another city?

Despite its name, Berlin did not have any known major connections with the sometime capital of Germany; the name was chosen to make them seem European and exotic.
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Do you even know if these guys are NOT in Berlin? The fact that the company is in Bulgaria does not mean they are NOT from Berlin. I am from Spain, live in Portugal (currently), and my company is in Estonia. I could easily organize a "Madrid festival" or even a "Lisbon festival" under my Estonian company, and that would be totally ok because I am from Madrid and live in Lisbon (so it won't be "fraudulent" to make something related to the city where I live or where I came from, I suppose?)...

With due respect, I honestly think you may be exaggerating a little bit. What harm are they causing by adding the name "Berlin" in the name. Do you feel cheated as in "Oh, I thought they were cool because they were in Berlin, but I won't pay a euro to take part in this awful awful festival from Bulgaria..." ?.
 
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I am afraid I have nothing to add or change about what I already wrote. All I can do is make another example to hopefully be clear about what I think: If some guys create an online competition, that is of course fine. If they collect money from participants, I don't think that is right and I would never take part (exceptions are legitimate competition with real prices and actual credibility), but it is still ok in my mind. But if the same guys call it a "Los Angeles Hollywood Film Scoring Competition" I expect them to make the event on Los Angeles. Whether the organizers are locals, I don't care! But it cannot be an online competition by some guys sitting in front of their laptops in underpants, otherwise I will call it pretentious, fake and ... fraudulent.
 
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Please take into account that, even if your reasoning was true, you are calling an organization "fraudulent" based on fake assumptions. You don't even know if these people (perhaps one of them?) are (is?) from Berlin and have a company in Bulgaria because it is more efficient, easy, or whatnot. Calling an organization "fraudulent" can get you into trouble if you cannot prove that your claims are true (that's called "defamation").

Apart from that, just relax, the world is today a more open, diverse, and multicultural place. After the pandemic, most of us work, organize festivals, collaborate, create music, and do a lot more stuff on our pijamas/underwear in front of our laptops. That's totally fine. This is no Cannes or Paris Fashion week, it is just a very indie film score festival.
 
arafaratanran said:
I am afraid I have nothing to add or change about what I already wrote. All I can do is make another example to hopefully be clear about what I think: If some guys create an online competition, that is of course fine. If they collect money from participants, I don't think that is right and I would never take part (exceptions are legitimate competition with real prices and actual credibility), but it is still ok in my mind. But if the same guys call it a "Los Angeles Hollywood Film Scoring Competition" I expect them to make the event on Los Angeles. Whether the organizers are locals, I don't care! But it cannot be an online competition by some guys sitting in front of their laptops in underpants, otherwise I will call it pretentious, fake and ... fraudulent.
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I do get the point, but in this case, I should stop saying I’m Ryan Gosling on dating websites…
 
I think that my last post has made quite clear, that my concern is not about where they come from! My very first post also made that clear. But you seem to belong to those people who don't actually read what someone else wrote and reply to something else. That does not make sense to me as a base for a meaningful conversation.
 
arafaratanran said:
I think that my last post has made quite clear, that my concern is not about where they come from! My very first post also made that clear. But you seem to belong to those people who don't actually read what someone else wrote and reply to something else. That does not make sense to me as a base for a meaningful conversation.
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Ok, can you please confirm that you know these guys are NOT from Berlin, speaking about not reading? Please enlighten us with your knowledge of this incredible fraud :D.
 
BosquesDeMiMente said:
Ok, can you please confirm that you know these guys are NOT from Berlin, speaking about not reading? Please enlighten us with your knowledge of this incredible fraud :D.
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Ok, I will just assume that your English is not good enough. Again: I do NOT care about where they are from. Please read ...
 
arafaratanran said:
Ok, I will just assume that your English is not good enough. Again: I do NOT care about where they are from. Please read ...
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Oh, disqualification and xenophobia, that's the expected answer when you run out of arguments. ;)

You should care where they are from. Assume for a moment that they read this and decide to sue you for defamation, and in fact it does not matter if they are from Berlin or not, what matters is that you are calling them fraudulent. Imagine by the way that they happen to be from Berlin...

Believe it or not, I am just making you a favor. If you don't like them, don't participate, but be more careful when you throw words such as "fraudulent" against companies or organizations without factual knowledge or proof.
 
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Ferenc Bátri said:
Yes, sharing entry is not prohibited, you will definitely not be banned for it. Only the sharing of the original material is.
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Hi Ferenc, great job, I like your entry!
I am not expert but I would be cautious as the rules state:

"5. Sharing the competition materials with third parties is strictly prohibited and it will lead to disqualification from the competition."

I think that posting it here is "sharing with third parties" and "materials" may also mean the submission material, in some way and I think it would be wise to remove it.
But, again, I am not claiming to be an expert on their rules and I do not belong in any way to the organization. It would just be a shame to loose the opportunity to compete or to have other participants raising the finger against it.
To add something, we've been given a unique code to be anonymous...

Great job in any case and congratulations also to the others!
Fabio
 
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