ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

10 years, 4 months ago - Lucas Jedrzejak

I have several films and clips on Vimeo, protected by a password and unfortunately they also been leaked, watched and even embeded by people in countries I have no contacts or interest. This is very strange because China and a few other countries officially have no access to Vimeo but this seems to be one of the destinations where films end up. In my career, over the recent years, I noticed once someone's work comes out on terrestrial broadcast, it appears almost immediately on the next day on youtube platform, after that its all over the web. I think broadcasters and festival organisers no longer have the power, funds, resources or will to provide any protection to a filmmaker for 3rd party distribution. Its very sad though.

10 years, 4 months ago - Andrew Morgan

Heh. When I get around to finally releasing my film I was thinking of actually offering these site an 'official' copy of the film just so that it's not out in the wild horribly compressed and with washed-out highlights and black-levels. Piracy, even of short films and indie-productions seems inevitable. I even toyed with the thought of top and tailing it with a short explanation of the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it and pointing people to a place where they could legitimately buy or rent a copy if they wanted to support more films like it...

10 years, 4 months ago - Marlom Tander

Hi,

Annoying, as Hollywood has found....

Consider writing to the Festivals stating that your film has been pirated and NOT released by you.

But as to the source, are you sure that passworded Vimeo is the only one? Did you give any copies to cast/crew? If you did you can't rule out that they sent it to a third party producer (hoping to get hired) who sent it to his team member (how about this guy for the lead?) who...and soon it lands up on the site you found it on.

10 years, 4 months ago - Adriano Cirulli

If the film was really pirated through a film festival, that would be a very serious matter. Please keep us posted if you manage to track down who it was.

10 years, 4 months ago - Simon Mercer

Hi Alice,
Yes, this happened with my short as well- on a Korean and Russian website. Very bizarre, the stills they used weren't even anything official we had put out there but some screen grabs. That said, they offered downloads and streams but these did not actually work. Are you actually able to watch/download yours on these sites, or are they just listed there claiming you can? All these things are just done by automated bots combing for content. (as much as I'd love to think I have a secret Korean fanclub). Very unlikely you'll ever track down an actual human to pin this on. I think just about anything listed on IMDB or that has already had some write-ups or festival screenings is open to this happening. I've programmed for a couple of 'second tier' film festivals, and we would be well aware these types of sites are not legitimate and would not be your doing. Would only worry about it if you're aiming for top-tier screenings (Cannes, Toronto, etc)

S.

10 years, 4 months ago - A D Cooper

Thanks so much to everyone for all your input. When you've nigh on sold your grandmother for scrap to make a short, it's so galling.
I've tried to watch the streaming and the downloading on the Slovak site, and found my film has actually been given an American rating. That's all you can see without signing up, and I'm reluctant to give their website any credence by doing that.
But there's no way to know how they got it or prove where the leak is. What is interesting is that all names of the cast and credit have hyperlinks to their filmography including film posters and other accurate info. It's a familiar style. Oh blimey. #canofworms