Honesty Is Not a Crime.

Independent cinema has become too polite.

We're tired of participation trophies and lukewarm reviews. You spend months on a film, sometimes years, and the only feedback you get is a rejection email. If you're lucky. Most festivals don't even bother with that.

Roast Film Fest exists to break that cycle. We created a festival where the feedback is the product. Not vague, not diplomatic, not designed to protect your feelings. Real critique: specific, actionable, and delivered with the kind of wit that makes it impossible to ignore.

The format borrows from the American comedy tradition of the roast: you submit your work, you sit in the hot seat, and you hear exactly what's wrong with it. But underneath the humor, there's genuine respect for your ambition. We roast because we believe you can do better.

We don't hate your film. We just love cinema too much to let you get away with mediocrity.

Every major filmmaker was told their work wasn't good enough at some point. The difference between those who made it and those who didn't? They had someone honest enough to say it, and they listened.

The festival circuit gives you silence. We give you fire.