Rejected from Sundance.

Sweeney Jet

Sweeney Jet

A while back, I posted a few questions here about lighting before making my first feature. Well, I finished my movie and worked hard on it, all on my own. Sent it to Sundance, they said its not worthy (hmph).... and now basically, I wanna do this: win some sort of festival awards that are WINNABLE and try to sell my film to a small distributor or even smaller distributor to make money, so I can buy better equipment as well for my next film. That's where I need some advice. I don't know where to begin with that.

Here's info and trailer on my first feature: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1494605/
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Sent it to Sundance, they said its not worthy (hmph)
Click to expand...

Well, maybe it's not, man.

I've seen a looooot of films that are just terrible, but whose creators can't reasonably accept how the film turned out.

However, there are tonnes of other film-fests out there. If your film is kinda horror/campy (which it sounds like, according to your IMDB), then you're really in luck. A shoe-in for TromaDance, for example.

Make a free account at Withoutabox.com, and start reading and strategising. Find the fests that (honestly) best suit your films. Keep an eye out for niche film-fests that spotlight certian genres that your film falls into. You can save a lot of money by sending it in early. Even so, the costs will rack up fast - unless you actually have a contact at each fest.

There are a few notorious fests to stay away from - the "pay and play" ones, which essentially show anything provided you pay a large chunk of money up front. Everyone's a winner!... except your wallet, and street-cred ('cos everyone will know and roll their eyes, when you proudly display the "award" leaf that every single person gets.)

Good luck with it! And good luck with your distro-hunting, too. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Google search film festivals - I'm not sure where, but I found a pretty cool breakdown of what individual film festivals generally look for - Sundance - one of their big categories was named actors - its not really an indie festival, its mini Hollywood
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You should improve the trailer. it is hard to understand and doesn't give us much idea of what the story is. a more straight forward trailer with narration might work better. On a more positive note, I like the bloody shirt and some of the locations are interesting.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The sound needs improving and that may be part of the reason but overall the video quality is lacking not sure if it is the camera or the lighting that is off maybe both. That probably is the reason for not getting in Sundance. But I am only judging from the trailer. Also, how many zombie moives has there been lately too many and that probably is another reason. If you try horror festivals I think you'll have more luck getting in. I agree the tailer does need improving as far as making it more exciting.


Just figured out this is an old thread. Sorry guys for bumping it up.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top