Why do some Film Festivals not take DVD?

gorillaonabike said:

So that's what they don't take and why they don't take it. However, as someone who wants to enter a load of festivals, I would like to know what they do take and how do I get it onto that format from a Mac?

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For the submission copy, as we said, most just want an NTSC DVD. Should be able to author that from a bunch of different programs.

If you get in a festival big enough that want digibeta or something, you'll generally pay someone to create it for you.

The real question is why do so many festivals ONLY take DVD?

Nothing pisses me off more that paying to watch a film in a theater, only to find out that it's a straight DVD projection, which usually looks like total crap run on a cheap projector.

Film festivals are either very cagey or simply extremely dishonest about their prints these days. It used to be that festivals would list a film's format in their catalog (35mm, BetaSP, etc), but most festivals ended the practice so that they could get away will selling tickets to screenings of low-quality prints. And small festivals love showing DVDs, because they save enormous amounts of money on print shipping.

But unless these festivals are also honest about the quality and format of the prints shown, then it's simply a fucking scam. I say that they should go ahead and project DVDs if they want, BUT a) Tell us exactly what you're projecting, and b) Don't charge us the same $15 ticket price for low-quality screenings -- because they cost the festival much less to show them.

There is a move towards Blu Ray and projecting in HD.
As I enter festivals for my new film I'm seeing it more and more as an acceptable exhibition format.

I wanted to enter into some of the more popular/bigger name festivals such as: Sundance,

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Don't waste your money on submitting to Sundance. Sundance is like a Ponzi scheme for indie filmmakers. They should hang a sign that reads "we do not choose indie films for our festival but feel free to send us your money and enter."

Blade_Jones said:

Don't waste your money on submitting to Sundance. Sundance is like a Ponzi scheme for indie filmmakers. They should hang a sign that reads "we do not choose indie films for our festival but feel free to send us your money and enter."

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Oh, they choose indie films alright, they just have an interesting definition for what qualifies as "indie."

I'd only submit if I was really, really confident in my film.

wheatgrinder said:

Screenwriters comments make me wonder if the POOR quality of the WAB online screeers isnt a GOOD THING. Nobody would pirate the low quality.

Im not clear on one point.. are you demanding the submission copy back, or the presentation copy? Most say you wont get the submission copy back, so maybe again its a GOOD thing that the DVD is low quality?

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I ask for all of the copies back, and I tell them my reason. Most comply, some don't. Yeah, my point is though, if you've got a good film, guard it with your life. It'll one day hit BitTorrent, so it's good to prolong this event the best you can.

Wombat said:

Oh, they choose indie films alright, they just have an interesting definition for what qualifies as "indie."

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And fewer than 30 films are in competition at Sundance (out of hundreds) -- and those films get all of the attention and press. The best way to become a competition film is to develop your feature through the Sundance Lab program.

Scammy, indeed.

Any facade (and it was always a thin one) of being an "independent" film festival was stripped away from Sundance when they programmed The Butterfly Effect.