Anyone know anything about the Berlin Independent Film festival ?

Nebosis said:

Hey guys, I know this is an old thread, but has anyone been to the Berlin Independent Film Festival last year? I would be extremely interested in your opinions on the festivals since a few aspects about this event do in fact look strange to me. My movie will be shown there this year. Thank you!

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I just re-read this whole thread and it looks like the festival is in fact legit, considering Donna's film "Johnny Ghost" is now listed on the site as the winner for Best Female Director, and the BIFF laurels are listed on her film's official site. It must have been a successful festival experience.

Glad to hear it worked out.

Hi there,
Yes I did attend the Berlin Independent film festival last year. As you could see, I was a bit pensive as I couldn't find much about it. Hunter, who was also on this thread attended as well. I put my film in really as I had never been to Berlin and wanted to go there - I am in Australia so it was a big journey.
I had the BEST time ! I know that others were a bit disgruntled with this festival as they were expecting more filmmaker events such as networking etc so if you speak to them they may give you a different view.
My husband and I went and I tried to make the most of it - being in a city where a top 5 festival and market was also going on.
The cinema - Babylon Kino - were the fest was playing was really good - great screen and good sound and with a caring projectionist that looked after my film. (No prob with a sound and picture check before). The cinema seats about 100 and my session was nearly full. Remember that I was a visitor so didn't know many peeps there (the local filmmakers sessions were packed) but I did my marketing through my FB page and found quite a few people that lived/going there so I was able to give them comps (the fest offered about 10 or 20 comps to each film - can't remember but that was a bonus) and I worked twitter etc as well. I also went to the EFM and made connections with some poeple to open conversations for my next films. I won that award which helped and now I have local and international distro ! At that fest I met a guy who played my film at a festival in Canada and some other people that reviewed it. The organiser Claudine was helpful to me (other people may have a different story) but I had no problem - since this was their first outing and running another festival in the shadow of the Berlinale would be such a BIG CHALLENGE ! If you can get there I would go - obviously these smaller festivals won't give you the connections that playing in the Berlinale can do but if you make it work for you as I think i did, you can get a lot out of it.
Hope this helps = happy to answer any questions - remember mine was a feature so worth the trip. (Once I knew it was playing in a cinema that was the clincher for me - I wouldn't have done it if it was playing on a sheet on the wall - believe me I have seen that happen !!
What is your film?

Great post - congrats on the award & thanks for updating us

thanks for your kind words mlesemann,
It does pay to do your festival homework first and really be discerning as there are only so many submission fees you can afford ! After sending my film to a few BIG fests and not getting in I soon realised that it would be wasting my money to continue so i went the underground route. It was a much better fit and I did SO much better. I decided not to send it to many - mainly where I would like to go - so we travelled quite a few places with it and always the reception was great. I would tell anyone to travel with their film as the rewards are there. You meet great, like minded people and it's fun ! Also, going to a strange city with an instant friend quota is amazing !
Although I have heard about fests that are a scam, I would make sure it would be worth my while to go. That's why connecting with Hunter was so valuable on here. They didn't have as far to go but they still travelled. I noticed that Nebosis is living in Germany so I would be there in a flash ! In fact I wish I was going again !! hahaha

As someone who is waiting to hear back from many festivals, I'm a little bit worried about getting into some that I can't afford to travel to :/

Hi moonshieldmedia,
well that is a consideration so just pick the best one for you and your film and try to go there !
I understand that you can't get to them all - I certainly didn't - but if you can get to one or two of them it's really beneficial. But make sure it's worth your while - it's a lot of money - so always check the festival out !
Good luck with your film - hope you get some good news soon

donnam said:

Hi moonshieldmedia,
well that is a consideration so just pick the best one for you and your film and try to go there !
I understand that you can't get to them all - I certainly didn't - but if you can get to one or two of them it's really beneficial. But make sure it's worth your while - it's a lot of money - so always check the festival out !
Good luck with your film - hope you get some good news soon

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Thanks for the encouraging words.

I'm a little bit curious as to the prize money or sponsorship prizes in goods/services that filmmakers receive from festivals. Did you walk away with money or anything tangible from the mid-tier festivals? I would imagine if a film is good enough and won enough awards, those trips could pay for themselves.

Also, any assorted muffin gift baskets?? because that's the real reason I make films

Wow, I am new to this Forum and I am overwhelmed by how all the kind and helpful responses to my recent post! Thank you so much, donnam, for telling me about your experience at BIFF. Now I am really looking forward to travelling to Berlin next month! You are actually right. I live in Munich, so that is really not very far compared to the travel you have made last year My movie "Black Box" is a 20 minutes short about a scientist and his mental projection from a cat to his girlfriend. Sounds a bit weird, I know
I am also very relieved to hear that you had a good projection and sound quality at the Babylon Cinema last year! It's good to have a caring projectionist on your side

Hi Moonshieldmedia,

Hmmm - let me see - I think I got one or two 'showbags' from a festival but nothing great to speak of. One in particular, STUFF, South Texas Underground FF, (again I entered because I had always wanted to go to Texas) had great mixers - lots of food and beer ! I think there was a muffin basket !! haha

In the lower tier festivals I think it's very rare if you got flown there but some offer you accommodation, transfers etc and look after you. I have never won any money only the title of the award and in some of them a certificate or trophy. My film was an ultra low budget film so wasn't expecting anything like that. But what I got was exactly what i wanted - a film festival screening history and distro. The awards were a bonus. Maybe someone else can account for all those sponsorship prizes - I am giong to try for those with my next film !!!

Hope you have had some good news festival wise overnight !

(sorry - just realized there are emoticons !!!!!! )

Hi Nebosis,
Great ! Glad you are going !!! Hope its a fantastic experience for you. Let us know. Safe travels

Hunter7 said:

Hi Donna,
I was also accepted into BIFF for my feature screenplay. Congrats on getting accepted btw! What did you make? Feature or short?

It's pretty hard to find much about the Berlin Independent Film Festival (besides their website), but I did find one article that described it as 'prestigious', so it looks legit! You can see it here: http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/industry-news/2013/jan/125619-short-film-steams-to-berlin

Also there's a lot of chatter on Twitter from people who were accepted, so you shouldnt be too worried about it.

It's also going on when the European Film Market is happening in Berlin, though it wont have any crossover as far as I know.

Will you be attending? Should be a blast! And good luck!

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Hi I just saw this thread and was wondering what your experience was like at the festival now that it is probably over?