Rejected

I had a VERY strong run with my last film, it had a very high acceptance rate, meaning I got into 8 of the 30 festivals I submitted to. If you're going to play the festival game you better get the thick skin of a door to door salesmen because "no" will outnumber ""yes" 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 to 1.

We've enter 6 and been very lucky. We were selected 2 times. You really have to be picky about your festivals. Some are a total waste of time, not because they are small, but because they are so large. Our poor film didn't stand an ice cubes chance in hell at SXSW. There were 4000 or more entries for a small selection of time. I believe in having faith in one's project, but it's best to start out slow. At $50-75 a pop...they add up quick. On the other hand, there are Festivals that aren't worth messing with, anyway. We did one festival where there were 4 venues showing films at the same time. No films were repeated yet they had an award for Audience choice. Sorry, but that makes no sense except they hoped to get a lot of films (there were no cash awards). They made a great deal of money. Just be careful and research the festivals you enter.

RedheadRedemption said:

was rejected for violence and strong thematic content.

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Festivals have to fill the seats. Violence puts an age limit on the audience. It likely limits it to a late night showing. These two hurdles significantly reduces a film's chances. Keep this in mind when writing your script.

Good luck.

To OP:

I think I agree with you that violence is grounds for rejection at a lot of festivals. But how do you know that is the reason? Were you contacted by the festival?

My first feature is collecting rejections like it's going out of style!