any small/ medium size festivals to reccomend?

Hello there

I have entered around 4 pretty large festivals with my most recent film and I am looking for some smaller festivals to enter into. Preferably either near Holland or Germany (easy to get there from my town) or in the United States of America. For America I would probably only be able to spend a couple of days there so nothing massive. Involving entry fees if it would not cost over the equivalent of £25 (40 dollars approx) that would be great for the budget.

If not if you know any good legitimate festivals then that would be awesome, I keep on researching festivals only to find out facts about it that aren't necessarily positive.
 
I recently had my short played at the London Independent Film Fest. It's mid-tier in that the most expensive feature there probably cost no more than $1m USD but was apparently really good. Competition among shorts is fierce as entrants have spent thousands shooting their shorts and I doubt it is possible to win a prize by spending less than $5k USD on a short. On the night my short played, half of the shorts had been shot by industry professionals and I was blown away by the quality at a mid-tier festival.

A few of the film makers had flown in from other countries and there were a couple of crews from LA. They were really good guys to talk to and it sounds like a whole new level down there.

To give you an idea, there is a documentary section and the winning entry was voiced by Steven Fry. This was shot by a Soho production house which is the same one that shoots the Barclays, HSBC, Chanel etc... television adverts. I met the head honcho who was there that evening.
 
Hello there

I have entered around 4 pretty large festivals with my most recent film and I am looking for some smaller festivals to enter into. Preferably either near Holland or Germany (easy to get there from my town) or in the United States of America. For America I would probably only be able to spend a couple of days there so nothing massive. Involving entry fees if it would not cost over the equivalent of £25 (40 dollars approx) that would be great for the budget.

If not if you know any good legitimate festivals then that would be awesome, I keep on researching festivals only to find out facts about it that aren't necessarily positive.
I'm in the same boat looking for some smaller festivals to submit. You go to be real careful with these film festivals because a lot of them actually don't even program their submissions. They send their programmers to other film festivals and they invite a bigger films to screen, this submissions are just a way for them to make money. Of course if a really great film is submitted they will program it, but the majority of films they program are invited or scouted. I would start researching niche film festivals that fit your movie. Also the hometown film Festival is a good shot. I shot my movie in Las Vegas so am praying that the Las Vegas film Festival will take it.
 
Aside from a low price... what exactly are you looking for, in a filmfest? :hmm:

What facts are you finding, that worry you?

Some of the nearby festivals I have researched seem to have an obsession with really expensive films, most of the time when I see the official selection it looks like it cost quite a bit of money to make. Apart from that I keep on hearing that most festivals basically do not pick that many films from their submissions pool which angers me. I was involved in Encounters Film Festival back in 2009/2010 and they were picking from submissions then.

I admit I have had a previous entry which didn't get anywhere in the festival circuit so that makes me a bit more skeptical. Then again my recent output has sold out a couple of small cinema screenings across Bristol which has led to me being able to direct with a budget and my technique has improved by quite a bit.

I would like the film festival to be able to give me a decent screening of the film without charging me some sort of silly hidden fee to get shown, hopefully get an official selection somewhere so I can say that my film has been shown. I suppose I would like a nice small/medium festival with an emphasis on networking, a nice location to visit as well would not hurt.
 
Always enter whatever festivals are local to your home and region. Ideally get to know the organizers if at all possible.

When you enter, include a one pager about the film and your bio. 90% may not read it but some will - for local festivals, that one pager will help.

Since you are in the UK, I would recommend the festival you have already mentioned Encounters.

The catch with Encounters is that being an Academy of Motion Picture Arts Qualifying festival (and BAFTA), it gets thousands of entries a year.
 
I'm in the same boat looking for some smaller festivals to submit. You go to be real careful with these film festivals because a lot of them actually don't even program their submissions. They send their programmers to other film festivals and they invite a bigger films to screen, this submissions are just a way for them to make money. Of course if a really great film is submitted they will program it, but the majority of films they program are invited or scouted. I would start researching niche film festivals that fit your movie. Also the hometown film Festival is a good shot. I shot my movie in Las Vegas so am praying that the Las Vegas film Festival will take it.

That's true about the mid tier and top tiere.... And international lol

My advice is look at previous years films, research them on imdb pro.... If most are from big fests then skip that festival
 
Some of the nearby festivals I have researched seem to have an obsession with really expensive films, most of the time when I see the official selection it looks like it cost quite a bit of money to make.

Probably you are looking at this backwards. Higher tier festivals are obsessed with/looking to screen (premier) the best actual films they can find, to maintain their reputation as a high tier festival. It costs a lot of money to make an actual film and therefore an "expensive" film stands more chance of getting screened (and of attracting commercial distribution further down the road). Although of course it's entirely easy to make a poor film even with a substantial budget. In other words, films aren't chosen because they are expensive, they are chosen because they are good actual films, which almost always means they are also expensive.

G
 
maybe you want to consider the "Oberhausen Short Film Festival" in Germany. It has a very good reputation in Germany and Oberhausen is not an expensive City, and it is roughly 5 hours drive (by car) from London.
In general germans love foreign movies and most people here believe that one reason why german movies mostly fail ist that the actors speak german. so that is not a bad position for you.
In general we think that British and French films are the best in Europe and that German film sucks.
So maybe you want to give it a try.
 
For festivals in the US, I recommend Orlando Film Festival, Long Island International Film Expo and Hang Onto Your Shorts Film Festival (if you have a short film). I know from experience that these fests all have a low cost entry fee, and actually select from submissions (as my low budget short got into both Orlando and Hang Onto Your Shorts without having any connections to the organizers). These fests are well run and care about indie filmmakers.
 
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