Top Film Festivals to submit to.

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Scotty Fox

Hey Everybody,

Looking around for festivals for my short film. It has a ghost/horror element to it (not slasher type), so trying to focus on that element, but also open to others.

It's easy to find countless festivals, but I'm hoping to learn more about quality fests that are around the U.S. and abroad.

It's easy to name off Caanes, Toronto, Sundance, etc. But what about other venues where artists can display their work and (hopefully) get noticed?

Any thoughts or festival names please shout them out.

Thanks guys.
 
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Scotty,

You might search threads here on IT, do think this has been covered before...

First, is this your first film? If it is, my humble opinion is that you forego the bigs. They'll be happy to take your money, but it's really unusual for a first-timer to get into a major festival. I wasted a lot of money and time because I was dreaming a bit with "my head in the clouds."

- Try some less-known festivals, preferably in your area so you can get there, or simply smaller and you might get lucky.
- Sign up on Withoutabox and search for those that take shorts.
- Be pragmatic; get honest opinions about your film first, then be frugal with your money.
- Find the films of any festival you didn't get in, and see how they compare for the future.
- Are you a student? Many festivals exist, or have a category, for students.
- Remember that many (most?) festivals use other festivals to find films, which restricts the number of openings for those mailed in or submitted by folks like us.

You're doing the right thing to research first, check out the genre and length requirements, etc.

Best of luck!

k
 
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kjones said:
Scotty,

You might search threads here on IT, do think this has been covered before...

First, is this your first film? If it is, my humble opinion is that you forego the bigs. They'll be happy to take your money, but it's really unusual for a first-timer to get into a major festival. I wasted a lot of money and time because I was dreaming a bit with "my head in the clouds."

- Try some less-known festivals, preferably in your area so you can get there, or simply smaller and you might get lucky.
- Sign up on Withoutabox and search for those that take shorts.
- Be pragmatic; get honest opinions about your film first, then be frugal with your money.
- Find the films of any festival you didn't get in, and see how they compare for the future.
- Are you a student? Many festivals exist, or have a category, for students.
- Remember that many (most?) festivals use other festivals to find films, which restricts the number of openings for those mailed in or submitted by folks like us.

You're doing the right thing to research first, check out the genre and length requirements, etc.

Best of luck!

k
Click to expand...

I really can't top this advice. kjones nailed it.

Realistically, your festival experience is going to be all about having fun. You might make a few contacts while there, but this is incredibly unlikely to be a career-defining moment.

So only submit to regional festivals that you would actually attend. Being in SoCal, you've got a ton of options.

Best of luck! :)
 
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Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses.

Not a student, not my first film, but I took a hiatus a while back, so I guess you could call it my first film in some years.

I have my "head in the clouds" choices of course, haha, but for me that was always factored into it... Kind of like money I always expected to pay. But I agree, I'll have my regional festivals and those that are local to myself (and smaller).

I actually went through withoutabox and they do have a pretty extensive list. So I'll keep searching, as well as on this site.

Thanks again for the advice and info, much appreciated.
 
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Keep in mind the eligibility criteria, particularly if you are going to submit to you 'head in the clouds' festivals.

Many want to just get their film out there, which is fine; but if you plan to submit to some of the more prestigious festivals, you need to be careful about where or if your film has been shown.

It's good to have a 'top-down' plan - start with the submission of the top film festivals, if you don't get into them, submit to your second-tier ones, and so-on.

Once you get down past second-tier, you can generally submit to lots of festivals at the same time.
 
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Great advice from the folks above already.

I will stress: read the FAQ, rules and terms...

Eg Cannes Short Film Corner (a sub-section of the bigger Cannes festival) has a requirement that if your short is selected, you have to send at least one representation. That's big $$$$ - Cannes is ultra expensive during the festival dates. Flights to France are not cheap from the USA either.

Others (such as Sundance and many (all?) of the tier 1 festivals) accept shorts and features in DVD for entry submission but if you are lucky enough to be selected, you have to provide them (not a DVD) but a Digital Cinema Package (DCP). If you don't know what a DCP actually is and how much it costs to produce one, then you're probably best avoiding those tier 1 festivals.
 
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Yes. Plan your festival submission strategy and figure out how you will pay for it.

Go early bird deadline for as many festivals as you can. You will save a TON of money. Don't do late deadlines unless you have a contact at the festival who can help you get it into the hands of a programmer. As somebody said earlier, they will be happy to take your money and never even look at your film. And those late deadlines are very expensive.

It adds up very quickly what with postcards, posters, projection formats (HDCam, etc., ) travel, shipping, etc

We had a very limited festival strategy for our short film The Oblique Sector and that festival run cost us about $3,500.00 when all was said and done. We did a Kickstarter that successfully earned us $3100.00 for festivals. We had done a whole strategy and budgeted it out to come up with the amount for the Kickstarter.

As a funny side note, we had a arranged a list of about 30 festivals we wanted to submit to. The very first festival on our spreadsheet, arranged in order of submission deadlines, was the Nantucket Film Festival and we got in! And the very last one on our submission sheet, about a year later, was the Woods Hole Film Festival. And we go into that one too!
 
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Yeah. Avoid donating your money to the big festivals. By the same token avoid non-name festivals that won't do you any good if you win. I say go with lesser known ones near big cities where distributors / movers & shakers are located.

San Fernando Valley Film Fest
Malibu Film Fest
Long Island Film Fest
Cine Vegas
 
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