What film festivals and platforms should you submit your work to?

Film festivals and curation shows and platforms coagulate together to form a Hydra-like creature in the filmmaking process… As soon as you think you’ve conquered one, new festivals and platforms seem to pop up, and you’re left researching and submitting and wondering more and more and more.

Fear not, weary warrior.

As we meet on the side of the winding road towards Laurel Land, I offer you a humble guide to ferry you on your way.

Before we dive in, let me remind you of something.

These (+ogether) Insights come from real questions asked by other filmmakers who are a part of our (+ogether) Cohorts.

The Cohorts operate with an approach I call the “Hot Seat” - every session, each person brings one particular question or need they would like to discuss to the group. After sharing their question, the group opens up to tackle said topic with the synergistic power of collaborative thinking and discussion.

Thus, these Insights are a direct by-product of the aforementioned questions and discussions.

In a recent Cohort Session, one of our director’s asked this during his Hot Seat:

Define your “Why”

One of our directors shared that his greatest learning in the festival process is that you need to have a really good reason to submit to a particular festival. Take the time and energy required to thoroughly research the current festivals and really determine which ones could best serve your goals and your film. There are plenty of resources out there to help you get a lay of the land and learn about the most reputable and promising festivals. Maybe you choose a festival because it is really good for first-time filmmakers. Perhaps you choose because it’s highly attended by narrative agents. Don’t just throw your submissions all over the place because you want to get into any old festival.

Additionally, he shared that one of the most important factors to consider is whether or not you will be able to physically attend the festival. If the answer is no, you really need to ask yourself why you’re submitting.

Prepare to pay

Another director in the group shared her own learnings from an extensive festival run she went through with a well-received narrative short film.

What you may not realize, she shared, is that you really need to factor a significant budget for festival submission fees and travel costs into your production budget. When all was said and done, she spent about $5k just on submission fees.

Get ahead of this early, clarifying with your production partners and supporters about allocating reasonable funding for your festival efforts. If this isn’t available for your project, then perhaps you will need to pay the cost yourself and really hone in your focus to a handful of highly intentional submissions.

Consider the calendar

This director stressed the importance of considering the festival calendar for the whole year and selecting your submissions based on the time of the festival and the level of exclusivity they would require to show the film.

For example, the director made the mistake of premiering her film at Chelsea Film Festival only to learn that she had been accepted into Tribeca. Unfortunately, Tribeca would not accept her film since she couldn’t offer them an exclusive US premiere, let alone even a New York premiere! On that note, bear in mind that most festivals will not accept a film if it’s already been premiered online in any capacity.

Acknowledge the audience

Additionally, she encouraged the group to consider cultural and aesthetic preferences as stereotypically noted in a variety of festivals, as well as their global regions. For example, European festivals may tend more towards the experimental, the sensual, and the vulgar, whereas American festivals prefer a more palatable work to a wider audience.

When programing their shorts in particular, festivals also tend to make selections based on a particular theme or niche. It’s unlikely you can fully understand this ahead of time, so there’s going to be a bit of luck involved for the theme of your film to line up with the festival’s direction. However, the more defined the voice and message of your film is, the more easily a festival programmer will know how to fit it in.

Mind your minutes

Length actually matters! This same director shared that festival programers will almost always gravitate towards shorter films (5-10 minutes) over longer films (20 minutes) because they can fit a greater number of films into the same programing time slots. So, if you’re going to go for more length, make sure you REALLY believe in it! A festival will need to truly love your film to be willing to spend those precious minutes on it.

Go after the right eyes

Finally, one of our directors spent some time speaking to the similar but different route in submitting to more commercial industry adjacent competitions. These kinds of competitions include, but are certainly not limited to, 1.4 Awards, YDA, Shots Awards, Ciclope, D&AD, Young Guns, etc. These kinds of competitions typically lean more heavily towards branded work, commercials, and non-traditional narrative shorts. However, some of them also consider scripted and non-scripted narrative work. They simply function a bit differently than a festival does.

These kinds of submissions may draw more of the agency, production company, and commercial industry eyes than a film festival would, and they don’t require exclusive premiere status to consider your work.

The name of the game here is to get your work in front of the right eyes. However, as we know our industry is constantly changing, it’s always worth reassessing and considering - are the right eyes still looking at these kinds of competitions?

Don’t expect a laurel to change everything

Finally, in conclusion, I’ll share that a number of directors spoke to the fact that, no matter how prestigious or alluring an award may be, it will never change your own outlook on your own work and identity. They also rarely lead to that sought-after singular moment that instantaneously changes your entire life and career trajectory. Continue doing the deep and quiet work in ensuring your purpose and satisfaction in your work is grounded outside of external affirmation or criticism.

And then, you can celebrate the wins and move past the losses without getting too caught up one way or the other.

I hope you’re enjoying the newsletter and finding the (+) Insights helpful! It’s been exciting to see the growing audience. If you’re liking it, as always, it’s greatly appreciated if you spread the word to other filmmaking friends who you think could also benefit.

See you next time!