Blog Post #12 Film Festivals

 


A film festival is an event which celebrates cinema through screening a diverse selection of indie films, international films, short films, and documentaries over several days. Film festivals can provide exposure for filmmakers who cannot get theatrical releases, and open opportunities for films to be released theatrically, and for new filmmakers to grow a name for themselves. 

How films get into festivals

Filmmakers must research what film festivals are going on and choose one to apply to, often finding one which matches the intended target audience, for example I would look for a horror oriented film festival.

Next filmmakers will have to prepare their materials and get their film's; final cut, posters, stills, trailers, synopsis, cast and crew info and use submission platforms (one of the most notable being FilmFreeway), upload their content and pay the submission fee.

It is also noteworthy for filmmakers to plan ahead on this process, submit their film early and be aware of different premiere requirements different festivals have.

Next a screening of your film will take place by judges to watch submissions and look for the films quality, alignment with the film festivals theme, and the films potential.

Then films will be grouped into categories, and then will be chosen from those categories to be screened based on which are the most unique and will create the most interest.

Films selected to be screened will then be scheduled, and have their promotional materials gathered together, and details of the event will be planned.

After a film is selected the filmmaker will receive an acceptance notification, and then would have to provide final screening files, marketing materials, and plan for any possible occurrences at the film festival like audience Q&As.


This process is important to understand as this is how my short film would be screened, and I can base my marketing around a film festival.




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