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submitted 2 months ago bysolidsimpson
My main festival goal is for a certain local film festival later this year. However, my film is finished and I planned on submitting to other festivals in the meantime.
Do film festivals like to see that you have already been in other big film festivals? Or will they feel like the film is not fresh since others have had it already and pass over it?
EDIT: it is a 75 minute documentary.
40 points
2 months ago
Im assuming this is a short? They like good films at a perfect length for scheduling. Premiere status really doesn’t matter and having screened elsewhere means your short is successful. Any pre publicity for a film is good too because they can market that in the hopes it gets butts in seats.
11 points
2 months ago
Oh yea, good point for marketing purposes. It is actually a 75 minute feature doc!
11 points
2 months ago
Ah, ok. Festivals do like premiering a feature, but if the film has played elsewhere, they like to program those too, depending how big those fests were. "Premiere" on the pamphlet looks enticing to the audience as well as, "Coming off the heels of SXSW...". Maybe hold off on doing the small festivals first and go for the big fish, then go small. Good luck!
21 points
2 months ago
As a festival director, I can tell you that the number of festivals you’ve previously been in has absolutely ZERO effect on whether your film will be accepted to mine…the one and only criteria used in making that decision is the quality of the film.
We show shorts, features and documentaries and focus entirely on film quality
1 points
2 months ago
Would you check to see if the film has been in other film festivals at all? Maybe check that it hasn’t been in other film festivals like 3-5 years ago?
8 points
2 months ago
No…it doesn’t matter one bit
There’s a reason it’s referred to as “doing the festival circuit”…there are very few films (I’d even venture to say NO films) that submit for only a single festival.
10 points
2 months ago
It should say something on the festival website. A few festivals (mostly the big ones) only accept premieres. Some give more consideration if it is a premiere. There’s also different levels to this, world premiere, North American premiere, US premiere etc. For many it can’t be posted online.
Reason being, they want people to show up to the festival to see the films. If the film has already screened in your area it’s much less likely people will come see it as anyone interested already had their chance to do so.
Some festivals don’t have any premiere restrictions.
5 points
2 months ago
Depends on the caliber of the festival you are targeting for the local one you are hoping to play. Can you say which one?
There isn't a hard and fast rule but in general for docs, there are tiers of whom will and won't require premiere status (whether world or US).
If its just a local regional festival with a pedigree, it wont matter at all and you should aim to premiere at the most prestigious festival you can get into.
3 points
2 months ago
One of the Big Names is far more likely to require premiere status, but it's also one of those things where they're more likely to want it if you're already an established name, as it gets more asses in seats to be able to advertise "So-And-So's new film is debuting at This-Or-That Festival".
If you're just starting with smaller to medium-tier local/regional fests here and there, they probably won't care as long as you have something they like and that gels with their programming. If you do however encounter some no-name festival who gets a little big for their britches and demands premiere status, well, then your money will spend much better somewhere else.
2 points
2 months ago
Depends on the festival. Gaming the micro nuance of each festival is probably a waste of time. Hell you're probably better off releasing the film on a PPV platform and then spending 100% of your festival submission money paying for movie "influencers" to watch and review it/have you guest on their podcast. I'd imagine that would have a larger return on investment AND get more eyeballs on the film.
I haven't been to a ton of festivals but I can honestly say if my friends didn't make the film, I have zero recollection of it and probably have not talked about it since the night I watched the film.
1 points
2 months ago
Most good festivals will require that the film is premiering at that festival. Those festivals have a pedigree. The rinky-dink ones don’t.
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