Choosing The Right Film Festivals For Your Film
How can one go about choosing the right kind of film festival for their film
BY TEAM CINESHORTS PREMIERE
Acclamation - A word every filmmaker thrives for & why not after all alot goes into its creation so gasping for some acclamation is the least one could expect. Film Festivals were intially started as a way to acknowledge the unnoticed talents, showcase the work of independent filmmakers & a means to explore story telling in its most artistic format across countries, but now its become more of business whereby the essence of acknowledgment seems to have gone for a toss. As of 2019 there were about 16000 film festivals happening around the globe, just imagine on the number of shorts being made globally in such a scenario. May sound harsh but the scenario is such that even if you make a crappy film, you would still have some or the other festival accepting it, that's how populated festivals are these days.
Film Festivals are undoubtedly one of the best avenues to enhance your films reach, build connections & probably having those laurels on your films intro slide is something many filmmakers aspire for. India alone produces about 300,000 short films on a yearly basis, so how can a filmmaker go about selecting the right festival for his / her film? Firstly, you need to be honest & clear in your mind with respect to the film you have made. You can't expect a mediocre film to reach the acclaimed festivals, you might just end up burning a couple of thousands in the submission fee. We have seen many filmmakers spending thousands of rupees just as submission fees to festivals which is totally baseless. Hence having a realistic approach shall help you save costs which could be utilized for your next project.
Ideally a filmmaker should not target more than 10 film festivals for participation (that's the extended limit). If your film does well across a few of them by default there would be many other random festivals who would want the film for their festivals whereby you won't be required to pay any fee.
How to decide on which Film Festival to choose?
Well, its a little tricky choice but a wise one though. Before putting your films across festivals, its essential to know about film festivals, probably visit few to understand the kind of films they represent or like to feature for their festivals. If you're targeting the Top 20-30 film festivals globally than its certain that you might have done your homework before & acknowledge the fact that the film could be a part of these festivals, maybe you can try with just 3-5 of them to understand whether or not the film is selected. The maths is quite simple here, there are about 30 top notch festivals globally & then there are the rest. An ideal recognition happens when your film is a part to any of these 30 festival circuit, this would help you connect with couple of international partners who would help you market the film, probably explore an outright purchase or maybe give you a licensed deal plus you also open yourself to a pool of distributors. With regards other festivals, you would get ample of them on www.filmfreeway.com to decide & choose on the festival you would like to explore.
Irrespective of the general festivals, there are some reputed film festivals acknowledging the work, you would probably need to research a bit about them. A simple choice being select the best from the rest. You could do some research on the film festival like, Since how long have they been running? What kind of films have they represented in the past? Most importantly do they have a website whereby you can know more about the festival & the people involved. Is the fee charged by them worthwhile? Lastly does your film stand a chance for any win, for which you can check their last 2-3 year winners list. Going through the above process shall clarify your doubts & give an understanding of whether or not you should participate.
We suggest to have these things planned in advance if you're working on an ambitious project. Having a proper roadmap can ease your journey. However we do not recommend to rotate your films for more than 6 months on festivals, you can always release it across platforms or start the films distribution process since apart from the best of these 30 festivals rest all festivals more or less accept film entries even if you're film is on a public domain. Usually, we have seen filmmakers holding on to their films for as long as 3-4 years ultimately loosing its essence. You have made a film & it needs to be seen by people whose opinion might help you grow in this overall process of filmmaking. So go out & let your stories flourish....
We at CSP believe in sharing experiences which might be of help in your filming journey, hence would love to hear your opinions & if at all this article has been of any help then would suggest you to kindly share & spread the word. Healthy thoughts & sharing your experiences are most welcome :)
You can also read: 10 Tips To Plan Your Short Films Better
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