Press Article.
Published Jul 2007
FILM FESTIVAL MAGAZINE FEATURE 2 COPY
Header – Work the film festival circuit with your film
Dear Penny. Q & A.
Question: I have recently completed a low budget feature film and don't have a marketing structure in place. How do I know which are the right festivals to apply to and what to do once I attend?
Answer: Ok. I am assuming that you have tried securing a sales agent prior to production and that route was not successful.
I guess you have a rough knowledge of the film festival circuit with Cannes, Venice, Berlin, San Sebastian, London, Sundance, AFM, Toronto and the New York Film Festival being the glittering gems of the galaxy. Try all of these major film fests as a starter for ten, but bear in mind that some of them insist your film has not been screened outside of its country of origin, and most require that it has been produced in the 12 months prior to the festival.
The next tactic is to target festivals by genre, questioning if the festival specialises in documentaries, shorts, animation or is open to all genres.
The British Council website www.britfilms.com/festivals has an excellent directory of over 600 festivals where you can search fests by country, month it takes place, submission deadline, fees and required format. Each festival listed also has a link to the festivals website making it simpler for you to find out further information.There is no easy solution to finding which festival is right for you, it’s a case of looking through them, speaking to fellow filmmakers and doing your research.
There are some things to remember though. You will have to plan your submissions according to date, noting which festival comes first and what your order of preference is. This can get tricky- for example if you want to apply to Venice and a smaller European festival for example, Venice will want EU Premier so you will have to choose carefully and be realistic. It can be a bit of a military operation, but there is no other option.
When you submit your film, stick rigidly to the guidelines and be careful to fill out customs declaration forms accurately otherwise you may find goods returned to you at your cost. Standard marketing items include a press kit with a synopsis, directors filmography, contacts, key cast and crew, favourable reviews plus any awards and previous screening listing within this. As a security measure always include the title, duration, format and your contact details on every copy of your film so they are always traceable.
It is also worth checking out withoutabox.com, a company promoting independent film distribution who also have a service for submitting your film to festivals worldwide. It’s free and includes a list of requests for submissions from live fests that is updated daily, plus the ability to manage an online press kit and many other money saving extras. See www.withoutabox.com for more information.
So what if you've got into a big festival but have no travel budget? The UK Film Council runs an International Festival Sales Support Fund for British films where you can apply for financial assistance if your film is accepted to a festival within their scheme. Go to: www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/cinemagoing/ifss/. The minimum grant is £1,500 with the option to apply for more if you can contribute further promotional funding.
So you've got into a festival but need some advice. If it’s your first time and you are screening a film, get to as many pre-festival networking meetings in London or regionally as you can, or find yourself an old hand to tag along with. Try to also get your hands on a appropriate market guide for the festival you are attending so you can stalk relevant distributors and sales agents buying your type of product, prior to the melee, at your leisure. Remember its always best to get meetings with companies from your country of origin on home soil. For example UK companies are usually busy meeting international contacts at festivals abroad, so are much easier to get hold of in the UK. With regards to planning meetings in the market section of festivals, always start calling a couple of months in advance, when people still have some time left in their diaries.
Whether the festival is big or small, when you attend, make sure you plug your film. Visit the parties, make friends and invite people to your screening and don't forget to go and see other films whilst you're there for your own sake plus its good to know what's hot and what's not when chatting to producers. Also try to see something you simply fancy too; take a break from all the strategy and meet some souls who may be worthless to your filmmaking career, but integral to reminding you that you're human afterall!
back to Press
Room
|
