Choosing the Right Film Festivals for your Film

[ReelMoonProductions]

Hello!

I'm sure this has been asked a few times but it's not a bad topic to go over once again!

We are currently in post-production of a short horror film we have shot.

We have high hopes for it as we have used a new and high quality lighting kit and new lenses. So our shots look great with good cinematography. We feel the script is good too!

The only problem is we are not sure which festivals we should enter our film into. We have signed up to Withoutabox but there are just so many to choose from. Even though the first is primarily a horror, we feel it could do well in short film competitions and festivals too!

We are from a small city in Scotland and we know other film groups who have had significant success in film festivals on an international scale and they have a similar sized budget to us. We always wonder, "How did they know to submit there film to that one"? They are no-budget like us so they certainly do not use the shotgun approach and just enter it everywhere.

Can you guys give me some advice please?

Thanks

Andrew

Reel Moon Productions

 

[NVentive]

DTFF has an entire evening dedicated to SciFi/Horror. I'll pm you about the scholarship program.....

 

[Lynos]

I'm in the same boat. I learned to use the search option at WAB to my advantage. I suggest you first narrow your search by IMDB and Oscar qualifying. I know it may sound ridiculous, but it kind of gives you a list of the best, most significant festivals out there. Then try first for a couple of respectable genre festivals (I'm in Canada so Fantasia and After Dark are two good ones over here, although I don't think they accept submissions right now.)

Then try and go by screening method. If you filmed in HD and the festival only accepts DVD's for screening, that may not be advantageous for your film. Serious mid-range festivals will have the option of Blu-Ray or just digital files.

Also, you can try and use this site for info on (free to submit!) large short film festivals in Europe and Asia that are not on WAB:

www.shortfilmdepot.com

 

[indietalker]

Also, you can try and use this site for info on (free to submit!) large short film festivals in Europe and Asia that are not on WAB:

www.shortfilmdepot.com

I wonder if "free to submit!" stopped right now or there's a section in shortfilmdepot.com where you could submit without a charge please?
Anybody has any experience with this please?

NEW : 1 stamp for each transfer of your video file to a festival via Shortfilmdepot.
Price of stamp ranges from €1.50 to €3.00 depending on purchase option (x1, x5, x20, x50)

http://www.shortfilmdepot.com/