| The Festival Gameplan |
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Page 2 of 2 Third-party sources There are many printed and online resources that detail the requirements and merits of film festivals across the country and around the world. See www.telefilm.gc.ca, www.filmfestivals.com, trade sites such as www.screendaily.com, or www.variety.com, and Chris Gore’s The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide (from Lone Eagle Publishing Company), for example. Festival websites and publications from previous editions Each festival’s own website provides the most current and accurate information for cursory inquiries including festival dates, deadlines, submission fees, and programming streams. Some festival websites are much more detailed and useful for would-be attendees (e.g., HotDocs has a terrific website complete with submission FAQs, and up-to-date delegate and accredited media lists). Programme guides from previous years can give you clues to the festival’s or a particular programmer’s tastes. And, if it’s not posted on the website, you may also be able to get a delegate list by contacting the festival. Programming departments/programmers You’ll also need some information that is less likely to be found on the website. A quick call to the programming department will help determine if there is a preference for premieres, for example, or how and where your film might be positioned within the line up. But you’ll want to distinguish between official policy and actual practices. For example, a festival may have a policy that they consider films that have screened in the province prior to the festival. However, in actuality, the majority of the films that end up in the festival are world or North American premieres. Just because your film meets the stated minimum requirements doesn’t mean that there aren’t lots of equally good films that exceed those requirements. Past participants Finally, you’ll want to connect with filmmakers who have attended the festival before to get some informal – and invaluable – feedback. If you don’t know a filmmaker who has attended in the past, ask your colleagues in the industry to recommend someone you can contact. Ask filmmakers about their experiences at a particular festival and, given the chance, if they would have done anything differently. Only once you have amassed information about all your options, can you make a strategic decision about where to submit your film.  |
