film festivals and all that.

[steve hyde]

...I'm now in the first rounds of film festival submissions for my documentary short Shikashika. This is the first time I have submitted to film festivals so I'm learning as I go. I have been submitting on and off WAB. (witoutabox.com) One thing that I have noticed about WAB is that none of the film festivals that offer free entry are listed. Another thing I have noticed is that there are no film festivals in the United States that offer free entry for consideration. Many of the premiere European film festivals do not charge filmmakers a submission fee, yet none of these festivals are listed on WAB... and I'm not talking about small start up fests. Things like Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (in it's 54th year)are not listed on WAB....so don't trust it as a one-in-all submission service. It barely scratches the surface and seems to favor fests with steep entry fees over the ones that don't have.

Back to shipping.


Steve

[steve hyde]

...by the way here is a link the the film that we are promoting:

Shikashika: a d o c u m e n t a r y s h o r t


if anyone has suggestions for festivals that might be a good fit for Shikashika, please do post them.

Thank you,

Steve

[greg_8mm]

can't wait to see it..

will you let us know to which festivals you submitted it? also in europe or not? if not i'll have to wait for the dvd

[Thierry]

yes withoutabox charges festivals or filmmakers for their online services. You can get your film into the festivals circuit without havind to pay a penny if you select your festival carefully go to

http://www.filmfestivals.com/index.shtml

for the full list of festivals or

http://www.shortfilmdepot.com or http://www.reelport.com for free service
Be aware that most of the festivals which are with this service received between 3,000 and 6,000 to finally select 50 to 100 films.

[steve hyde]

Thanks for the suggestions.

RE: festivals.

I'm submitting anywhere that seems a good fit. SIFF, Mountain Film Telluride, True/False Film Festival, Oberhausen documentary film festival, It's all true film festival, Sao Paulo, Belgrade Documentary and short film festival, Humboldt Film Festival, Documenta Madrid, DOXA Vancouver, Vision du Reel, Hot docs, Silver docs.....some of these are more competitive than others. I have been told that getting programmed into one fest out of ten is considered success..... That said, I plan to submit a lot. I'll post back when/if it gets programmed.

Please post fest suggestions if you have any.

Cambridge Super 8 looks cool. I'll submit there too.

Again, thanks,

Steve

[mattias]

one in ten is huge. i think i may have been the person who told you that, but i must say even that is optimistic unless you send to many fests at different levels. if you only send to the bigger ones getting into a single one of them is a success.

/matt

[woods01]

WAB is not as great as it seems at first. Seems more useful to deep
pocketed films who have a full time staff working on submissions. I think
for underground films you have to be selective, pick a couple majors and
then target some small ones otherwise you'll be bled dry on fees, time
wasted and disheartened by the rejection e-mails.

Try for the Seoul Green Festival (free, deadline in Feb).

Its such a crap shoot to do the festival thing when you are unknown or
have no celebrities. In many ways it might be better to not submit and
use the money saved to rent a local theatre or hall and just have your
screening. Maybe even pack your car and go on a tour like a band and do
community centers and film clubs.

[steve hyde]

....thanks, I suspect one in ten may in fact be optimistic. I'm planning to be persistant and patient. As a filmmaker, the film is already a sucess in the sense that I did precisely what I set out to do. I wanted to make an upbeat, rhythmic music-driven ten minute documentary that speaks to the art of living and working in the Andes mountains. We have succeeded at that and therefore it does feel good to know that we have a film that is worth the ten minute journey. For me, this film is an easy sell and I hope film festivals will feel the same way about it.

This said, I am also aware of the fact that the job of the festival curator is to select films that fit their vision for a good festival program. Shikashika certainly won't fit in every program.

Thanks for the fest suggestions.

Steve

[Rick Palidwor]

I have been submitting on and off WAB. (witoutabox.com) One thing that I have noticed about WAB is that none of the film festivals that offer free entry are listed.
Steve

I believe WAB only lists festivals that pay for their service, so it's not like they choose who they list. And free festivals tend to be not-for-profit so are less likely to pay for a submission service.

Rick

[ccortez]

We also found WAB to be only marginally useful. Our best success getting free submissions into non-free festivals was writing or calling each festival and giving them our own trumped-up reason why we shouldn't have to pay their fee. Most were very helpful and waived submission fees, especially when submitting another film to a festival a previous film had been in before.

Don't know if you mentioned it, but for docs don't forget Full Frame in Durham, NC and Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Both great fun.

My $.02,
c.

[steve hyde]

...thanks for the input. WAB is a nice service, but important for us to keep in mind that it offers limited coverage. At this point most of my submissions have been made via direct to festival..

My $.02,
c.

...Thanks Chris. That is two more cents in the bank and I can use it.


Steve

[steve hyde]

...good news is that Shikashika has now been programmed at 3 festivals and so far no rejections. It is an encouraging start for a 2008 release.

The premiere screening is scheduled in the shorts program at the True/False film festival in Columbia MO. Feb 28th to March 3rd

web:
http://www.truefalse.org/program/shorts.htm


Again, thanks,

Steve