So that you made a brief movie, and now you don’t have any concept what to do with it. You in all probability need it to be seen in theatres, with an viewers, in any other case you have got a extremely costly youtube hyperlink to ship to grandma, who will prefer it it doesn’t matter what.

When you do a fast search on Withoutabox and Fillmfreeway (the one two movie submission web sites), you will notice 1000’s of movie festivals, from the smallest movie competition within the tiniest city, all the way in which as much as probably the most well-known, most acknowledged, enormous movie competition markets (Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, and so on.). The place do you begin? What competition is best for you? How a lot cash am I going to spend on submitting, and is it price it? Which festivals ought to I am going to if I get in?

I’ve two movies making their New York premieres at festivals this week. The primary one is “Trip Rental,” which is premiering at Newfest in New York Metropolis (prime tier LGBT competition), and the second is “Sins of the Son,” which is premiering tomorrow on the Adirondack Movie Pageant in Glens Falls, New York (superb smaller competition that’s all about treating the filmmakers like royalty-hotels, breakfasts, swag luggage, the entire deal).

For my first movie “Disguise/Search,” I spent about $1000 on competition submissions, at round $50 common a pop (some festivals are $20 to submit a brief movie, some may be simply round $100). I submitted solely to festivals I had heard of with out doing any analysis or figuring out something about what they program, what they concentrate on, and what they’ve proven previously. I simply thought “hey, I like my film, so everybody else is gonna prefer it too” with no consideration for style, operating time, competition location, and so on. Lesson realized. It obtained into some festivals, obtained nominated for some awards, and was a enjoyable expertise. However I went about all of it fallacious.

I’ve additionally been to movie festivals the place there are like 4 individuals within the viewers, and people 4 persons are the opposite administrators of the shorts in your block. Good occasions!