L U X Distribution Guide

LUX Distribution Guide > Festivals

Festival screenings can be an exciting place to show your work, and some of the best events through which to promote it. They happen on an international scale, and as well as the public audience, they give curators, programmers and buyers immediate and convenient access to your work. Perhaps most importantly, they offer an opportunity to network and see an enormous amount of work by your contemporaries in one place and time. There are hundreds of film and video festivals in the world, and you would waste a lot of time, money and energy entering them all, so how do you choose between them?

Well, the first and most important point to remember is that the majority of film festivals are aimed at showing mainstream feature films. Most include short films, but on the whole these will be straight ‘narrative shorts’ as opposed to more visual arts-based film and video, so it may be a waste of time and energy to enter. In selecting which festivals you submit to, you should try and find out about the character of the event – look at their websites, and the work they have shown in the past, to get an idea of whether your work might fit with their interests.

Above all, be strategic and think about what you would like to get out of a festival showing your work.

Be prepared to be turned down: remember that festival programmers are often not just picking what they consider the best work, but have other things to take into account, such as the other work they’re showing, and the demands of thematic programmes. Some festivals have particular rules about premiering work in particular regions; this is much more of an issue with feature films, but it pays to be cautious if you have your heart set on a particular event. Another major consideration is that you have a limited timeframe in which to enter your work. Open submissions usually have a one or two year time limit on entries, so time is against you to get it out there.

Checklist of things to consider before submitting your work to festivals:

• Formats: some of the larger film festivals may only exhibit 35mm. Sometimes people get their film selected by a festival that only shows prints, when the film is only available on video, and then get diverted into trying to find the thousands of pounds necessary to get a transfer to film. The good advice, generally, is forget it. If you didn’t budget for it at the time, you’re unlikely to find the money for a print for what may be only a couple of festival screenings.

• Fees: some festivals charge entry fees to artists to just have their work considered for selection. Often, this is a genuine source of funding, especially in the USA where there is little in the way of public funding. Before spending money it is worth spending some time investigating the event and looking at the past programme to ascertain whether your work is going to have a serious chance of being accepted. If a festival has shown your work before, it may be worth asking them if they’ll waive the submission fee when sending them something new.

• Status: entering festivals takes time and money so you need to be sure that if you get in, it is going to have been worth the trouble. Quality is always more important than quantity: consider the festival’s reputation – whether it’s well respected and is going to look good on your CV. Is it the kind of event that is going to attract the kind of audience you want and is it going to attract the right curators, programmers and buyers?

• The nature of the event: it is worth considering what kind of billing a festival is going to give to visual arts-based work. Sometimes it is worth showing at a smaller festival where your work will get the attention it deserves rather than it getting marginalised in a more mainstream event. On the other hand, having work shown as a support to a feature can work well in terms of reaching a wider audience.

• Specialised festivals: as well as general festivals, perhaps with yearly themes, there is a vast number of specialised festivals for almost every genre and type of work, including gay and lesbian, women, disability, young filmmakers, animation, dance, architecture etc. If you find the right places your work can get even more attention from a more focused context.

• Prizes: most festivals have competition sections, and although this shouldn’t be the only reason for entering your work, awards look good on your CV, and sometimes prizes also include cash! Prizes are also very helpful in getting your work noticed, especially by broadcast buyers.

• Visiting: one of the best things about festivals is the travelling. Presenting your work in person allows you to gauge audience reaction, meet your contemporaries and make connections with people that can help your career. The best thing is that some festivals will assist you to travel and/or stay there. Many opportunities have arisen out of the social aspects that surround festivals and the importance of this should not be underestimated.

• Markets: some of the more mainstream festivals also run parallel film markets to facilitate the buying and selling of work. These usually take the form of viewing facilities, a market catalogue and a structured environment for buyers and sellers to meet. Most festivals now include something like this, and usually at least a view-on-demand service.

• Touring: it is now common for festivals to produce touring programmes of work. This is a great way to further disseminate your work under the banner of a respected festival, often a screening fee is paid and they will do all of the work for you.

• Sponsors: almost all festivals these days are in receipt of commercial sponsorship, often from companies with a media interest. Sometimes these sponsorship relationships involve a close link with the competition selection that can be beneficial to those showing works there. For example sometimes television or internet companies sponsor festivals to give themselves an opportunity to buy work from the selection.

Entering Festivals
The first thing you need to do is fill in a festival entry form, which can be picked up as flyers, requested, or downloaded from the festival website. Check out the festival website to get a sense of the character of the selection to make sure you will not be wasting your time and money by submitting work.

Usually you will be expected to send a VHS preview tape (in the Americas and Asia they often need this in NTSC format) along with supporting materials such as stills, catalogue entry, biography and transcript (for non-English speaking countries).

Some festivals have an open submission for installation works; you will need good documentation and clear technical details, and as a rule you are going to do better with something that is fairly simple and inexpensive to install.

It is important to read the fine print on entry forms as many festivals ask for the right to stream your work on the internet, broadcast extracts on television or to keep a screening copy in their archives. Sometimes these things can cause difficulties: it can make it hard to keep track of your work and may cause conflicts were you to sell it to a television or internet broadcaster – so be aware of what you are agreeing to.

If your work is selected, a screening copy will be requested, usually to be sent at your expense, with the festival covering the return. Some festivals will pay a modest screening fee to cover your expenses, but this is rare, especially if the work is being included in a competition section.

Almost all festivals publish catalogues and it is important that you make sure they have all of the correct information about you and your work, as this is where it’s going to end up. It is also important that they have your correct contact information, as many include print source information in the catalogue, vital if a curator/programmer is going to be able to track you down. It is fairly standard that festivals will at least provide you with a catalogue when they return your screening copy.

The best you can hope to receive from a festival is some help towards travelling there to present your work. This is usually offered when you are notified of a positive selection, but if not it doesn’t hurt to ask. The offers can vary vastly from event to event but can consist of any of the following, or perhaps a combination of: travel costs, help towards travel costs, accommodation, per diems, food and drink tickets or some money when you arrive. For this you will usually be expected to present your work and possibly take part in a discussion.

Remember, this is also a key opportunity to market your work and yourself, so go armed with showreels, business cards and postcards that you can give out to everyone you meet. Don’t be shy. They like your work. That’s why you’re there.

Be prepared

• Check out festival websites

• Speak to people about their experiences

• If you visit a festival, whether they’ve paid for you or not, you should be prepared to introduce your work, and answer questions – have something (however brief) ready to say

• Have the information ready: biography, stills, description, technical information (eg screening format)

• Don’t double book your print

• Have screening information ready: eg stereo sound, screening ratio, etc

• If they offer to put you up, remember this may be in shared accommodation

• Don’t expect any other expenses, but there’s no harm in asking if they haven’t offered

The British Council
It is useful to have a distributor to assist you with festival entries as they can absorb some of the costs and often have good relations with certain events (see distributors section). For UK artists there is also help at hand from the British Council Film and Literature department. Every year the British Council takes on a number of films and videos that it promotes as official entries to a selection of international festivals. To have your work considered by the British Council you must submit a preview tape along with an entry form to their selection committee (entry forms can be downloaded from their website). If selected you will still have to fill in festival entry forms and provide preview tapes but they will deal with shipping of exhibition prints and can sometimes assist with travel costs if you wish to attend.
www.britishcouncil.org/arts-film.htm

The British Council can only take on a limited number of titles, but you can still get your film listed in the British Films catalogue, published as a book and online. See: www.britfilms.com

Withoutabox
Withoutabox is a US based website that hosts generic entry forms for submitting work to festivals. It is a pay subscription service but could save a considerable amount of time filling in and posting application forms and press materials.
www.withoutabox.com