AN ONGOING SERIES ABOUT ONE SILLY LITTLE MAN’S FILM FESTIVAL SUBMISSION EXPERIENCE
Film Festivals: Positive Reviews & Deserved Boos: Pt. 3 – Die Laughing Film Festival, Slamdance & SIFF
Article by Justin Bowler
Hello filmmakers,
This is an ongoing review series about my film festival submission experience. These festival reviews are NOT BASED ON WHETHER OR NOT I WAS ACCEPTED TO THEIR FESTIVAL, it is based merely on my interaction with them as a filmmaker inquiring about their festival and if my genre film is the right fit. As you will see, some fests are extremely filmmaker friendly, whereas others are too important to respond to some simple questions.
Filmmakers submit their films online to festivals. After paying upwards of $100 just to be considered, they don’t even know if anyone actually watched the film. They never speak with anyone from the fest. They don’t know who is judging the film. They just have to “trust the system”. It can be very sketchy. Some festivals take the time to make sure it isn’t, whereas others…
Check out my friend Paul Osborne’s documentary Official Rejection. It will give you some real insight into how unfriendly some fests are to filmmakers. Sadly, it will blow your mind.
Let me set the scene. I have a short film called OH, THE EFFING HORROR. (That’s right, the title is meant to be shouted.)
(Check out the teaser HERE)
Clearly, it is a genre picture. It’s a horror/comedy or “Horr-omedy”. In addition to the gore and general subject matter, it contains nudity. Finally, with a run time of almost seventeen minutes, it may be too long for some festivals to program. All three of these points give rise to questions I have for festivals.
First, do they program horror films? (The majority of the fests out there are NOT horror fests, so I would like to know if they even consider the genre in their short film competition.)
Second, do they accept films with nudity? (Plenty of festivals have to keep it family friendly. I don’t have a problem with that, but, I would like to know that before I shell out my $45.)
Third, is a 17 minute run time too long? (Many fests have time limits for their shorts, but don’t always post that info on WithoutaBox.com or FilmFreeway.com.) (For you newcomers, these are the two websites used for the majority of festival submissions.)
My journey began by contacting festivals through the informational e-mail they listed on WithoutaBox.com or FilmFreeway.com. In my e-mail, I stated who I was, the answers I was seeking and inquired who could answer. Typically, I was referred to the Artistic Director or Programming Director.
Die Laughing Film Festival
Submission Price – Up to $30
I e-mailed the informational e-mail listed on WithoutABox and got an immediate response. Ray Chao offered up his telephone number and an open invitation to call. I e-mailed him the written questions so I could get quotes. Here is his response.
With regard to horror and horror specific festivals, I do agree that the market/niche is very robust. I do think that with a genre specific festival, the programming is a bit different. For example, for Die Laughing, although we seek pure comedy and pure horror, any film with both is probably at an advantage. Another example would be with horror, there is some forgiveness on the technical aspect especially if it fits the overall tone of the movie.
Within horror, I also see a trend towards the over the top gore (so that it becomes funny). But that may be just my opinion.
With that said, I don’t think there is a specific leaning towards gore or suspense. Much like comedy, there’s a broad range of what “works.” I do have one example where I really liked a horror/comedy because it was very funny and the horror was over-the-top gore, but the festival director of the comedy festival did not like gore, even though I considered the film a comedy/horror.
As for nudity, I don’t think that factors in my opinion, but I could see how some would consider it as a common aspect of the genre.”
“When narrowing it down, that’s when other factors are considered:
(1) potential audience – does the film have a following? (bottom line, the festivals have to sell tix. Submission fees are probably not enough).
(2) along with potential audience, is whether any actors are “known.”
(3) similarly, will the filmmaker attend the festival? (again, very important to festivals. Not a deal breaker, but definitely a tie breaker if all these equal between two films)
(4) various programming factors (length of film, ease of programming with other films, diversity, marquee appeal)
(5) audience expectations (will it be well received).
This was one of the most in-depth responses I have received to date. Ray could not have been more helpful. He gave me everything I was looking for and more.
REVIEW:
Die Laughing Film Festival gets a POSITIVE REVIEW for filmmaker friendliness. Their immediate, knowledgeable, precise and lengthy response told me everything I needed to know about them. I submitted with confidence that I was going to get a fair shake.
Slamdance Film Festival
Submission Price – Up to $110
I sent an e-mail off to the informational address they provided on WithoutABox. I received an immediate response.
Hi Justin,
Slamdance’s motto is “by filmmakers, for filmmakers”. We are all about independent, weird, first time films and helping our filmmakers get their start. At our festival, we host workshops and help our filmmakers with PR and prep them for their Q&As/interviews/etc. We host parties and have spaces for our filmmakers to get to know each other and our filmmakers return as our programmers and often help the new filmmakers.
As for your film, we would love a horror comedy! Our shorts category accepts up to 40 minutes and there are no restrictions on nudity/bad language/etc. Again, we put unique, out of the box projects above all else. It sounds like your film would be a good fit for us!
Let me know if there was anything I didn’t cover and if you have any more questions. Thank you for reaching out!
Best,
Pilar
Slamdance Film Festival is one of the biggest film festivals in the U.S. They started up as an alternative to Sundance, but soon became just as important. By responding quickly and accurately, it made me believe they were on the up and up. I immediately submitted.
REVIEW:
Slamdance Film Festival gets a POSITIVE REVIEW for their filmmaker friendliness. As you can see from this fantastic and immediate response, they did not forget their roots. Yes, they are pricey, but they are certainly filmmaker friendly.
Seattle International Film Festival – 43rd Annual
Submission Price – Up to $85
I e-mailed the informational e-mail listed on WithoutABox and got an immediate response.
Hello—
You can find contact information for our staff on our website www.siff.net!
All the best,
SIFF PROGRAMMING
OK. So, I contacted the programming director listed on their website with my submission questions, plus a bonus question of “Can you give me an example of how filmmaker friendly your fest is?” In response to that, SIFF Programming (the same people who told me to go to the website) sent me this.
Hello—
If you have any submissions questions, please direct them to this email instead of the Artistic Director or the Director of Programming.
You will not be ineligible based on the genre. We love horror and comedy!
We are not against nudity.
17 minutes is totally acceptable!
We are very filmmaker friendly. More than 50 shorts filmmakers attend the festival each year for ShortsFest Weekend.
All the best,
SIFF PROGRAMMING
I was happy they answered the questions regarding my eligbility. But, I probed further.
Hi there SIFF PROGRAMMING,
Can you give me an example of how you are filmmaker friendly? I’m writing an ongoing series about film festival friendliness. I realize a lot of filmmakers attend your festival, but that’s because you are an important high profile festival.
My series is for newer filmmakers who are cold submitting. A lot of controversy has been raised in the past few years regarding the legitimacy of cold submitting to festivals, especially the larger festivals. Filmmakers pay entry fees but have no guarantee that their film will ever be watched before they receive their denial letter. So, do you have examples of how your festival goes above and beyond to be filmmaker friendly? I greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
Justin
Once again, I got an immediate response.
Hello—
We give waivers to local filmmakers for their submissions.
We try and bring as many filmmakers to the festival as we can.
We love having both short and feature filmmakers here. We always get a good number of guests during our ShortsFest weekend.
All the best,
SIFF PROGRAMMING
REVIEW:
I am undecided about the Seattle International Film Festival
Did they answer my questions as a filmmaker? Yes.
Anything else? You will have to judge for yourself. Above are their complete and unedited responses.
Some fests take the time to converse with filmmakers. Others are big enough that they really don’t need to. I think we have seen a little bit of both here. For the record, I submitted to the Seattle International Film Festival… …just a guess… I won’t get in.:)
Thanks for joining me again, check back next Friday to find out about more great festivals and a few fests that just appear to want your cash!
Justin Bowler
IG @IndyFilmTwittic and @OhTheEffingHorror
Twitter @JustinTBowler
Read More of Justin Friday Film Festival Friendliness reviews:
PART ONE – Cheyenne ZombieFest & MiSciFi
PART ONE – SoCal Clips Indie Fest & Brightside Tavern
