Dealing with the submission process
Answers
I’m based in the UK. Is there anyone who can help me with submitting my film to festivals?
If you've made a short then it's worth submitting your film to the
British Council. They offer a unique service, in which they act as
a central clearing house for short films seeking international
festival screenings. See
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts
for more info.
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How do I submit my film?
This is easier than it sounds. Film Festival applications are often
complicated, lengthy, time-consuming and sometimes expensive. There
are services that help with this, offering a centralized clearing
house, such as Withoutabox (see below). These can cost some money,
and they don't necessarily cover all relevant festivals, but they
can be handy if you want to submit to quite a few festivals.
If you are going to do it on your own, then give yourself plenty of
time before the deadline to get the necessary materials together.
These can include:
• VHS tapes of your film (make sure you have both
NTSC and PAL). A word of advice here: don't just send a black
cassette with plain sleeve - label your tapes properly with title,
director, contact details, aspect ratio, length etc.
• Full Production Credits, Biographies of
filmmaker(s) (including filmography), transcripts (some festivals
demand this).
• Stills - Festivals often want hi-res
digital stills (minimum of 300 dpi) from your film. These are
sometimes requested on a CD, although some festivals will accept
them by email, ISDN, or by File Transfer Protocol (ftp).
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What is Withoutabox?
Withoutabox (withoutabox.com) is still the most popular online film festival submission system.
In essence, you simply fill out a common entry form once, then click and apply to any Partner Festivals working with Withoutabox without having to fill in form after form after form. You'll get the beauty of this by your tenth submission form. You can also create a complete press kit online and pay your festival entry fees by credit card. The service is free, and can match your film with festivals that fit its specific profile. You can also upgrade to a (paid) service with discounts on entry fees, extended deadlines, and other add-ons.
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... and Reelport?
Reelport (www.reelport.com) is similar to Withoutabox in that it offers an online film festival submission service. You can upload your film in DVD quality for preview by festival programmers - three for free and thereafter charged in 'reels' (1 reel = 1 EUR).
It's also a digital distribution network, digitising and encoding films and dealing with the ensuing rights clearances, for festivals and distributors around the world.
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What sort of format should my film be available on?
You'll need to send either a DVD or VHS copy in the first instance (increasingly DVD) so have both available - and available on NTSC and PAL formats.
If your film is then accepted to the festival, you will need to provide them with your film on their required format. Festivals will specify which format(s) they accept, and it's worth checking this before you submit your film. For instance, some festivals will only screen 16mm or 35mm prints (although this is becoming rarer), while others can only accept Beta SP or DigiBeta.
Also pay attention to the aspect ratio here (16:9, 4:3, Full Height Anamorphic etc) and note that you may need to have more than one master in circulation at a time, as they do the rounds at various festivals. This, again, can be costly, so be prudent in how many festivals you send your tapes to.
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I have some uncleared music/ archive footage in my film - is this a problem?
Legally, you must hold the rights for any music or footage used in
your film. If you have permission to use certain material - such as
anything covered by a Creative Commons licence - then check that it
covers you to screen your film in a festival.
There are some smaller festivals that will turn a blind eye to
clearances, but most will require you to sign a disclaimer stating
that you have the necessary clearances so be very careful.
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What happens if my film is accepted?
The first thing you need to do if you film is accepted, is send your master tape (see above for more info on this) and any supplemental info that the festival may require and that you haven't already sent, such as a press kit.
The next thing to do is check out the next section, After Your Film Has Been Accepted.
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What happens if my film isn't accepted?
Don't panic. If the big festivals say no (and bear in mind that they are the most popular festivals and receive tons of entries, so don't despair) then start looking at smaller, more specialist film festivals. Perhaps you've made a film about a visually impaired fashion designer from Uganda. Well, try human rights festivals, festivals celebrating films about art and any festival that celebrates films by and about people of the African diaspora.
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