The Dublin International Film Festival director, Gráinne Humphreys, gave us a lecture about careers in film festivals. If any of us want to be filmmakers in our lives, attending film festivals are the key starting points into entering the film industry. Ms Humphreys gave us an outline of distribution companies, the sales that go on during festivals and most importantly, giving out some advice for submitting your film(s) at festivals.
Film distribution companies help market a film. “Because of the enormous amount of cost in money and time involved in distributing a movie, a distributor must feel confident that they can make a sufficient return on their investment…Independent filmmakers often use film festivals as an opportunity to get the attention of distributors” (Tyson 2000).
Creating a ‘buzz’ at a festival is the first crucial stage in a film finding its audience, as these screenings present an important opportunity to showcase a film for industry sales and/or for pre-release promotion to the media and public. As we are now living in the digital age, festival change the advertising of certain movies and social media and response are now instantaneous. The use of the ‘hashtag’ becomes the film(s)’s mark of status on social media websites, including the festivals they were shown at. Viewers see what the response is to the film (and festival) and they could take a chance on both of them in the future.
The most prestigious festivals for sales and international profile are Cannes, Venice and Berlin. While Sundance, Locarno and Toronto are particularly interested in non-mainstream films. The Cannes Film Festival has a reputation for a different ‘type’ of cinema and it’s probably stuck with its favourites as compared to Berlin’s. Toronto is usually a launchpad for Oscar-nominated movies (especially the films nominated for the Best Picture category). Venice has benefited Netflix productions and Telluride opens its doors in the middle of Venice and before Toronto.
Releasing your films can sometimes be an issue. Specifically, a movie is considered to be a wide release when it is in two hundred screens or more in Ireland. A limited release is a strategy of releasing a new film in a few theatres across a country, typically in major metropolitan markets. However, the busiest months to release a film are between January and March (due to Oscar material) and May to September (due to summer blockbusters). If you are in the position of thinking about putting out a film, these months would be the wrong time.
The quintessential key to film festivals is to know them inside and out. For submissions, it’s important to know your contacts, make your pitch relevant and appropriate to the contacts’ interests. If you don’t get a reply back from them, don’t pester and give them at least a month. Submitting your film doesn’t always go according to plan and they might turn you down. This isn’t because your film is bad, but because there is a wide range of other submissions from talented filmmakers like yourself.
For more advice, potential filmmakers need to make themselves known and have an online presence. And ask someone who followed the same footsteps as yourself for more feedback.
Works Cited
Humphreys, Gráinne. “Careers in Film Festivals”. 28 Jan. 2020, Film & Screen Media Auditorium, University College Cork.
Kerry International Film Festival. “KIFF Audience,” FilmFreeway, 2019, storage.googleapis.com/ff-storage-p01/festivals/cover_photos/000/006/634/original/cover_photo.jpg?1544440832. Accessed 29 Mar. 2020.
Tyson, Jeff. “How Movie Distribution Works.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 18 Sept. 2000, entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-distribution1.htm. Accessed 01 Mar. 2020.
Adam Murphy's Blog 