iPhone Film Festival Guide: How To Get Selected

Film festivals are a great way to gain exposure for your work and make lasting connections with professionals in the film industry. In some cases, film festival screening can even lead to a successful filmmaking career. However, entering your film into festivals can be a long and emotionally draining journey.

As an artist, you put your heart and soul into a project and by submitting it to festivals, you’ll find yourself in a very vulnerable place.

So how do you raise your chances of being selected?

Pay attention to the rules

Every film festival has its own specific rules which help the organisers as well as the filmmakers avoid wasting time submitting films that don’t fit the festival. You wouldn’t believe how many messages and emails we receive by filmmakers who have clearly not read the rules. While we love chatting with filmmakers, we’d be more than happy not to answer the same questions over and over again, when the answer can be found written in the rules.

Not reading the rules is the number one reason why films don’t get selected at festivals.

For example, we are clearly a festival for films shot on mobile devices. Why waste your (and our) time by submitting your film shot on anything else but a mobile device? We’ve even had people submitting films, stating that it was shot on a smartphone but at the same time sending us behind the scenes material where you could spot them holding large professional cameras. Never. Do. That.

Have something to say

Most film festivals aren’t a place for mindless entertainment (except for the Mindless Entertainment Film Fest, of course). Neither are they – at least in festivals like ours – a showcase of production values.

Festival programmers are usually looking for films that are taking them on an emotional journey, stories expressed in their own unique way which are able to amaze, move to tears or maybe even make them laugh uncontrollably. And you know what? None of these emotions are provoked by production values.

You know, even if a festival judge hates your film, it’s ok because at least you evoked an emotional response. And remember – it doesn’t mean that your film is bad because good and bad are 100% subjective.

Keep it short

Having watched hundreds of shortfilms, a common issue is a film being longer than it needs to be. Of course, the story determines the length of your film but often filmmakers are a bit “generous” in the edit. Do yourself (and the programmers) a favour and really work on tightening the pacing. The more concise your idea is the better it plays.

Also – short film festivals generally schedule films in blocks of 80 to 90 minutes each. So, if for example you make a 10 minute short film (or preferably less), you’ll find it slips into festival schedules easier. Whereas with a 40 minute film, it leaves a lot less time for other shorts to be screened. Programmers will have to really love your movie to make that commitment, which also means that your film needs to really stand out.

Clear music rights

Music can make or break your film. And I’m not talking about an epic score or a moving tune. I’m talking about music rights.

Festivals can’t screen your film unless the music rights are cleared.

And it is your responsibility to clear rights. According to Elliot Grove, Founder of Raindance, half the reasons why films don’t get into a festival are uncleared music rights. There are a lot of ways to find royalty free music for your film. Also there are many hungry film composers out there who might love to score some music for your film. Read our basic explainer about music rights.

Pick the right film festival

Most filmmakers want to get their hands on the Holy Grail of film festival Official Selection laurels — Sundance. Guess what? They are most likely not going to accept your film, but that’s ok because their acceptance rate of short films is a eye-wateringly low 0.75 %.

Not saying you shouldn’t submit your film to a top tier fest, but don’t spend all your money on them. Instead, enter a lot of different festivals of all sizes.

Big festivals can get thousands of quality submissions, but some of the smaller festivals don’t have such a fierce competition and are still worth it to be a part of. You will have a better chance of winning, getting your film screened in a cinema in front of a live audience, win awards and sometimes cash prizes to help you make your next film.

If your money is tight, it is well worth it to hit the Early-bird Deadline, if possible, because a lot of festivals offer a free entry period.

But always make sure your film is right for the festival you’re submitting to. No matter what your film is about or what genre it is, there is always a film festival out there for you. Identify the festivals that most closely align with your film and you will have much higher chances of being selected. In addition, favour local film festivals over far distant ones because you have better odds getting into something local.

Another great source of advice:

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