AFM: part II - everything you wanted to know about film festivals

[see part I, 'who funds movies and why,' here]

from the program description site:

• Moderator:
• June Shelley, Chair, Women in Film International
  
  
• Panelists:
• Nancy Collet, Director of Programming, AFI FEST presented by Audi
• Matt Dentler, Film Festival Producer, South By Southwest Conferences and Festivals
• Eleonora Granata, USA Representative/Programmer, Venice International Film Festival
• Caroline Libresco, Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival
• Jeremy Platt, Artistic Manager/Head Programmer, Santa Barbara International Film Festival
• Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, Film Independent's Los Angeles Film Festival
• David Straus, Co-Founder/CEO, Withoutabox.com

the 800lb gorilla in the room was obviously caroline libresco. jeremy platt provided sleep-deprevation humor and david straus, though his site seems like a great service for filmmakers, often came off sounding like a used-car salesman, more about the pitch than the product.

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moderator: is there a philosophy associated with your festival and are there themes?

matt: yes – music-oriented films (runs alongside music festival) and genre films.

jeremy: foreign based/world cinema; right after sundance, so most american indies have already been exposed; latin influenced as well

nancy: many different foreign/international

moderator: are you influenced by other festivals?

rachel: don’t show films that have been at a lot of other festivals; won’t show anything that has already screened in los angeles

caroline: they're a discovery festival – trying to expose works that will breakout for the american audience; films for industry and press; want to introduce new artists; 1/3 of festival is international; would rather find overlooked entries at other festivals

eleonora: won’t take films that have already premiered at other major festivals – berlin, venice, cannes; small festival (68 films including docs and shorts); looking for new films that haven’t premiered anywhere else

moderator: will you accept a film if it has played in another festival?

caroline: american films they require world premieres; they get thousands of films, most of them premieres

jeremy: do harvest a lot from toronto; like u.s. premieres, but are flexible if your premiere is in something like sundance; 10-day festival; 170 films

rachel: the film must not have already shown in los angeles/orange county; otherwise depends on what section for premiere emphasis

nancy: very similar to rachel; three competitive sections; shorts (36 films) 12 in feature/docs; first or 2^nd time filmmakers in features and must be us premiere

matt: must be world or north american premiere; very small feature competition (8 features and 8 docs)

moderator: do you share recommendations?

eleonora: love them. since they’re a small festival they can really use them.

caroline: there’s 1000 features coming to sundance. 900 docs. 4500 shorts. lots of films out there right and many great ones. they only show 16 features.

jeremy: 'the hamiltons' was recommended by sundance to santa barbara, and was bought there by lionsgate; many times films can find success even if they didn't in another

matt: all the programmers talk to each other. so don’t play them off each other.

nancy: try to catch films that might fall through the cracks; if they’re waiting to hear from sundance they might miss our festival and if we don’t take them they’re completely out - so they communicate with sundance to find out what they can and help out films they like

moderator (to david): does withoutabox advise filmmakers on where to go:

david: originally no, they just provided tools for you to map your own course through the festival circuit. but in july they merged with filmfinders – which consults with filmmakers to strategically market their film

moderator: does the withoutabox submission affect the application process?

nancy: they’ve been working with them from the beginning; get half their subs from box

rachel: also from beginning; was a great tool for filmmaker’s and now is a great tool for programmers; where a film comes from doesn’t really matter – it’s the film, not the submission

moderator: who does the screenings?

caroline: organic process; have quite a big trusted staff; not unlike script coverage, each film gets covered and then also covered by the programming staff; many are executives, graduate film studies; all go through an intense seminar; they also have to view a lot of material (must committ to a minimum amount, which isn't insignificant); goes to senior programmers after previous two levels; all films are watched in their entirety; everyone on team has been there at least siix years

jeremy: fifteen screeners, each film has to be seen twice; coverage is done; then a programming manager gives the leaders to jeremy to screen. and he brings stuff to the head of the festival. basically same as sundance.

rachel: again, basically similar; many films they show are simply individuals who submitted; it’s a myth that they listen only to agents or managers and that the unknown person can’t get in; the most interesting work is always disputed and argued over (correlated by caroline)

nancy: same. get calls that if the film wasn’t accepted it must not have been viewed. not true.

matt: austin doesn’t use withoutabox – because they already have an online submission process and have had since 98. treat submissions like a new date. don’t be to pushy. everyone is looking for that surprise; elaborate press kits are no use – the volunteers get any care packages

eleonora: same. except she only has two volunteers. venice has no money. she also has used recommendations from sundance (see above). watches a minimum of about 350 films personally. her assistants watch others.

moderator: do you give any preferences to films from your development programs? or previous winners or submissions?

caroline: no special preference; separate departments; but the business is about relationships

rachel: it all comes down to the films; if the films are great, then they’ll be in

nancy: separate departments – often don’t even know if submissions are from alum; if a film is from a previously known filmmaker, it will at least get viewed sooner, but eventually it still comes down to the films

matt: sxsw is affliated with austinfilm.org; but he keeps away from those tracts to avoid conflict of interest

moderator: how rough can the film be?

eleonora: only send it if it’s as finished as can possibly be

matt: we get thousands of films, so try to send as complete a version as possible; might sometimes look at a later cut if they have a relationship

nancy: they often look at rough cuts; tho it’s a problem if it’s not ready by the time of the festival; have invited many films on basis of rough cut

david: put your best foot forward; withoutabox has a forum for filmmakers to talk about their submission time experiences

rachel: if editing isn’t done, then don’t submit; but don’t miss a deadline because color-correction or sound isn’t perfect

jeremy: works at wb and views movies at night; for him it better be basically done unless he has a relationship with filmmaker

caroline: 95% of what they accept is unfinished; don’t worry about credit sequences or sound sweetening or color-correction; don't miss a deadline because of those things

moderator: format of submissions?

[same response from all: projecting digital now. some will still show 16mm]

moderator: how do you choose juries?

caroline: trying to get diversity and exciting thinkers in cinema; no hard and fast rules; and a group that will work well together

nancy: love having former festival filmmakers on the jury

moderator: what about films that aren’t in competition (like studio films)?

eleonora: important because it attracts journalists and gets press and attention that might spill over to the competition films [all the rest agreed]

rachel: doesn’t look it as a necessary evil; they want to represent the full diversity; these films should all be together

jeremy: santa barbara has become known for it’s panels with oscar nominees (festival is right after announcements); those events bring the press in.

moderator: after getting in – what does the filmmaker do then?

david: remember your power as a filmmaker. ‘audience’ a new software for collecting fanbase and marketing film; start finding your fanbase – even before you get into a film festival.

eleonora: hire a publicist; you need to maximize your experience and especially since they’re in italy, you need to know who to talk to and who to make sure sees your film.

matt: if it’s a feature film premiere you should already have press agents et al, lined up; if an agent approaches you, ask them for contact info of 3 other filmmakers they’ve worked with before as references

nancy: be careful as many consultants are charlatans; get recommendations from the festival or other filmmakers

rachel: ask the festival to put you in touch with previous festival winners

jeremy: reiterated to be careful who you align with – lots of shady characters

caroline: reps should not be charging you money; they take a %; you want someone who loves your film because they’re selling it; publicists charge money, so if you don't have any find a rep, not a publicist. all the festivals can give you lists of the sales agents at their festivals. research them, regardless if they’re finding you or not.

audience questions were a bit of a mess, but a few tibits of information came out of them:

for short films, play the hell out of them; you should show it as much as possible (for a year, then move on); none of them had any restrictions on short films (except austin which it should be a texas premiere)

re-define your measure of success: getting an agent or manager, making a contact; most films don’t get picked up (tho all in the venice film do), international pickup can be just a valuable as north american; bottom line - getting into a festival is already a success. don't consider it a failure because you don't win a prize or land a distribution deal. many times the success is simply finding the person you'll do your next project with.