From Short to Festival: How to Prep Your Short for Festival Buzz

Cut has been called on the final shot, the last cut has been made in the edit, now it’s time to make the cut and get audiences to see your film. Many great shorts, however, never make it to the festival stage because filmmakers don’t know how to market or submit them effectively. To mitigate these pitfalls, let’s take a comprehensive look at how to submit a short film to festivals and how to maximize your time there. 

There are two main avenues your short can go after it’s completed: either uploading it online for anyone to view, hoping it takes off in the algorithm, or submitting to film festivals. There are many types of festivals all over the world where filmmakers and film lovers congregate and mingle. The connections made while attending festivals can be just as important as showcasing your film. But your film has to be accepted first. Now, let’s dig into some short film festival submission tips. 

Understanding the Festival Landscape

Festivals range from weeks-long international events covered by the major trades and reps looking to make acquisitions to local single day, single screen events. Even the small earnest festival can be a richly rewarding experience. And seeing how few films get selected by the top-tier fests, choosing the right festivals for your short is paramount to getting selected. There are festivals that center around certain genres, or local filmmakers, or around the filmmakers themselves, highlighting work done by specific groups of filmmakers. 

You don’t have to live in Los Angeles or New York to be close to festivals. If you live in Montana or Marrakech, there’s a festival there for you. One of the main tips for getting your short film accepted into festivals is to be diligent in your search for specific festivals. Filmfreeway is a great tool for finding festivals and vital to submitting to them, but research each fest that piques your interest independently. See what types of films were programmed in earlier years and what the various festivals look for in a short film. Are shorts their main focus or features? If it’s features, then the shorts are often thematically paired with a feature and shorts with runtimes under ten minutes are favored. 

If your short is over 20 minutes, be extra diligent when checking past films to see if that festival generally programs longer shorts. One 20 minute short takes the spot of four 5 minute shorts. In addition to length (which is more a guideline than a rule), each festival will have its own eligibility rules. If you don’t adhere to these rules, you’re just throwing the submission fee money into the wind. Highlight the submission periods, especially the early and final dates. Consider adding subtitles to expand the global accessibility of the film when applying to international festivals.

If the festival’s submission page asks for a pitch or cover letter, write it. Festivals want to find new voices to highlight. Any corresponding external material to help your film stand out will benefit its chances at selection.

Crafting a Festival-Ready Press Kit & Building Buzz

Preparing a short film for its festival rollout can include many ancillary materials that will be extremely beneficial in attempting to stand out. Essential elements include writing a synopsis, a director’s statement, stills, a poster, and even a trailer. Like the cover letter above, the director’s statement can preemptively clarify the intention of your story and highlight why your voice is unique, demanding to be heard. When thinking about how to promote your short film at a festival, think about how strong visual components like the poster and stills can help catch the eye of programmers and press as your film is but one of many (potentially thousands). 

Before the rollout begins, the main film festival marketing tips are to create social media strategies for your film. Create accounts that are the title of your film and post about the story, the production, the cast and crew. When people see the film and want to look it up, it will already have a presence online. You can employ teaser campaigns to build anticipation for the film's premiere. Wherever the festival is located, there will be local film groups. Even if it’s just a facebook page for local filmmakers, try to collaborate and reach out to people before the event begins. Likewise, research what type of press outfits (if any) will be going to the event and reach out. You can’t get a yes if you don’t ask. 

Engage with Kinolime’s community for early support and to enhance the visibility of your work. Kinolime also offers guidance in building professional, competitive materials that can help to prepare your short film for festivals. 

Maximizing Your Festival Run

When submitting to festivals, prioritize festivals you can actually attend. It’s great if your film screens at a festival on the other side of the world, but if you aren’t there, the impact of the screening may never materialize. Any good short film festival strategy involves trying to maximize your time in the same space as so many like-minded individuals. All of the people are there because of their love for cinema, and like so many industries, connections made can lead to future projects and collaborations. The power of weak ties is on full display at networking events, especially ones that intermingle different communities of filmmakers.

Festivals are your chance to meet people you otherwise would never be in the same room with. People travel all over the world for festivals. While everyone is there to enjoy cinema and meet like-minded people, coming off as pushy or transactional can close doors instead of open them. If something thinks of you merely as a user, that conversation has already died. The best way to socialize and network at these events is to meet interesting people and try to make friends. Everyone at the festival has film in common, and probably much more. Talk to people and see if you click with anyone. That’s the best way to make meaningful lasting connections.

Lastly, every festival gives out laurels, and these can be used to increase credibility for future projects. They show the festival run your film has had, the life it has lived.  

How Kinolime Boosts Your Festival Chances

Film Festivals can take on this mythological space in burgeoning filmmakers minds. Don’t let this space stress you out. Film festivals are a celebration of film as a whole and your film in particular, the best way to maximize your time there is to have fun with it. 

Submitting to the Kinolime Shorts competition can bolster your short’s reach. Winning the competition awards the filmmaker a $7,500 production grant and $500 festival submission stipend. In addition to the funds, you gain valuable access to Kinolime’s network, and if you’re still in need of film festival tips for short films, Kinolime can offer hands-on advice from experienced producers. 

The hard part, finishing the film, is done. Now let’s go ahead and get the film accepted into festivals so audiences can enjoy your hard work.