You’re a new filmmaker. You’ve made a short film, Now what? Are film festivals worth your time or not? Should you put it on YouTube and market it online? These are good questions. And despite the fact that we at the Edmonton Short Film Festival are inclined to tell you “Yes! Please send us your films,” let’s take some time to hash out why we think it is valuable to send your film to a festival, providing you are realistic about the actual value that film festivals can provide.
Deciding between putting your film online and submitting it to a festival do not have to be mutually exclusive options. Many film festivals, especially smaller ones, will happily accept films that have been screened elsewhere or that can be accessed online. The battles that rage between Netflix and Cannes over streaming online and screening in person, for example, take place at the very top end of the cinema industry. That battle might suggest that the same debate is happening at all levels of the film industry, with equal amounts of animosity. But when it comes to the smaller scale of up-and-coming filmmakers and local indie festivals, those debates tend to be more like discussions and sometimes even collaborations. So keep in mind: you can do both.
It’s possible you may be convinced that is not worth your time and money to submit your film to a festival. There is a classic image of glory that accompanies the idea of submitting your film to a big festival and winning accolades. It is the dream case scenario: your short film will totally wow a prospective distributor or producer. Having been so impressed by your short film, such a person will extend an immense courtesy to you and agree to distribute your short film and help fund your next project. This image — an intoxicating one for sure — is a rarity. Much like winning the lottery. It is very rare for you to get a huge career boost from a film festival. So why would submitting your film to a festival be worthwhile? What value can a film festival provide if not career advancement?
Film festivals provide a variety of benefits to you. Screening at a film festival has lots of small benefits, and one BIG one. The small benefits are nice: sometimes you will get cash prizes for winning awards; some festivals pay to screen your films whether or not you get an award. Screening at one festival can also make it easier for your film to be accepted to other festivals. Another cool benefit is that a festivals offers you a place to test-run your film with a live audience: feel the rush and excitement of knowing real people in the seats are watching a thing you have made (there is nothing cooler than hearing people laugh or cry in response to your work). These are all the nice bonus benefits, you could say, of film festivals. There is one central benefit that film festivals provide. And if you are realistic about this benefit, and use it correctly, it can be incredibly helpful in stabilizing a prospective career for you in the film industry.
The real benefit of film festivals comes in meeting people. Attending festivals personally and meeting people there is the main benefit. Let me explain why. No other place on earth has a greater ratio of film people to non-film people than a film festival. Which means there are so many people there that have knowledge about film, have filmmaking skills, and are interested in making films. There will be people at film festivals that have been in the industry for 20 years. There will people at film festivals who have several years of experience but are still fresh, and there will be people who are just starting out. All of these people are there and available to talk to. From the experienced veterans you can learn lessons from and gain insights into the machinations of the industry that you otherwise wouldn’t have access to; to the moderately seasoned attendees you can learn about the new trends and movements currently taking place in the film industry; to upstarts, the new filmmakers there who you will likely befriend and connect with. You all share the same interest after all. And it is these people who end up serving as your camera assistant or script editor on your next project. Or they might ask you to help out with an upcoming project of theirs.
All these connections provide you with information. They help you understand how this beast of an industry works. They even offer you some doorways to further work (maybe not a jump in your own career, but a step toward other projects where you can continue to learn and grow and build connections). Film festivals let you network. And if you know anything about filmmaking, you know that above all it requires collaboration: it requires that you are in touch with a whole web of knowledgeable and skilled people with whom you can consult and collaborate in order to make some truly great films.