Film Festival Submission Secrets by Paul Osborne 

That's kind of a broad generalization "if you're film budget is $5000 you won't get into Sundance". You don't need a star or to throw away money on too much camera, catering, or cranes you don't really need. Lots of films play at Sundance with no name actors in it shot for cheap.

"If you don't get into one big film festival you won't get into any others"? hahah is this guy serious? There's a short out that didn't get into Sundance and won an Oscar. Just cause Sundance doesn't take you doesn't mean TIFF won't.

Who’s really sweating a $50 entrance fee. Just pay it and move on. Festivals have expenses too.

Love it! Amazing video! Can't wait to watch what else you guys come out with.

Quick question, if your film gets an official selection, does that make it an “award-winning film”

FilmFreeway you can be a gold member er and get discounts entree fees

love it

Does anybody know this: how is "production year" defined for a film festival, for example if someone made most of the post-production of a film during 2018 but did the last touch on visual effects on January 1, 2019, would that film be considered has meeting the requirements for films produced during 2019...?

very helpful, thanks!

If you are a 'good filmmaker', keep it that way - don't remind people of the bad. Stay focused: 1- Watch an independent award-winning distributed film, so you know what to look for>> If a distributor is looking at an independent film, they already know there will be a loss, so they are looking at either a film with (ugh) stars that can pass as a mainstream film, or an indie gem that will win major awards, be critically acclaimed and draw people to their company. 2 - Math. If about 5,000 feature films submitted. ~32 from the US get into the feature COMPETITION. ~24 in World Cinema competition. That's 1.12%. The rest of the features are most likely from a catalog or distributor - Out of competition! 3 - Consider the odds. Far fewer Fiction Features submitted than Documentary Features, and fewer Documentary Shorts than again Narrative Fiction Shorts. Even fewer experimental or 'Next' or 'Midnight' type of content. 4 - Be professional and thankful like a designer or employed artist with 100s of projects in their portfolio. If you are in the next 1% or 5 or 10 or even 20%, after watching your film three, six, or nine times, next time they will remember you as making a good film somewhere. Just remind them what your film was about. Don't act or remind them of being a 'rejected' filmmaker. Don't rub in the smaller festivals your 'rejected' film got into. Act like a professional in the same field, that has several new films, experience, seminars, innovation to offer. A month or two goes by: what else do you got? 5 - Don't be bitter or entitled - act like you belong anyway even if only attending. If there was a company party and assignments were made: someone brings chips, another makes salsa, cups, drinks, napkins, a cake - if you were not selected to help make the cake, would you quit your job? Are you going to have your own party for your same old friends? If you are professional, you would go to the company party anyway, thank people for bringing whatever they did, mingle, get acquainted and next time see what you can offer. 10 years from now, people may forget what was selected at the party; but they just may remember you. 6 - Don't worry about it - If you want to make films, keep making films just to make them! Even household names like Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas make films for themselves, their friends, to learn from, and the public does not know about them, because no one has to know. Prince had his secret vault of songs and song bits. If you are a filmmaker, you just make film.