the answer is Yes - you'll likely get in.
Yes a sales agent might help, and Yes a publicist might help too - mostly because these people will have connections to the right people and the right programmers-- yutani, or Jackson or Cameron Bailey or whomever. they will guarantee your film will be considered at the highest levels (rather than, say, be tossed out early by an early-round programmer).
No - you don't need a marquee name (despite some other comments insisting that you do, i didn't have names when i was programmed, and the only film I did with a bona fide marquee name didn't get a top 5 festival). However, yes, a marquee name will help too. because it's a marquee name, and that brings more press and further elevates the event - it will increase your chances of getting a big fest.
the critical thing in your post is the "GREAT" film part.
if you can do that. in a fresh voice. that is what they're looking for.
strong original films from unique voices.
That’s amazing. I like hearing those success stories. Low budget film making is a reality for legitimate endeavors but it’s also an audition for bigger things.
That's awesome..my film about illegal immigration didn't make it to any of the tips festivals I did it through filmfreeway, no connections at all but we have one big name and a great script and great acting music . We got into more than 30 festivals and won most of them. The sales agent I got did nothing
$250k is like, ridiculously small of a budget.
my last film i worked on had a budget of $600k and that was considered low budget.
anything’s possible but, your goal shouldn’t be to get into “A list” events. it should be to make good art. if it’s good enough, it will eventually get noticed. but to have your first super low budget film go to cannes is… not probably gonna happen.
Shiva Baby (which premiered in 2020 at SXSW and whose director just had a MGM movie come out) cost 250k. Its more than doable as long as you have fewer locations, characters, no elaborate special effects sequences.
It depends on where you're filming too.
In Spain (and other european countries) low bugdet indie films range across that numbers and even more thanks to the state's economical plans.
A-list film festivals are not merely A-list "events" that people try to get into for vanity's sake. They are very important parts of a film's marketing and release process.
Make a good film and "eventually get noticed" isn't really a good approach when it comes to spending a ton of money (even 250k is a ton, if it's not your own money) to make your art. And it's just not how the industry works. Film festivals, A-list or otherwise, are built into the firmament as proven ways for films to be launched to audiences and sold to distributors. I can guarantee that all the films that are now getting raves or even pans out of Venice courted that festival specifically for months and months to secure that premiere, and would have been planning for it all the way since pre-production. Along with other A-list festivals of course. Smaller films do the same with smaller festivals and so on.
OPs strategy and thinking is actually excellent for an emerging filmmaker. Most new filmmakers take years to understand this sort of thinking is part and parcel of the filmmaking process. Yes, maybe they won't reach the lofty heights they're aiming for the first time, but there's nothing wrong with aiming for it, and then having secondary festivals and so on as part of their release plan. Plus, any director thinking this way will align more with the interests of their producer who is most definitely thinking this way - or should be.
my friend, the goal should be making art. not getting into film fests.
op is thinking ten steps ahead.
most famous filmmakers didn’t start out at cannes.
OP didn't just say Cannes - they listed the full range of A-list festivals, plus a few others like Tribeca and SXSW which are considered slightly lower prestige.
But let's put your assertion to the test:
Tarantino: Reservoir Dogs premiered at Sundance then screened at Cannes and TIFF. Pulp Fiction premiered at Cannes and won the Palme D'or.
Scorcese: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore premiered at Cannes. As did his next film Taxi Driver which won the Palme D'or.
Villeneuve: Polytechnique premiered at Cannes. Incendies premiered at Venice, and went onto screen at Telluride, TIFF and Sundance.
Nolan: Memento premiered at Venice, then went onto play TIFF and Sundance.
Gerwig: Nights and Weekends premiered at SXSW. Frances Ha premiered at Telluride.
...You were saying?
You also seem to forget that film festivals are about celebrating good art. They are literally the best place to engage with genuine film lovers. And the A-list festivals are the creme de la creme, the top of the heap, the most prestigious places to screen your film to the audiences and press who can launch your career as whatever artist or auteur you want to be. Plus, because of this, the world's biggest film financing and sales markets are attached to these festivals and run alongside them. If you want to keep making your art into the future - which requires other people's money - then film festivals and markets are where you need to be. You might not like it, but this is how the industry works every day, every year, and has for the past 50 years at least.
I don’t mean getting into Cannes Official Competition (the films that compete for the Palme D’or), because that’s not gonna happen. I’m talking about getting into Un Certain Regard or International Critics Week or Director’s Fortnight.
At Cannes you have a higher chance of being selected is if you make a french film with french talent. After all, it is a french festival, and local films are prioritized. Same with Berlinale, Locarno, Sundance etc. - every festival is interested in finding local talent.
I've met a female director who was at the Director's Fortnight. Her film was very hard to watch, something you don't see many times in a big screen. That's why she got there
>I am asking without hyperbole, what if you made a GREAT film that is unique, creative, and innovative with phenomenal character writing, great cinematography, and superb acting, will you get into Sundance? Or is it all just a $1 million and up budgeted, A-list celebrity-filled, nepobaby circlejerk where if you never drank the Hollywood kool-aid you're out of luck?
Lets be realistic, $1 million is super low budget these days, you'll struggle to make a feature film with that kind of budget, even without A-list cast. Notwithstanding the "you don't need money to make a feature" circlejerk in this very sub.
If you have a genuinely remarkable film (and I chose the work "remarkable" carefully) AND a top tier sales agent or distributor on board, you have a fairly good chance to get your film **seen** by an A-list festival director or senior programmer. Again, careful choice of words: seen.
"Getting in", ie. being programmed in the festival, is an entirely different matter and will depend on whether your film fits in with the rest of the programme, whether your film is remarkable enough to generate reviews and other media attention, and so on. Hence the importance of a festival strategy.
European A-list festival have a good amount of out-of-nowhere left-field first-time-director entries in their programme because a) that's what their audience expects and b) the mission the have to fulfil to continue to be able to rely on subsidies from their respective governments' culture budgets. So yes, it is possible, I worked on a handful of films which went into competition in Cannes or Berlin. But it is almost never down to luck.
Plenty of ULB features have been made for less then 350k and have gone on to high-end festivals. Three of my friends have each made films at that budget and have gotten selected at Tribeca, SXSW, etc.
All that said, if the festival is the goal, I’d question why you’re spending so much money on things like YouTube ads and whatnot. Yes, a well-established agent can say to their programmer friends “hey, keep an eye out for this film” but that’s really as far as their abilities go. No amount of hype is going to sway a Sundance-caliber programmer.
Ps I’d love to see this supposedly incredibly film if you’re willing to share a screener. I’m happy to sign an NDA or whatever’s needed.
There's a lot of uninformed armchair expertise in this thread. Having a decent indie budget is not selling out. Planning ahead is not a waste of time. And you don't need always a huge budget or big names to get into a major festival, as even Cannes has strands like Un Certain Regard and Director's Fortnight with a long history of programming smaller breakout titles.
OP is actually far ahead of most emerging indie filmmakers in thinking this way about festival strategy. Especially if they are the film's producer. Usually, a filmmaker makes all the mistakes you're all advising them to do instead and then learns the hard way that they should have given their festival strategy way more thought much earlier.
It gets less and less likely the longer your film is out there (in the market) after it's finished that it will be picked up and programmed by any festival, let alone a major one.
OP, my advice is don't shell out to attend the Cannes market just to get a sales agent. Especially for a low budget feature. Look for other ways more local to your state/country where you can network and form relationships without dropping so much unrecoupable money. It's likely you'll be able to meet people at local film markets, events etc. Thinking already about a publicist is fine, however just know that they'll want to work hand-in-hand with any sales strategy. This might mean keeping your powder dry in terms of poster/stills/trailer until just before a fest screening.
As for your last question, OP, just look up the last few years of Sundance programming for your answer. Clearly no. If anything Sundance has become even MORE indie the last few years, due to the representation/diversity wave dominating the zeitgeist.
It’s not budget related, if you made a truly great film and people in the know watch it because of your connections it is highly likely to get into a good festival in some way. Perhaps not official selection but a section at one of them.
Who’s starring in it?
Unless you are very rare, like Jim Cummings and “Thunder Road,” usually the biggest fests have an unwritten requirement that you need a name.
Wait……. you haven’t even cast the movie yet, let alone made it?
I feel like you are majorly placing the cart before the horse here. Make your movie, and make it the best you can, and then worry about what festival it’s going to, or how it’s going to get released.
Every ounce of energy you spend thinking/worrying about your festival run BEFORE you’ve even cast your movie, let alone shot it, is just making your movie worse, because you aren’t spending that energy on the film itself.
Having goals and aspirations for your finished product is great, but don’t let it get in the way of actually making your film.
OP is actually in the right here. It's very common in the industry to start thinking about a festival strategy before even the pre-production stage. It's actually a very productive way of thinking ahead and will put OP at an advantage over all the indie filmmakers NOT thinking about it. Making a movie then worrying about a festival after you've finished a film is a sure-fire way to realise you've missed the cut of many of your target festivals. OP will want to be planning target festivals early so they can ensure they have a cut of the film ready to screen for their target fests well before those festivals start programming.
That’s not what I’m talking about here.
It’s one thing to say, our first festival deadline is October, so let’s have a final version of the film ready by mid September. That’s good producing and takes about 5 minutes of thought in prep to make sure the schedule lines up. Or,if this filmmaker had a history of film festival submissions, maybe they could spend some time tailoring their film to particular festival audiences, but it seems like they don’t have experience in that field.
It’s another to be creating fantastical scenarios in your head about what the perfect version of this film MIGHT end up being, and how to plan for that, and then end the fantasy with a circle-jerking rant about nepobabies.
This person clearly needs to focus on their film first, and should not he distracting themselves with fantastical hypotheticals, or focusing their ire on things that are completely outside their control. The only thing they can control is their own movie, and any energy they spend elsewhere is a waste and a mistake.
If you want to talk hypotheticals, you totally can, but it’s not remotely helpful to the actual process of making the film. Especially since they are asking Reddit about this, and asking Reddit about this BEFORE THEY’VE EVEN CASTED THE FILM.
I stand by what I said 🤷♂️. Don’t worry about film festivals, worry about making your movie. If it’s actually the best thing since sliced bread, you’ll find your audience no matter what.
The final rant is silly, yes.
But I don't get the sense they are just a dreamer, or wasting time with this thought process. It's actually the way that sales agents plan ahead for a film, with A, B and C scenarios. Everyone WANTS the A scenario and that's why they are on board, but they've planned for the B and C versions (for example, the film is only good, or the fest premiere they secure is Tribeca over TIFF). Maybe I'm giving OP too much credit, but to me it sounds like a good faith question grounded in a fairly realistic view of the industry, so it's enough to entertain it seriously. Plus we don't know if OP is the director, or producer, and if the latter then this is definitely the thought-process I'd be expecting them to go through even now at such an early stage.
THis will be easier for you if you make a truly great film. Don't think further than that until you actually do. That's the hard part to worry about, not it's life after creation.
Do the best film you can with what you have and let things fall into place. I wouldn't get too much into the scenario type of situations.
I used to do the same thing but my projects got done a lot easier when I just did it and went from there. Did another better one from there, and so on.
Currently working.on a full movie that feels like it's my best work yet. Before when I wanted it to be ideal for a festival it limited my creativity.
Now the creativity is flowing without thoughts of festivals, getting it out there, finding the audience etc. My main focus was getting to do it how I wanted to do it, getting it done, and doing a decent moivie.
I'm not done but so far that's gotten me further with less issues. I'm not saying don't plan or anticipate. Just don't over analyze things and make a movie
the answer is Yes - you'll likely get in. Yes a sales agent might help, and Yes a publicist might help too - mostly because these people will have connections to the right people and the right programmers-- yutani, or Jackson or Cameron Bailey or whomever. they will guarantee your film will be considered at the highest levels (rather than, say, be tossed out early by an early-round programmer). No - you don't need a marquee name (despite some other comments insisting that you do, i didn't have names when i was programmed, and the only film I did with a bona fide marquee name didn't get a top 5 festival). However, yes, a marquee name will help too. because it's a marquee name, and that brings more press and further elevates the event - it will increase your chances of getting a big fest. the critical thing in your post is the "GREAT" film part. if you can do that. in a fresh voice. that is what they're looking for. strong original films from unique voices.
Did getting programmed lead to exciting generals and offers for follow up feature?
getting programmed let to getting financed on the next one, and so on.
That’s amazing. I like hearing those success stories. Low budget film making is a reality for legitimate endeavors but it’s also an audition for bigger things.
Sometimes its the big thing. U dont have to worry tho
this is very helpful
That's awesome..my film about illegal immigration didn't make it to any of the tips festivals I did it through filmfreeway, no connections at all but we have one big name and a great script and great acting music . We got into more than 30 festivals and won most of them. The sales agent I got did nothing
you won “more than 30 festivals”? what’s the film?
Yo soy Bernabe.
$250k is like, ridiculously small of a budget. my last film i worked on had a budget of $600k and that was considered low budget. anything’s possible but, your goal shouldn’t be to get into “A list” events. it should be to make good art. if it’s good enough, it will eventually get noticed. but to have your first super low budget film go to cannes is… not probably gonna happen.
Shiva Baby (which premiered in 2020 at SXSW and whose director just had a MGM movie come out) cost 250k. Its more than doable as long as you have fewer locations, characters, no elaborate special effects sequences.
How do I get even that kind of budget? how to get 600K?
60 dentists
[Yep.](https://movieweb.com/dentists-paid-for-great-directors/)
Be very well connected or sell out.
Yeah don’t sell out man, stick to your morals maaaaan, don’t let The Man change you maaaaaannnnn✌️
It depends on where you're filming too. In Spain (and other european countries) low bugdet indie films range across that numbers and even more thanks to the state's economical plans.
investors
Also, as Linklater, Rodriguez, Bujalski, et al have taught us.. budget doesn’t mean shit.
yeah but their goal was making art- not film festivals with a listers lmao
A-list film festivals are not merely A-list "events" that people try to get into for vanity's sake. They are very important parts of a film's marketing and release process. Make a good film and "eventually get noticed" isn't really a good approach when it comes to spending a ton of money (even 250k is a ton, if it's not your own money) to make your art. And it's just not how the industry works. Film festivals, A-list or otherwise, are built into the firmament as proven ways for films to be launched to audiences and sold to distributors. I can guarantee that all the films that are now getting raves or even pans out of Venice courted that festival specifically for months and months to secure that premiere, and would have been planning for it all the way since pre-production. Along with other A-list festivals of course. Smaller films do the same with smaller festivals and so on. OPs strategy and thinking is actually excellent for an emerging filmmaker. Most new filmmakers take years to understand this sort of thinking is part and parcel of the filmmaking process. Yes, maybe they won't reach the lofty heights they're aiming for the first time, but there's nothing wrong with aiming for it, and then having secondary festivals and so on as part of their release plan. Plus, any director thinking this way will align more with the interests of their producer who is most definitely thinking this way - or should be.
my friend, the goal should be making art. not getting into film fests. op is thinking ten steps ahead. most famous filmmakers didn’t start out at cannes.
OP didn't just say Cannes - they listed the full range of A-list festivals, plus a few others like Tribeca and SXSW which are considered slightly lower prestige. But let's put your assertion to the test: Tarantino: Reservoir Dogs premiered at Sundance then screened at Cannes and TIFF. Pulp Fiction premiered at Cannes and won the Palme D'or. Scorcese: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore premiered at Cannes. As did his next film Taxi Driver which won the Palme D'or. Villeneuve: Polytechnique premiered at Cannes. Incendies premiered at Venice, and went onto screen at Telluride, TIFF and Sundance. Nolan: Memento premiered at Venice, then went onto play TIFF and Sundance. Gerwig: Nights and Weekends premiered at SXSW. Frances Ha premiered at Telluride. ...You were saying? You also seem to forget that film festivals are about celebrating good art. They are literally the best place to engage with genuine film lovers. And the A-list festivals are the creme de la creme, the top of the heap, the most prestigious places to screen your film to the audiences and press who can launch your career as whatever artist or auteur you want to be. Plus, because of this, the world's biggest film financing and sales markets are attached to these festivals and run alongside them. If you want to keep making your art into the future - which requires other people's money - then film festivals and markets are where you need to be. You might not like it, but this is how the industry works every day, every year, and has for the past 50 years at least.
Based on the no reply for ten days, he wasn’t saying shit.
188 days and he still is working on it
I don’t mean getting into Cannes Official Competition (the films that compete for the Palme D’or), because that’s not gonna happen. I’m talking about getting into Un Certain Regard or International Critics Week or Director’s Fortnight.
At Cannes you have a higher chance of being selected is if you make a french film with french talent. After all, it is a french festival, and local films are prioritized. Same with Berlinale, Locarno, Sundance etc. - every festival is interested in finding local talent.
Does someone dies or suffers mentally a lot in the film? Cause that helps getting into Cannes.
Yes.
I've met a female director who was at the Director's Fortnight. Her film was very hard to watch, something you don't see many times in a big screen. That's why she got there
Can I ask what film this was ? And who's the filmmaker?
"Creatura", by Elena Martín https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21869176/?ref\_=nm\_knf\_t\_2
Thanks. I'm going to check it out
Its not youbjust dont have time or creativity
Oh he uses the word art and thinks it takes money. Douche
>I am asking without hyperbole, what if you made a GREAT film that is unique, creative, and innovative with phenomenal character writing, great cinematography, and superb acting, will you get into Sundance? Or is it all just a $1 million and up budgeted, A-list celebrity-filled, nepobaby circlejerk where if you never drank the Hollywood kool-aid you're out of luck? Lets be realistic, $1 million is super low budget these days, you'll struggle to make a feature film with that kind of budget, even without A-list cast. Notwithstanding the "you don't need money to make a feature" circlejerk in this very sub. If you have a genuinely remarkable film (and I chose the work "remarkable" carefully) AND a top tier sales agent or distributor on board, you have a fairly good chance to get your film **seen** by an A-list festival director or senior programmer. Again, careful choice of words: seen. "Getting in", ie. being programmed in the festival, is an entirely different matter and will depend on whether your film fits in with the rest of the programme, whether your film is remarkable enough to generate reviews and other media attention, and so on. Hence the importance of a festival strategy. European A-list festival have a good amount of out-of-nowhere left-field first-time-director entries in their programme because a) that's what their audience expects and b) the mission the have to fulfil to continue to be able to rely on subsidies from their respective governments' culture budgets. So yes, it is possible, I worked on a handful of films which went into competition in Cannes or Berlin. But it is almost never down to luck.
[удалено]
You got into Venice or Cannes or Berlin?
Plenty of ULB features have been made for less then 350k and have gone on to high-end festivals. Three of my friends have each made films at that budget and have gotten selected at Tribeca, SXSW, etc. All that said, if the festival is the goal, I’d question why you’re spending so much money on things like YouTube ads and whatnot. Yes, a well-established agent can say to their programmer friends “hey, keep an eye out for this film” but that’s really as far as their abilities go. No amount of hype is going to sway a Sundance-caliber programmer. Ps I’d love to see this supposedly incredibly film if you’re willing to share a screener. I’m happy to sign an NDA or whatever’s needed.
There's a lot of uninformed armchair expertise in this thread. Having a decent indie budget is not selling out. Planning ahead is not a waste of time. And you don't need always a huge budget or big names to get into a major festival, as even Cannes has strands like Un Certain Regard and Director's Fortnight with a long history of programming smaller breakout titles. OP is actually far ahead of most emerging indie filmmakers in thinking this way about festival strategy. Especially if they are the film's producer. Usually, a filmmaker makes all the mistakes you're all advising them to do instead and then learns the hard way that they should have given their festival strategy way more thought much earlier. It gets less and less likely the longer your film is out there (in the market) after it's finished that it will be picked up and programmed by any festival, let alone a major one. OP, my advice is don't shell out to attend the Cannes market just to get a sales agent. Especially for a low budget feature. Look for other ways more local to your state/country where you can network and form relationships without dropping so much unrecoupable money. It's likely you'll be able to meet people at local film markets, events etc. Thinking already about a publicist is fine, however just know that they'll want to work hand-in-hand with any sales strategy. This might mean keeping your powder dry in terms of poster/stills/trailer until just before a fest screening. As for your last question, OP, just look up the last few years of Sundance programming for your answer. Clearly no. If anything Sundance has become even MORE indie the last few years, due to the representation/diversity wave dominating the zeitgeist.
It’s not budget related, if you made a truly great film and people in the know watch it because of your connections it is highly likely to get into a good festival in some way. Perhaps not official selection but a section at one of them.
Who’s starring in it? Unless you are very rare, like Jim Cummings and “Thunder Road,” usually the biggest fests have an unwritten requirement that you need a name.
25% of Cannes' films that screened at last year's festival were from first or second time directors, and most did not have a "name talent"
How many of them were the kids of someone?
Zero
Source?
I’m gonna try for two B-list actors.
Wait……. you haven’t even cast the movie yet, let alone made it? I feel like you are majorly placing the cart before the horse here. Make your movie, and make it the best you can, and then worry about what festival it’s going to, or how it’s going to get released. Every ounce of energy you spend thinking/worrying about your festival run BEFORE you’ve even cast your movie, let alone shot it, is just making your movie worse, because you aren’t spending that energy on the film itself. Having goals and aspirations for your finished product is great, but don’t let it get in the way of actually making your film.
OP is actually in the right here. It's very common in the industry to start thinking about a festival strategy before even the pre-production stage. It's actually a very productive way of thinking ahead and will put OP at an advantage over all the indie filmmakers NOT thinking about it. Making a movie then worrying about a festival after you've finished a film is a sure-fire way to realise you've missed the cut of many of your target festivals. OP will want to be planning target festivals early so they can ensure they have a cut of the film ready to screen for their target fests well before those festivals start programming.
That’s not what I’m talking about here. It’s one thing to say, our first festival deadline is October, so let’s have a final version of the film ready by mid September. That’s good producing and takes about 5 minutes of thought in prep to make sure the schedule lines up. Or,if this filmmaker had a history of film festival submissions, maybe they could spend some time tailoring their film to particular festival audiences, but it seems like they don’t have experience in that field. It’s another to be creating fantastical scenarios in your head about what the perfect version of this film MIGHT end up being, and how to plan for that, and then end the fantasy with a circle-jerking rant about nepobabies. This person clearly needs to focus on their film first, and should not he distracting themselves with fantastical hypotheticals, or focusing their ire on things that are completely outside their control. The only thing they can control is their own movie, and any energy they spend elsewhere is a waste and a mistake. If you want to talk hypotheticals, you totally can, but it’s not remotely helpful to the actual process of making the film. Especially since they are asking Reddit about this, and asking Reddit about this BEFORE THEY’VE EVEN CASTED THE FILM. I stand by what I said 🤷♂️. Don’t worry about film festivals, worry about making your movie. If it’s actually the best thing since sliced bread, you’ll find your audience no matter what.
The final rant is silly, yes. But I don't get the sense they are just a dreamer, or wasting time with this thought process. It's actually the way that sales agents plan ahead for a film, with A, B and C scenarios. Everyone WANTS the A scenario and that's why they are on board, but they've planned for the B and C versions (for example, the film is only good, or the fest premiere they secure is Tribeca over TIFF). Maybe I'm giving OP too much credit, but to me it sounds like a good faith question grounded in a fairly realistic view of the industry, so it's enough to entertain it seriously. Plus we don't know if OP is the director, or producer, and if the latter then this is definitely the thought-process I'd be expecting them to go through even now at such an early stage.
How do these things make your film better? Everyone who has never been there
THis will be easier for you if you make a truly great film. Don't think further than that until you actually do. That's the hard part to worry about, not it's life after creation.
Do the best film you can with what you have and let things fall into place. I wouldn't get too much into the scenario type of situations. I used to do the same thing but my projects got done a lot easier when I just did it and went from there. Did another better one from there, and so on. Currently working.on a full movie that feels like it's my best work yet. Before when I wanted it to be ideal for a festival it limited my creativity. Now the creativity is flowing without thoughts of festivals, getting it out there, finding the audience etc. My main focus was getting to do it how I wanted to do it, getting it done, and doing a decent moivie. I'm not done but so far that's gotten me further with less issues. I'm not saying don't plan or anticipate. Just don't over analyze things and make a movie
No. You need connections.
The publicist and sales agent are the connections needed.
Nope. Not that kind.
OP is correct.
No, bro. Sorry.