A List of Festivals with Notes based on Personal Experiences
ASIFA set festival guidelines to try to respect filmmaker rights. They require - no entry fee, a chance to win significant awards, an international selection committee, and an international jury, and return of the work, catalogs, and/or responses to the entries.
Here are some festivals ASIFA supports:
Hiroshima
Ottawa
Cinanima (Espinho Portugal)
Zagreb (Croatia)
Nikki Hines: "Dandelions" Animator/Director (I may be biased because these are all festivals in which my film Dandelions was selected)
Frostbite International Film Festival: Kept me in the loop with what was going on; only con was their site didn’t update winners for awhile due to maintenance.
SHORT to the Point: They have monthly selections, which is nice (and cheap); downside is just that- it’s every month so there’s not a lot of recognition. Their laurels are rather cute though.
The Moonrise Film Festival: Good communication, they dropped a festival trailer which included winners films! Makes you feel warm-n-fuzzy to see your student film with professional films.
Student World Awards: Good communication through the judging process; their laurel is pretty dope.
Roselle Park Shorts! Film Festival: Easy festival to enter; offered to give me a list of discounted hotels near the festival.
Grand Rapids Comic-Con Film Festival: One of my favorite festivals- These guys emailed me through the whole festival process and actually took the time to talk about my film with me. They kept contact even afterwards to let me know when they mailed the awards (as well as keep me up to date on other competitions.) For festival selections, they will also set aside a pass for you to enter the con for free! Too bad I had to work. :’)
Anim8 Student Film Festival: This is also known as the “After Hours” film festival. They emailed me a couple times, ironically they initially rejected my film but then a couple weeks later they emailed me back saying that after some discussion with the judges they decided to give Dandelions a merit award and actually sent a physical award to me, along with a typed letter stating why they changed their minds and what they liked about the film.
Catharsis International Film Festival: Never contacted me but it was an easy festival to enter, haha.
Providence Children’s Film Festival: This festival has been one of my top favorites- communications was top-notch. The Director of Programming communicated with me once my film was selected and invited me to attend the festival as well as a “Filmmaker Soiree” where the filmmakers could get together for a social outing. He also wrote a detailed note about what exactly he and the judges liked about Dandelions, which is great to hear. He also said they’d remember it well as “the only film from Peru, IN”. The festival is actually next week (Feb.16-25) but it’s in Rhode Island unfortunately.
BEA Festival Of Media Arts: The judges gave fantastic notes on selected films; from praise to critiques, it was great to get the feedback.
Deanna Morse: Retired Educator, Animator and Active Festival Juror.
Port Townsend Film Festival: Paid a bit of the airfare and gave me free housing, plus a welcome box, plus PR opportunities. It was good.
Athens, Ohio: Barely told me I was accepted, and when I went, my films were shown, I was in the audience, and not even recognized or introduced! I Jumped up and said I was here, in the audience, and ready to talk with folks! And please stay to the end of the program to see my film! (Pathetic, but I drove all the way there, and did hotel at my own expense. )
Ann Arbor Film Festival: the filmmakers have an intro-interview on stage, photos in the lobby, different colored name tags, a meet and greet, a pizza night to meet each other, press conferences, free t-shirts,mugs, invited to the green room, honored... etc. etc. etc. I love that festival. It's 56 years old, it is important. It is in Michigan !!
The EyeWorks Experimental Animation Festival: Led to lots of "likes/followers" on Vimeo, some on-line reviews, and they sent me programs and a swag bag. Also, they are a hit on-line when you google me.
Ottawa Animation Festival: Screenings have led to some follow-up queries and reviews.
SIGGRAPH: Screenings have led to some follow-up queries and reviews.
Various Other Festivals:
Animation Block Party, Brooklynn New York: Very responsive, well organized. $25 student fee for the early bird deadline.
Moving Things Film Festival, South Africa: They were very responsive. Notified us when we got in and even followed up on one film that didn't. I can't recall if they had a fee.
Chicago International Children's Film Festival: The fee can be a little high but entry into the festival is definitely worth it. They are a feeder for other children's festivals around the world so a screening at CICFF can most likely lead to automatic entry in other fests. They do a great job of making their filmmakers feel welcome in Chicago.
Children's Film Festivals in general can be a great venue for young film makers provided the content is suitable. Often they will consider the genuine content over a large budget or polished production values.
Origins Film Festival. Only one I attended. Small but you did get free tickets into the Origins convention with a fancy filmmaker badge so that was cool. Fantasy and Sci-Fi based.
Dragon Con independent Short Film Festival – gave a lot of information and follow up emails. I unfortunately was double booked so I couldn’t attend but it seemed like a lot of fun and also got you into the convention.
Anim!Arte – Lots of emails and things laurels and such. Was in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro so wasn’t quite feasible for me to attend. Also just had a big reach and the potential to go on a fest tour to different cities so that was cool.
Purgatory Film Fest seemed well-organized. After my film was accepted there, I got news
and updates from the fest coordinators leading up to the fest.