#MediaMonday: Submit to Film Festivals
Good morning everyone,
I hope that you all had a good experience over break and had many wonderful moments with your family and friends. I found myself overindulging on family time and left chores undone around the house in exchange for playing Legos with my son and holding my daughter. Needless to say, Thanksgiving was wonderful.
However, on Saturday, something began that broke me out of my Thanksgiving spell: kids started texting me!
"Cantrell, can we have an extension on our story? We can't get into the cave until next week"
"Hey, do I need 3 films on my Formalism paper? I feel like mine is pretty strong with 2..."
"Hey Cantrell, I have Covid and I'm the cinematographer on my upcoming film. Any advice?"
"Cantrell, can I do a monthly film review on Home Alone. I've seen it like 100 times and don't really want to watch anything new this month"
It goes without saying that kids are the worst and will begin sucking the life out of you at their earliest opportunities. (Just kidding, I love my kids. We all love our kids...)
Anyway, a big group of my kids just wrapped on the largest film my program has ever attempted and we have started talking about where we want to submit it. And, this got me thinking: do other programs obsess over where to submit their films?
You see, when I look back on my first year as a film teacher, I can say without hesitation that there was only one thing that I did right: I submitted student work to film festivals. Since then, we have started our own festival, we have travelled all over the world attending film festivals, and had student films screened nationally and internationally. Festivals have become a huge part of our film culture at our school and so I wanted to take today and make a plea.
Therefore, today's topic of discussion is: Submitting student work to film festivals.
Honestly, the process is easy; The Internet makes it easy. However, if you have never done it before or you always submit to the same places and contests, I would suggest that you take a few steps to ensure exposure and hopefully, some success.
Step 1: Look Local
When you start looking for festival, look out your front door. Many of us have a variety of festivals close-by that you may not even realize are there. Local festivals are often great first festivals to submit to because the competition is narrower and the entry fee is affordable. Local festivals normally are within driving distance, so there is an added bonus of convenience when you are hoping to see your own films on the screen.
Step 2: Go "Student National"
When you've explored the local market, it's time to go "Student National". Look for student-specific national festivals to send out your work. The largest one is the All American High School Film Festival in NYC and they always have a free submission window at the beginning of the season. However, there are also other festivals that are student-centered, such as National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) that is on the west coast. And, smack-dab in the center of the country is the Central Film Festival which is also unique as it has a high school student board of directors that curates their program. These festivals, again, have their focus set on student work and typically accept student project that show promise. A great place to find student-specific festivals is on filmfreeeway.com.
Step 3: Look for Big Festivals with student categories
This one is fun, because a kid can actually say "when one of my films got into the LA ShortsFest..." And be telling the truth. These are often harder to find, but are worth digging around for. They give the students the best experience when attending because for one weekend, they are a real filmmaker rubbing elbows with REAL filmmakers from all over the world (some of which are probably famous).
Step 4: Actually go to festivals
Submitting and being recognized is fun, but until you go with kids into a theatre and see their work on a screen at a festival, you are missing out on something big. Festival are addictive and the energy of them are infectious. Who knows, that might just be the kick that a student needs to pursue a career in the film industry. We have even started going to festivals when we don't even have films submitted. The experience is unlike anything you've ever done and once you go to one, you will continue going to festivals for the rest of your live. I promise.
Film culture is more accessible now for our students than ever before and we are about to see some incredible changes in the industry, led by our kids. It doesn't take much, but submitting to film festivals can make a huge difference in the lives of our students.
And isn't that why we are doing this in the first place?
Talk to you soon,
Josh Cantrell