How to Get Into Film Festivals (Why They’re Still Important)

[@Amtran727]

I'm an actor and the most recent short film I did just got accepted to two festivals. I'm going to the screening in the first festival next month and am very excited.

[@tylermason140]

My personal experience when submitting to festivals, reading their submission guidelines, and emailing staff is that a lot of them actually don't care about premiere status IF you're doing short films. For features, it's obviously entirely different. And it seems like you're largely referring to features here. But I know a lot of people in the comments will be making shorts currently rather than features, so I figured I'd mention this just so they all know that things tend to be a bit more lenient and flexible with shorts than with features. You always put out awesome content, and I consistently learn a ton of stuff and get a lot of great ideas from you!

[@BradyBessette]

thanks for coming in town and keeping me company!! SLC will miss you

[@markbone]

SLC needs me

[@peter_ripka]

@@markbone, even though Lewis (or whoever edited this vid) butchered Brady's name (at 01:33), I know you three are besties ^^) Will the Perfect Cut course be available on its own (not bundled with other AOD courses)?

[@AndreaJoshuaAsnicar]

Man I'm starved for connections with filmmakers. For festivals. For art. Moving back home was great for myself, but I need to get back into it. Meeting people, connecting with people, working with people is just great! Don't close yourself, go out into the world as a filmmaker!

[@markbone]

Nothing beats being in person!!

[@zer0K0000l]

I'm starting my journey in the film festival game with my first short film this year....This was helpful....Thanks.....

[@HollyHargreaves]

Slamdance is not easy to get into & is a great festival in its own right, so congrats on that🙌

[@markbone]

Thank you Holly!!

[@RyanBartonGrimley]

This is a great video about film festivals, the ins and outs, the little extra tips, etc... I'd add "extra communication with the programmers in a non-needy-way to create long term relationships, etc..." to this list as it has helped all my micro-budget features get some extra play and attention. I usually centered the extra communication around volunteering to do Q&A's in person or zoom, publicizing the project and their festival, etc... They like this :) Also... If you're a nice human, you love film, you give a little, the programmers will notice and always give your new projects a chance. They want to be fans! Great work as always Mark!

[@markbone]

Yes! I agree with this. A kind email or even better, a hand written letter go a long way!

[@lucaslahlum6331]

Now I need to learn how to make a film

[@hauntngu4002]

I'm all by myself in this, but I managed to get a hold of a local film crew at a university. They made a few movies previously and were horror which is what I'm writing, and one of the guy's okay with me being in. There's a festival not far from us and it's in October specifically for horror. It really couldn't get better. The guy I called is a director and liked what I proposed to him, and seems to want to get into it.

[@markbone]

Congrats mate. Horror has a huge indie following so there are amazing festivals for this

[@leslawkaznowski]

Thank you so much for this video! Every time I watch your content I am increasing my skills! Filmmaking is thinking, creating and telling. You are absolutely amazing that you share your knowledge and experience. 🖤

[@markbone]

So glad you’re enjoying the channel brother!

[@BryceDocherty]

Super stoked to complete my first film in a few weeks. I have big hopes for it. Hope to see Okay soon!!

[@markbone]

Come to our next screening in toronto!

[@BryceDocherty]

@@markbone I will be there! Just let me know when!!!!

[@_jonathanlue]

Thank you mark! Definitely been learning so much through AOD and never could have imagined the growth I’ve gained these past few months

[@markbone]

I love hearing this!!

[@markbone]

What's your fav film festival? Any tips for others submitting? Also who is jumping into AOD this March??

[@HollyHargreaves]

TIFF is awesome🙌

[@dan_abrusci]

AOD student here. Funny enough, good timing on this video for me. I just submitted to a few film festivals for my first short doc I directed Let's see how it goes :)

[@markbone]

🤞🤞🤞 let’s us know if you get selected

[@matthewboyd4638]

Well said Mark. I am wrapping up a short doc that is centered around a shepherd and his relationship with his goats, his dogs, and nature. Can you think of some festivals that tend to lean more towards such subjects. Of course I'm shooting for the moon with big festivals as well. Thanks, great work!

[@rosetofilms]

Man, I've been loving seeing you do more vlog style videos! -Johnathon DeSoto :)

[@markbone]

Thanks Deso!

[@ChrisHunter-x1q]

Amazing. Thank you so much for this. As someone who has aspired to create since I was young, this video put a big smile on my face and a sense of possibility. Truly, thank you.

[@DialloMoore503]

Mark, unfortunately, content also matters. If a film contains violence, it has a less chance of getting accepted. I wish film festivals would just admit that, instead of trying to seem inclusive.

[@FermionBecProductions]

I'll be approaching this stage after completing my first documentary in June. These tips were enlightening.

[@Ronsonofficial]

Had a great time week 2 sorry I missed you!! But I did see an AOD commercial out front the canon store 👏🏽💪🏽💪🏽

[@markbone]

😂 as in a human advert?

[@TamaraGutierrez-k6j]

Had a great time week 2 sorry I missed you!! But I did see an AOD commercial out front the canon store

[@ienpassi]

love it Mark

[@markbone]

🤘

[@juliosnap]

Sick thumbnail

[@markbone]

💯💯🥹

[@tazyt3388]

Mate that’s a pretty good idea that’s never crossed my mind and we have a bunch of festivals here in oz hhhmmmm got me thinking again you gotta stop it hehe hope ya well cobba cheers

[@markbone]

✌️✌️✌️

[@jember_films]

This is really great! Thank you so much, man.

[@markbone]

My pleasure mate!!

[@JMcDonald2001]

I have submitted a short film that is now an award Winner 🏆 The short film is called One Shot 🏀 The plot is about a guy that dreams of becoming a NBA Star someday

[@Alanwking]

I love Film Freeway.

[@markbone]

It loves you

[@Met9171]

I thought that a festival showcases various films not one so I'm surprised and confused when you state that there might be 3 or few people watching your movie.How?Where would be audiences of other movies who came to the festival?

[@JoshPostVlogs]

Not sure if you mentioned this, but what are technical requirements for getting docs into film fests? For example, does it have to be in 4k, 10-bit, MP4, MOV, or other technical requirements?

[@lisabaxter7786]

Fantabulous

[@schoeferfilm]

Great video Mark 👍🏻 last week I have been to our Bamberg short film festival with a film 🎥 the oldest german short film festival 😀 one week amazing films. One of the shown films is this year nominated for the Oscar’s 💪🏼 to get in contact with other filmmakers is so important 😉 best cinematic greetings from germany

[@markbone]

Nothing beats in person!

[@randallburgess6393]

As long as your walk your film will be in and the more walk the better

[@markbone]

🤔

[@LouisRoss-iu3of]

Great information thank you for being a filmmaker

[@ryanguidofilms]

Excellent advice here, as always

[@markbone]

Glad you think so!

[@franck8448]

Hello Mark ! Thank you for sharing this experience. On another note, I'm looking for pro advice on how to correctly expose my S-Log 3 on my A7 IV... I have to admit that using this picture profile impresses me a bit ;) Sorry for my level of English (i'm french) ... I hope it's clear enough to be understood !

[@markbone]

Please go watch my video about nailing your exposure I released last year!

[@squaresaucemedia]

Where could I watch the documentaries that you’ve made or been a part of?

[@juanQuedo]

The 1st link on the description seems to be down. But anyway I just wanted to have a look and see if you have on the Art of documentary website some kind of data base where to find, follow the films people enrolled have been doing. That could be great.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

In this comment I'm going to be talking about how much I like this video. I like this video.

[@markbone]

Maybe we can dance together with rentals

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

@@markbone the rental business is full of floods on the floor, leaks overhead, weird things left in the closets......Somewhere in the middle of all that are some really nice people....but it takes a bit to find them. I say to people; Stay in the movie making world where everyone is nice, everyone shares, everyone helps each other, everyone cares for the next guy, everyone knows where you dropped the lens cap. Life is easy, the sun always shines, and you don't have a care in the world in the movie world. (Yeah right.....only in the movies).

[@AmyWard-ei6fe]

I'm interested in attending KCFF next week. Which day/event is the best to network? I'm a songwriter for TV-Film.

[@tamirbelo]

Can't wait to finish film school so I can do AOD 👍

[@markbone]

Heck yeah!

[@AkaBull]

👌👌👌

[@markbone]

✌️✌️✌️

[@kozykev]

holllyyyyyyy Brady and Mark linked up???!!!! 🔥

[@markbone]

👀👀👀

[@BradyBessette]

we may or may not have

[@Met9171]

How to know if you have been accepted into a film festival since I received a submission confirmation email months ago then lately before the 1st round winners announcement I received a 2nd email,a regret notification email that I wasn't selected for this year's edition so I was confused if whether was I initially accepted but later never made it to the 1st round winners or was I never accepted at all?

[@theseventh2609]

Hey Mark , I tried to watch your film about autism but can't find a way on any site. Can you recommend one please ? Thanks man

[@markbone]

It hasn’t been released yet

[@RavinderSingh-ft5dw]

Superb work dear

[@AlexNyeArt]

How do you know if festivals on film freeway are actually good exposure or a money grab for entry fees? That could probably be a whole video on its own 😂

[@markbone]

Their website are a good indication, if they look like garbage they aren’t good

[@meshachshakes]

I'm about to submit my film to a festival. I don't have the budget to pay for music licensing so I'd like to know. Are film festivals strict with music copyright?

[@markbone]

Most won’t inquire

[@markbone]

Unless it’s a very well known song

[@reubenknot3038]

do you have any knowledge on the new Toronto teen film festival?

[@markbone]

I do not. But always check their website and social media following to get an idea of they care

[@PARISONFIRE]

and most importantly do what you love, if you enjoy horror or action do that. i know many guys that just do what gets more attention in the woke festival audience but none of them enjoy what they do. i say its bs and i do whatever i want because thats where im best at.

[@markbone]

Follow your passion and you will create the best art

[@FayDavis-k9u]

How do you find out if a film festival is legit or not? I got some emails a little while back asking to put mine into the festival and idk it just felt scammy haha I wrote them back asking for more info or to try and talk to a person and never got a reply but kept getting “invites”. Does anybody know, like are there scam festivals out there? I can’t imagine there isn’t at least one. Lol

[@richardwhittaker2879]

Had to turn the video off before it ended, it's a shame that the video wore me down so much that I am no longer interested. How many times can you sell your course in a 8 minute video?

[@Videofilealways]

?????

[@markbone]

Thanks for your comment Richard. We have just seen too many peoples careers completely change from being in the AOD community for me to not promote. Maybe it’s not something you’re interested in, but I feel I would be doing my subscribers a disservice to not let them know about everything going on inside AOD to help them. Also I do these videos sponsor free of any other brands so you can look at my course as the sponsor.

[@rodrocketon9480]

The #1 key to getting in film festivals is to make a film of any quality about race or gender. The film festival circuit is owned by leftists and if your film is not a sermon about race or LGBTQ, then the films that are, already have a huge edge on you when it comes to consideration. Anyone who denies this is just plain lying.

[@Imnotracistiswear]

I have seen my fair share of films that I thought were there only because they had those themes

[@nkosiroma]

It’s sad that this is true. So many great stories that aren’t shoehorned into those categories…

[@impmoviechannel3052]

Ugh. Why perpetuate the mythology of filmmaking, especially to earnest people who don't know any better? Marcel Duchamp talked about fighting "the religion of art" and this video might as well be titled "How To Join A Hipster Cult: Trying To Be An 'Insider' And 'Outsider' At The Same Time". There is no prestige attached to festivals inherently -- wanna-bes hoping to be "discovered", make a deal, gain contacts. It defeats itself by not trying to bring unique products to an underserved market and turning it into a crass popularity contest like high school, taking time, energy, and resources AWAY from doing the kind of good work which propels talent forward. Who is this video for? If you know festivals, you already know it's about getting your money to support people who can't make a living making films otherwise (who have no real power), nepotism run amok, and developmentally stunted creatives obnoxiously desperate for attention who are never going to have a career no matter. If you don't know film festivals, nothing anyone can say will stop you from the "dream" (you need to wake up and think pragmatically such as agents, distributors, developing websites with content), and advice sounds like sour grapes. Festivals are as "important" as 1800s fine art salons and what happened to those? If you aren't aware, within ten years the idea of a "movie" will be obsolete with AI creating customized "entertainment/education" in real time for FREE. This video is so silly, it's actually sad.

[@dudeyo2688]

Bourgeois decadence. Pointless.

[@Leo-gt1bx]

They are a waste of money and precious time. I would rather be outdoors enjoying nature or the company of others.

[@kimisnaps]

[@markbone]

🐱

[@RachelBurton-fd1bx]

My personal experience when submitting to festivals, reading their submission guidelines, and emailing staff is that a lot of them actually don't care about premiere status IF you're doing short films. For features, it's obviously entirely different. And it seems like you're largely referring to features here. But I know a lot of people in the comments will be making shorts currently rather than features, so I figured I'd mention this just so they all know that things tend to be a bit more lenient and flexible with shorts than with features. You always put out awesome content, and I consistently learn a ton of stuff and get a lot of great ideas from you!

[@XVIIsionsProductions]

How do you find out if a film festival is legit or not? I got some emails a little while back asking to put mine into the festival and idk it just felt scammy haha I wrote them back asking for more info or to try and talk to a person and never got a reply but kept getting “invites”. Does anybody know, like are there scam festivals out there? I can’t imagine there isn’t at least one. Lol

[@TorresProductionsLLC]

if you get unsolicited invite emails that read like basic templates and are like “submit to our festival!” or “here’s a discount code” i would stay away, it’s not that they’re necessarily “scams” but more so festivals that don’t have a ton of notoriety and will sort of accept whoever submits/just wants the application fee. again, it’s not ~bad~ to submit to these but chances are you’re doing them more of a favor then yourself by paying to submit. now, there are legit festivals that will reach out to you to program your work or see a screener but those types of emails will read like a person talking to you and sometimes don’t even mention filmfreeway