Silva's festival season advice

Its tier 1 festival season folks, so some people are thrilled, the majority of others are disappointed with their festival acceptance (or lack thereof). We are hearing from friends that in the last 48 hours have received both responses.

But filmmakers Andre and Shannon Silva, also Professors in the Film Studies Department at UNC-Wilmington, have some interesting perspective on the whole festival business. Here is their site entry about festivals:

Rejection:

Don’t get discouraged if you start getting rejection letters back from festivals. It is quite common for even the most brilliant films to get a healthy dose of rejection. There are too many variables to guarantee your film will get into every festival to which you submit. In fact, getting into say, ten of ten festivals would be as miraculous as winning small dollar amounts in a scratch off lottery game ten times in a row.

Some of these variables which may cause your film to be rejected are:

The pre-screener doesn’t like or doesn’t get your film. Pre-screeners are not masters of film or Jedi knights. They’re ordinary folks, college students or film buffs with some time to volunteer for a festival. They could also be having a bad day. Another pre-screener might have loved your film but never had a chance to see it because pre-screener #1 hated it.

Your film does not fit with the rest of the films being programmed. Would Van Gogh’s Sunflowers hang in a pop art museum? No. Does that mean Van Gogh’s Sunflowers sucks? Absolutely not. Again, researching the festival to which you will submit can minimize the chance of this happening.

Your film made it to the final round and its in limbo. The pre-screeners are discussing the films, which are sitting on the edge, and bartering happens. “I’ll give you those two films if we can program this film,” and your film is a casualty.

One well-know director said about submitting his first feature film (a film which attracted a cult-following), “we got into about a quarter of the festivals we submitted to and that was pretty good.”

He was talking about a feature film, where the stakes are even higher than with short films. But if you get into 1/4 of the festivals to which you submit a film (especially if it’s your first festival film), you should pat yourself on the back.

www.silvacine.com