THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

A forum for sharing views on the art of film, video and AV sequence making as well as on competitions, judging and festivals.
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Dave Watterson
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THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by Dave Watterson »

For some time now the main IAC website has included on its page of competitions and festivals, a list of those which are free to enter. (http://www.theiac.org.uk/eventsnew/fest ... ivals.html)

But many, many festivals charge an entry fee. Our own BIAFF is now charging up to £25 (for an entry by a non-member over 21 which lasts longer than 60 minutes).

If you want to get your film seen by as many people as possible in a cinema setting, as opposed to online, fees could add up to a considerable sum. And that is before allowing for the cost of a DVD or memory stick and postage to send the film to the organisers. Some festivals ask for electronic copies of film for their pre-selection process but almost always want a physical copy for public screening.

Is this yet another disincentive for newcomers and young film makers?
ned c
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by ned c »

Not only a disincentive for newcomers and young film makers but also for retiree film makers on a fixed income! Running a Festival is not inexpensive particularly where the judges provide notes to all the entrants and sponsorship has become increasingly difficult to get. There is something special about seeing one's work on a large screen with an audience; the dynamic changes and the film is seen in a different light (I know that Michael pre-screens his films to an audience to get that feeling). The IAC is lucky in having a volunteer workforce of organisers and judges but how long can this be sustained? Perhaps the future lies with regional Festivals?

ned c .
col lamb
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by col lamb »

Ned

We do have regional IAC competitions in the North West we have the Festival/AGM in November and the Mersey 10 in March/April. Both of which are well attended, with 70 attending the last Mersey 10 which we hosted in Preston.

Also within the North West region we have club organized festivals and inter club events.

There is the excellent Burnley Festival, an Interclub held in April and hosted by Southport with six clubs each presenting one movie in direct competition with the other clubs, at Preston we have our own invitation competition where six clubs have a maximum time slot of 15 minutes to show two movies and the winner is decided by one vote per club. There are also invitation Triventions where one visiting club has a 40 minute show and another visiting club the same 40 minutes and the winner is decided by the host club. I instigated a remote Trivention where we host movies by two other non local clubs and we decide the winner.

So there are quite a few opportunities for movies to be seen on the big screen here in the North West
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fraught
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by fraught »

Getting online screeners of films makes the judging easier, in that the judges don't have to be in the same place at the same time. Plus it's free and cost effective for the film maker.

As for the entry fee... it's not too bad, considering other festivals charge around about the same and more. But, there are lots of festivals that are completely free to enter. A good source of these is http://noentryfeefestivals.com/ which is a superb website and well worth visiting on a regular basis!
You can also use sites like festhome.com where entering festivals only cost 1Euro a go.

The downside to alot of festivals is that the vast majority do not provide any feedback whatsoever! This includes the festivals that charge large sums of money to enter too! This is where BIAFF differs in my opinion, as it provides feedback about the project direct to the entrant. This is often worth the entry fee alone!
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TimStannard
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by TimStannard »

fraught wrote:This is where BIAFF differs in my opinion, as it provides feedback about the project direct to the entrant. This is often worth the entry fee alone!
Indeed (with the caveat that the feedback is well considered). Unless one seriously believes one is in with a chance of winning (and, let's face it, at the better end it all becomes rather subjective anyway) this along with the chance of getting your film screened in front of a decent sized audience, is the only reason I see for entering festivals.
Providing written feedback is time consuming and can be hard work (finding something good to say about some films can be taxing), but the entrants are generally very appreciative, in my experience.
The North Thames Region IAC annual festival provides feedback -I presume other regions do too?
Tim
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Michael Slowe
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by Michael Slowe »

Tim, does the North Thames annual competition provide feedback? I was lucky enough to win a trophy the other week there but didn't receive any 'feedback'. As to other festivals, I happen to know that the 'Lift Off' festivals organised for Las Vegas, Liverpool and London (odd selection of venues!) certainly doesn't inform entrants, despite charging £30 per entrant. The recent London festival had 700 entrants garnering £21,000! They selected 36 films from that total for showing on the two very swish screens in the Soho hotel in London. I know because I was there and also had a film entered but not selected, although I was able to learn that it was not too far off. These festivals are however valuable to budding commercial film makers as vital exposure. I share the general opinion though that they are more money making machines than shop windows.
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TimStannard
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Re: THE COST OF ENTERING FESTIVALS

Post by TimStannard »

Michael Slowe wrote:Tim, does the North Thames annual competition provide feedback? I was lucky enough to win a trophy the other week there but didn't receive any 'feedback'.
Luck had nothing to do with it, Michael. Though I was lucky to be treated to lunch by you - and a very enjoyable time I had too, chewing the fat (I'm not talking about paninis) with you and John.

But yes, you should have received some written judges comments. All five films from our members received feedback as I have done so for the previous two years. They were in the envelope with the returned DVD/BluRay - are you sure you didn't do what one of my colleagues did, recover the disc and then throw away the envelope assuming it was empty?
Tim
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