Despite a deep love of movies and a sincere geekdom when it comes to horror and some other fan niches, I can’t say I ever thought I’d put on film festivals at some point, yet here we are.
Which is not to say that I do my festival at all, like the big ones people travel great distances to attend.
No.
Far from it.
And that’s just fine.
The first time I went to a film festival was when the Flint Film Festival was going on, and I went to it to review it for my blog. No one asked me to do it, but I went a couple of years, had a good time, and loved checking the movies out. I am a big movie person, and at the time I was really into indie films at the time, so it was a perfect fit. Not long after, I served on the board for the film festival for a year, and despite a lot of drama behind the scenes, I had a blast. It was fun being on the inside of things and getting a different perspective on things. Looking back, I can see a lot of great things the festival did, but I also think that there was a lot of baggage that led to its demise.
Such is life.
I got started back when some friends and I were doing our horror conventions in the area. I wanted to ape what other conventions had, even if we were just a one-day show, and those shows had a film room. I remember the first year still, when we opened up submissions with no entry fee, and we got well over 1,200 entries, from shorts to features. There were a few of us watching the films, but it still took quite a lot of work to get through them all. Especially since a lot of them weren’t even fitting for our festival. I remember getting a documentary on hookahs, of all things.
It was crazy.
We started small, in our way, without fully knowing what to do with that room, but it had an impact immediately. Film rooms at conventions give folks who want to come for the whole day something to do, and it’s an opportunity to showcase indie shorts and films that may never get distribution. There was a seed in that, that stuck with me and grew.
As the years have passed, I have really missed doing conventions and the larger shows we did as a group. I miss so much of those, but one of the things I was able to take and make my own was that film room.
As the group evolved, we started doing our own film festival, incorporating award categories and prizes, and really fine-tuning how we did things. We had a partnership with a local community college with a film program, and it was a natural fit.
We had a few of us watched the films, and we had a great group running the festival that was able to choose films that fit our vibe and could program the movies so that the film blocks made sense to the folks coming to watch everything.
When I left the group, the film festival sorta faded away, and with it gone, I realized that it was something I could bring back on my own.
What a sucker I was.
Sheesh.
The thing is, I can do it.
I do do it.
I put on a small film festival on my own, and it works.
And it could work for you too.
So, you wanna start a film festival.
- First and foremost, you need to know why you want to do it. Is it for the love of the films and your local ‘scene,’ for lack of a better term? Are you trying to support the arts and filmmakers? Or are you looking to make a buck, and for the attention a film festival gets?
Me, I do it for the scene and the filmmakers. I put my money out there for the three prizes I award; I keep the cost to the filmmaker down, and I have been able to partner with a local venue that works with me to put these on. I got lucky, sure, but I also made relationships over the years that have helped me do this. I know a lot of filmmakers, and that has made me much more cognizant of what they go through making their movies and getting them in front of people. If I can help with my festival, I am in.
I also love being able to showcase films from around the world.
And I get movies from around the world.
- Find a venue.
If you are serious about this, you should find a venue that works for you. What that means is up to you. Cost. Location. Space. Technological abilities. It all plays into the space.
Do you need to provide sound, image, and projection?
Are there chairs?
It’s all important stuff to consider.
And again, cost is high on there because it defines a lot of other things you have to consider. The more you pay for a venue means you have to start looking at charging admission, and perhaps having a higher fee for submitting films.
Going broke shouldn’t happen if you do this right.
Though, if you ask me, you also shouldn’t be banking a lot of money unless you’re directly investing it into the festival.
- Who’s involved?
This is another big one.
If you are doing this solo, like me, you can do it, but it’s difficult. You really need to have established yourself with people locally who can help. Venue holders, filmmakers, or other people who can make things easier for you.
There is also the matter of the time crunch a festival involves.
This was a little bit of a down year for me, and I still got 73 movies in. All of them were less than 18 minutes, but still, that’s a lot of stuff to watch.
And you have to watch.
Especially if people are paying a submission fee.
You owe them that much.
Having more than one person helps a lot.
It lets you work with people to find the things you need and find ways to pay for it – yourselves, fees, sponsors? – and it takes some of the load off your shoulders as far as watching films.
You also have to have people you know and trust helping.
There is a lot of trust involved in events, and if you don’t know someone well, then they may not be the right fit. Not because they aren’t trustworthy, but you need to know you can rely on them to make good decisions and that they are someone you can trust. Don’t force it, baby.
- Know what you are.
What sort of festival are you? Funny? Scary? Weird? Cult? Pick a lane, as it were, and stick to it. That cuts down on what you’ll get, and helps you find the films that you want to show. I have shown funny movies, sure, but there has to be something ‘genre-related’ for me, since I do a horror film festival. It also means that I want SHORT horror. I only have a venue for one day and want to make the most of its use, which means lots of shorts, and not just feature-length films. Features are great, but there’s at least a chance someone could find some manner of release or distribution for it, so I don’t have to feel guilty ignoring those films.
- Have a system in place.
If you are doing the festival, you need to know what sort of movies you are looking for and need to find your vibe. I like to show a mix of everything from experimental to horror comedy, with animation thrown in. I have watched enough shorts that I know what I like and what others will like, and while the two may not always meet, I program in a way that takes the audience into account. I definitely show things I may not love, but know the crowd will.
As you watch movies, figure out how you want to rate them, or denote that they are in the running for the festival. It’s a huge help.
- Pick your poison.
There are different sites you can use to gather festival entries. They’ll take their cut of any submission fees you get, but it’s easier and better than trying to do it on your own. You need a direct line to directors and film folks, and those sites are the best way to get to them. Take a look at what’s out there and see what makes sense to you. If you search ‘film festival submissions,’ I am sure you’ll find some good options. I have used FilmFreeway, and something I really dig about it – and others may do this as well, so look around – is that you can add flags to movies. That allows me to flag movies as YES, NO, and MAYBE. It also lets me flag movies as potential award winners and as Michigan movies. You can name the flags whatever you need to and change their colors. It’s a huge help as you put things together.
- Awards, you say?
Are you giving out awards?
How many?
What are they?
Is there a physical prize, or a financial one?
For me, I have three prizes, and I have named them for things that mean something either to me or the festival.
Freakiest Film is essentially best in show.
Scariest Film is self-explanatory, but it is for the scariest movie I got that year.
Charles Shaver Memorial Michigan Macabre Award was named in honor of a filmmaker friend I lost a few years ago. It seemed fitting to have that as the name of the award for films made in the state where I live.
I don’t give out a lot of money, but there is money behind the prizes. The filmmakers have always appreciated it. I am trying to find a sweet spot where they also get something else, but it gets difficult with international films, as shipping a trophy is VERY expensive.
- Know the climate.
Something you need to take into consideration is the political climate these days. This was the first year I had to think about it, but the United States has some very, uh, volatile international relationships that need to be kept in mind. Some nations you cannot send money to if they win – unless you wanna be on some list, I guess. And some films could have messages that may be controversial.
Just something to keep in mind if you go forward with this.
Art is meant to make you think and feel, but sometimes people also want to act.
- Who is your audience?
This one goes back to the idea of what you are looking for. Who is this festival for? Who do you want to come? Are you putting on a festival people want to see?
If you are going for a niche, make sure that there are people who want to be in that niche.
I am still finding my audience, but I know they are out there. I know who I am programming for. I also know what not to program. I have gotten submissions that were too extreme in some ways and didn’t fit what I was doing, and that’s fine. There is an audience for most things, but it doesn’t have to be your audience.
It’s fun to see what you can get away with, but you are programming for people who want to see these movies, and you want to return. Keep that in mind before you start pushing too hard in the wrong direction.
- Who do you love?
I offer this from experience: cater to the local filmmakers. This doesn’t mean PANDER to them, but cater to them. Show their films if you can. Show movies from your state, region, or city. Maybe even have an award for them. That brings them out to the festival and may bring their friends, family, and cast.
We can all act as if we have the best sliced potato in town, but the fact is that unless people come, there is no festival. Get people in the seats, and that creates word of mouth and recognition, and means you can grow things from there.
- What exactly is your festival?
This isn’t about what you’ll show, but what you want to be. I keep my festival low-key and free to attend. I also keep the submission fee under five dollars. Sure, it’d be fun to be a high-roller festival with the glitz, and the gala and all that, but I am doing this for the movies, not the party or other stuff. I keep my festival approachable, and done in a way that will let people come and go as they please.
I am not looking to make money from this, just recoup cost.
Some festivals earn and need an opening-night reception and a bigger stage. Some don’t. I’d suggest you start small unless you have big-time sponsors behind you, but even then, leave room to grow.
- Be sincere.
Back to the beginning. Do it for the scene. Do it for the filmmakers. Do it for the love. Be open to ideas. Be open to meeting people and talking with them, and enjoying the fruits of your labor. Just don’t forget that you’re the conduit, not the star. If you can’t handle that then maybe this isn’t for you.
All of this is my simple advice for something I have been doing for a long time. I am no pro. I am no big wheeler.
I am a small-potatoes film festival in Flint, Michigan.
That doesn’t mean the festival isn’t getting amazing films.
That doesn’t mean there are not fans.
It means that films that would never otherwise play this area are being seen.
That’s what matters.
At least to me.
Putting on a festival is amazing.
You learn so much, and get to see so many fascinating films that the hard work is worth it.
You just need to go in with the right mindset, and understanding, and you’ll do fine.
…c…
