Now make a movie about making a movie and having it on a festival and watching it there alone, a movie about loneliness. There's something kind of woody-allenesque to it.

Oh yeah, I remember sending my film to our local film festival... Montreal World Film Fest to be exact. They failed to secure the funds, the cinema that held half the events dropped out 3 days before the festivals. Majority of the screenings are canceled, including student films sections I was in. Students from as far as Russia and Israel flew here for nothing. It wasn't until some of us created a Facebook group, send out open letters, go onto radio stations talking about the incident, that the film fest finally scheduled a screening for all student films in a small cinema. I make an afford to attend every single day. Sadly, the majority of the time, I was the only one in the theatre, marveling at the crafts of the international talent.

great way to come back from lunch a new Filmmaker iq episode

I'm sad to hear that no one showed up for your screening, I would have loved to just sit with and watch. Thanks for sharing John

I’ve been binge watching your entire channel. Loving every episode. Thank you for making these. You’re an absolute gem!

I love how you put it, that a film festival is a celebration that makes us most human! I used to view it as a competition, but the word “festival” literally means “a period of celebration”. That sits so much better with me!

I'm putting together my first short film right now and that ending bit made me tear up. I am so excited to enter post-production on my passion project and these videos are so helpful to me as I only have a BFA and never got to go to film school. I currently work in film production, funny enough, but due to COVID my colleagues aren't as free to answer every question I have. Thank you!

Very good info. I wish I had this info a long time ago. I submitted my first film to the New York International Film and Video Festival and it was excepted. It cost $300 to enter at that time and I thought that was it. Then they started calling wanted to market the film, for $6000, ouch. I thought it was a scam and didn't have the money anyway and let it go. It was enough for me, at that time, to just have it accepted. I wish I had sent it to local festivals instead because NY was 1000 miles away. Still, the film did very well besides the NYIF&VF. It was picked up by Free Speech TV and actually earned money from that. FSTV aired it for over a year. It took off and it seemed like it was screened everywhere. Even had an Acadamy Award filmmaker call me several times wanting to do a project together. Then Public access TV picked it up and was playing it for months all across the country. I sold thousands of DVD copies and did many interviews around the world. It was illegally uploaded to KZfaq and has been viewed tens of thousands of times there. Not bad for a first film. That was 2003. The little film I made was Arsenal of Hypocrisy. Kinda dated now.

You and your channel are just fantastic. I spent 12 years in casting and one of my favorite projects was casting a short film by a USC film student. He wanted some recognizable talent, and boy did I (and his family's connections) deliver. Anthony Edwards, Marg Helgenberger, Ned Beatty, Conchata Ferrell - and they ALL worked for FREE! My point - aim high with casting because names make festival organizers sit up and take notice (of course, the film has to be good in its own right to begin with). It also helped that the project was shot in LA...

I love your last piece of advice. I've never been to a film festival before (other than at my college), but I have been to a one-act theatre festival before, and I can attest that everyone is there just to have fun and enjoy the craft that they all love.

The like to dislike ratio... Wait a minute! You can't devide by zero! This video is phenomenal :)

This is really helpful. I like how supportive you are about taking a chance at the top film festivals.

I can't believe this s*** is free. What an age we live in! Thanks, Filmmaker IQ! Thanks, sponsors!

As always, a greatly informative piece done in a very engaging style. Also enjoyed hearing the Wilhelm scream in your opening! Always look forward to seeing (and learning from) your new videos when I get a notification. Thank you!

Grear advice. I know that volunteering does help and having formed a professional relationship with the festival founder whom I did graphic design for, I have a lifeline for festival related advice and filmmaking advice.

When he said festivals don’t market for you I totally agreed. I forgot to tell people about the film festival and only 15 strangers showed up but that was still pretty decent. The film before me had 50 people show up.

Your voice of experience is highly appreciated, brother Hess. All the best to fellow filmmakers. See you at Cannes

Great episode!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge about film festivals. Btw. eventhough we are a shortfilmfestival (for films shot on smartphones:) we fly in our winner filmmakers and give them free accommodation. Plus we watch all the submitted films with joy :) Anyway... keep up the great work! We love your channel.

Thank you for being so honest about the Film Fest experience. Great tip to volunteer - that's brilliant! Another awesome video!! -Cheers

I was very happy that the first short film I appeared in five fests, including our hometown one of Chicago, where it premiered. (I have no idea how big that fest is - it's not on your prestige list - but it would seem pretty good.) I see your convos with others about posting shorts online. I'm happy that this first film is around, so I can show it. But my second appearance in a short, which also played five or six fests, is no longer online because it was bought for distribution in Europe - which is cool and all, but most of us don't get residuals or anything from it, and now we can't show our work. More troubling is a grad student film I worked on. I was told that they planned to send to festivals - which means IMDB credit, the only "payment" really at work. But the director quit school, then the "composer" (of ambient sounds not music) wouldn't give the rights to wider-than-class distribution. So it's not even online. I was very proud of the work, and I'd like to share it. Do you have any solution to this conundrum? (The producer did send me the final cut, so I can use parts in my reel, but I'd love for people to be able to see the whole piece.) And, thanks again, for a most informative lecture, Prof. Hess!

Thanks so much for this excellent video and helpful, inspiring advice!

Thank you for opening up about a personal experience and inspiring me to make film

I second the motion. Exact same point of view by experience here. Thanks for the video John.

Truly truthful and honest. Very very helpful tips. Genuine. Thanks.

Thank you for this video. It's what I needed exactly to hear, much love and appreciation to you dear friend!

Thanks, I enjoyed this! I am in the process of submitting my first short documentary and it's a whole new world!

Your videos are Always, Always informative..... you save us so much money and embarrassment. Thank you Jon

Thanks for the very detailed information, the last half of this video was the best talking about championing your film. marketing it to the right film fests and more importantly just relaxing! Lots to learn, thanks once again!

These might be one of the best advices for starting filmmakers, me included!

Learned alot from this video! Thank you!

I graduated from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena. Every year Seniors enter the Short Film Contest. I won 2nd Woopie

This is great! I will remember this when I submit my films

I’ve been rejected by every film festival I’ve submitted to so far in my life (granted its only been about 6), but you hit on some things in this that I haven’t thought about. I’m really hoping to go to some of these events in 2018! How important do you think it is to have a website and/or Facebook page for your film? I understand it for features, but for shorts it seems a little short lived to me (I try to create multiple shorts a year).

I live in a small city in India film festivals are very rare in my city. Secondly i make non-English films or Hindi films so how can i can get my film screened in film festivals. You are doing a very good job for film-makers like me who have limited resource so thankyou for that .

I know exactly what you mean. I live in Illinois and I have been to my first film festival (The Bensenville Short Film Festival) taking place in a small movie theater.

Loved this video, very informational.

thank you for all of this info

I fkn love you man !! :D you are so great ! i really learn from you and you give a great motivation. thank you sooooo much !!!

Sorry I have to admit, that I recently discovered this channel and have been using it to fall asleep for my afternoon nap. I don't what it is about your videos but they're perfect for putting me in a slumber. Thanks, I suppose.

Great insight. Thanks John! Keep up the great work.

Truth bombs! :-) Thanks for making this bro!

AWESOME ADVICE JON

Great as always John!

Thanks for this video, you are awesome

great video, John! Thanks for posting!

I have had great feedback on my short What About My Happiness which is a drama, 6 minutes in length on my channel. I done everything he said and more, still no luck with festivals! It does seem like wishing upon a star. I think sharing my projects online with the hope of building an audience is my only option at the moment. You can't help but feel jaded with the ambiguity of how to get in to a festival, even the free ones!

Precious video mister Hess, thanks!

Thanks you so much. This video is gold.

Film maker IQ! Hope you're doing well john

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

Great post. More (smaller) festivals should offer feedback if they require a submission fee.

Keep on rocking John!!!!

Good work John! Very handy video

16:00 We can all learn from James Nguyen who made Birdemic. You know. You've seen it. Yeah, that one.

Good one . Well put.

U deserve a million plus subscribers 👍 soon u will 👍

Thank you very much for this information

Thanks Mate

Great Job! Thank you!

What a wonderful anecdote! As they say, it's funny now, huh?

Is there any advantage (or the opposite) to uploading your short to the internet (KZfaq or anything) prior to submitting to a festival? Would view counts help sell your film?

Happy New Years

GREAT JOB my friend ! YOUR KZfaq CHANNEL IS GREAT !!! JUST KEEP GOING !! kader ,from Optical Power youtube channel ... Filmmaker,KZfaqr... and Performer at the CIRQUE DU SOLEIL in Las VEGAS

Thanks for the info man , u thought that the film festival thingy was rocket science , you breaked it down for me

Great information!

Congrats on yer babies!

@Filmmaker IQ - I absolutely love your stuff. I've learned so much. I have a request: can you include more women filmmakers in your videos or talk more about women's involvement in the filmmaking process? I know that the industry didn't give as many opportunities to women behind the camera for a long time, but I would really like to see how that has changed over the years. Thank you!

Thanks so much for the advice, I submit my short film to 24 film festivals already. Around the Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, New York and one in Los Angeles. I hope I have better film festival experience than yours. I will market the hell out of my short film in the film festivals

this was very helpful

Thank you so much for the amount of information you put in this episode. Many things you talked about I have no idea about before. I have a question please, why long films are called features?

I wish someone would talk about getting your film technically ready for film festival projections.

Sound advice!! :)

You got yourself a new Patreon... Why did I wait son long ? ...

Thank you

U diserve million plus subscribers

Gracias!

ty so much!

It depends on the types and popularity of Film Festival you attain I hope.

the only film fest I have had a film screened in was on its first year and was a huge mess

I like it

3:48 Nuts. That means i can't get my shorts screened at a film festival. Then again, I guess my shorts would get screened at a film festival. See what I did there? Double Whammy!

Excelent!!!

10Q bro,interesting

What is a film festival

Does anyone know any film festivals that are happening from October 2018 to December 2018? Also, which festivals have little or no limits on content?

Fantastic and down-to-Earth advice. Would you have a video or resource available for where fully CG Animated Shorts and Feature-length Films are screened at Festivals, and where to start doing my research for how to market those and other tips? Or, are the same principles of live-action Films the same, except the medium is just CG? Thanks for any help!

2:03 Hmmmm live action

15:19 does anyone knows the movie?

Hi folks, if you have any job or intern requirement for editing, screenwriting or cinematography please consider me. I am a self taught person, learnt through books and youtube.I will be more than happy to work for your film. I can work for free remotely. I am a filmmaking enthusiast with no connections and pursuing engineering . I really like films ,it's making process and learning filmmaking. I am thinking of a career switch and would love to work on real world work. Thanks in advance

Do you allow your videos to be translated into other languages and available to other people?

Hi! Please, can you provide a Short Films Fests ranking by visitors or help by addressing me where to find it? Thanks!

Hey ik you didn’t cover this, but I am planning on making a dcp for my short and I heard if you don’t use 1:85:1 or 2:35 it will end up pillarboxing. My camera only shoots 3:2 and was just wondering what you may suggest. Should I change aspect ratio in post or just keep it in its original ratio. Some festivals don’t even accept 3:2 from what I’ve seen. Would love the advice and thank you.

Should you have a private screening beforehand with cast and crew? If so, they probably won't come to the film festival which would leave you with an empty theater, right?

What if you are submitting a script to a festival which I am doing this year.

Hello, Is there any film festivals that focus on Adult animation/ Adult Comedy? Such as South Park or Adult Swim animation?

Hi, how important is the shorts movie poster when submitting?

Thanks this was really helpful ! So is it normal to participate in film festivals when my film is already posted on social media platforms ?

So is 12-15 mins a good length?

Quick question, if your film gets an official selection, does that make it an “award-winning film”

0:04 how is this sound called?