I’ve been very excited to submit my film to festivals. With my last two projects, it never felt quite right. But I’ve put everything I have into this latest film, and if I put a bit more work in after the deadline, I would feel fairly confident in submitting it. But where to submit it to?
I’ve always conceptualised LCD as a horror film, and the benefit to that is having the opportunity to not only submit it to animation film festivals, but also horror festivals. In London, the biggest horror film festival is FrightFest, with a five day event from August 27th to 31st.
The idea of competing with live-action filmmakers on top of animators seems a bit daunting. But with the submission deadline for short films being on the 18th of June, I have around two weeks to prepare an Electronic Press Kit and make some extra touches to my film. This is a pretty exciting opportunity to show my film to a wider audience, and it means my work on this film isn’t done yet!
Also with a submission deadline in late June is the Dead Northern festival in York, which thankfully has a discount for students. With all these application fees, I can imagine that the costs of submitting films to these festivals could quickly add up. I’ve also been considering applying to GRIMM in Manchester and BAFF in London, but both have application fees over 30 dollars.
To avoid putting all my eggs in one basket then, it seems smarter to apply to a number of relatively cheaper film festivals. Brighton International Animation Festival has a student deadline costing only $13 dollars, ending all the way in November. LIAF’s late deadline is still only $20 dollars, and though I expect it to be more competitive, it also has a horror themed category, Cardiff Animation Festival also has an exceptionally cheap submission fee!
And last but not least- I’m also considering applying for festivals in Brazil, my home country. Though it has a significantly smaller animation industry, that means my work should stand out more, and I’ll be able to make more connections through speaking Portuguese. Unfortunately, my hometown of Florianopolis only has a film festival for children’s cinema. But since I plan to visit the country sometime in the coming year, I may also aim for Rio’s AnimArte Festival deadline on the 15th of June.
The time to start applying for festivals is now- since so many film screenings will refuse to accept films that were made after a certain date, and many of them offer discounts to students. Still, I’d like to make a good impression, and if I have time, I definitely plan to add a few more inbetween frames and clean up the backgrounds for my film.