Film Festivals?

[Mark B.]

If you were going to submit your newly never-shown film to a bunch of film festivals, with the hopes of generating a more salable product, which festivals would you try for and in which sequence?

[Jeremy Hughes]

Start small, go big. Look up festivals in my general area, then if I get good reactions there, move up and go big.

That's just what I would do. Sorry I can't name festivals!

[Mark Thorpe]

There are many I would be interested in as an underwater shooter. A lot of people in the natural history genre enter into the smaller festivals with sequences strung together very similar to an extended show reel with a tinkly soundtrack. This is all well and good and some people get good recognition this way. Hats off to them for their approach and personal drive to get their work out there.

Personally I prefer to enter into competitive arenas only when I have a story to tell. I once spent 7 months filming a small yet colorful fish, Mandarinfish, and then spent another 3 months editing what may well still be the only in depth behavioral study of this particular species. I entered this film into one of the Worlds largest festivals in this genre, Festival Mondial de L'image Sous Marine held in the small town of Antibes, France, at the end of October. This particular film was an official selection in the 28th Finals in 2002.

The only other festival I would consider entering, and am looking to do just that with RED in the future, is Wildscreen held every year in the UK and organized by the BBC.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S Below is a Mandarinfish, now you can see why I wanted to present them on the big screen. By the way they grow no bigger than 1.5" in length and are only really active for one hour each day at sunset! Macro diopters for 7 months. Think I've seen enough of them to last the next few years.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/55_1169177720.jpg

[Shawn Nelson]

Mark, that fish is incredibly beautiful! I'd love to see your work on them, is it online by any chance?

[Mark Thorpe]

Hi Shawn,
The film can be viewed at The Ocean Channel, www.ocean.com an online portal to everything relating to water pretty much. Just click on the movie title "A Rainbow Colored Fish" and it will take you to the index. The overall film has been broken down into three chapters as its 15 minutes long and these guys were looking more for 5 minute max podcast type content. I couldn't do justice to these fish in 5 minutes so they bent the rules to allow this one in.

If you are also interested there is a short Manta Ray ballet entitled "When Mantas Dance" also available to watch on the same site and I also have a few underwater themed podcasts available via the iTunes Music Store. You could also check out www.divefilm.com which is another marine themed podcasting web site where I have some of my stuff showing.

Get the popcorn out and enjoy.
Cheers,
Mark.
P.S Shot on a VX1000, Halogen Lighting and lots of patience.

[Mark B.]

Cool fish - if I didn't have decompression issues then I'd be filming them right next to you!

[Mark B.]

Start small, go big. Look up festivals in my general area, then if I get good reactions there, move up and go big.

That's just what I would do. Sorry I can't name festivals!

Some of the festivals say that if you've shown your film at other festivals, it's no longer allowed into their festival... I think Sundance is one of those, but I'm not positive. If it is the case, then you'd be preventing yourself from entering the big festivals if you start small.

[Mark Thorpe]

Some of the festivals say that if you've shown your film at other festivals, it's no longer allowed into their festival... I think Sundance is one of those, but I'm not positive. If it is the case, then you'd be preventing yourself from entering the big festivals if you start small.

Yeah, best to check that. I know some Festivals have this ruling but allow previously submitted films so long as there have been no prizes allocated to that entry at other events. Each Festival has its own set of rules and guidelines for project submission so best to check with the organizers too.

Cheers,
Mark.