This morning we learned the Goya Awards nominees and the outcome is quite good: out of the seven short films we had selected, we finally secured four nominations—two in documentary and two in fiction—so I’m very pleased.
This week we have also been reviewing the festival distribution of some short films after a year on the circuit.
Among them, Luis Tinoco’s short film Caronte has particularly stood out. We distributed it as part of the Selected Films project. It has been one of the best-performing short films.
Now we are considering what to do for the second year of distribution and what actions might be most appropriate.
This is a question you may have asked yourself, especially if you have distributed a short film for a full year.
In principle, it is not worth signing exclusive sales agreements, as they block the possibility of an online premiere for the short film. In addition to sales, the distribution options after a year on the festival circuit are not many: online premiere, cinemas (which is very difficult), VOD, and continuing on the festival circuit for a few more months.
Among these options, we are going to choose the online premiere, but first, it is worth reviewing this past year on the festival circuit with some figures:
A Year of Festival Distribution
The distribution of Caronte began in the best possible way for a fantasy and science fiction short film.
It premiered at Sitges in September 2017. From there, it quickly received several selections at festivals such as Nocturna, Utopiales, and Zaragoza, all within the first few months after its premiere. To achieve these, we started submitting before the festival’s celebration.
In these cases, once premiered at a powerful festival like Sitges, it is most advisable to start outlining an intensive distribution strategy, with the aim of reaching the largest number of genre festivals.
The intensity of distribution should be moderate, as it is still necessary to consider premiere festivals by country and not miss interesting opportunities.
In this regard, the short film was selected for the Guadalajara Film Festival in Mexico, held in March, one of the most important festivals in the Ibero-American sphere. This festival has a national premiere requirement and allowed the short film to be submitted for the 2019 Goya Awards.
In the realm of fantasy and science fiction film festivals, the short film has performed very well, as expected after its premiere at Sitges and its high technical level. In total, it has participated in 52 fantasy film festivals.
During this year, new specialized science fiction festivals have emerged, where Caronte has also performed very well.
In total, it has achieved 152 selections and 52 awards to date. In these graphs, you can analyze the monthly evolution during 2017 and 2018:
In 2017, the spectacular start of the short film is very clear, with 5 selections in October and 10 in November. As I said before, in these cases, it is necessary to start with a certain intensity, having premiered in the last semester of the year.
This circumstance makes it essential to make good use of festivals held at the end of the year and the beginning of the following year, so as not to lose a year of distribution due to the production date.
The short film’s performance throughout 2018 has been very good, as we expected, with an upward trend, reaching an excellent 22 and 21 selections in October and November respectively, exactly one year after its premiere.
To reach this figure, approximately 651 submissions have been made, although 50 are still awaiting a response.
Internationally, it has participated in festivals in 27 different countries, with the United States in first place, with no less than 20 selections.
In this other graph, you can see the selections by country:
There are two key factors that may explain its success in the United States.
On the one hand, the genre, as science fiction and fantasy generally perform very well, and on the other hand, it is shot in English. One must be careful when shooting in English for distribution in the United States; generally, I do not advise it. However, in the realm of the fantasy genre, it can work better, and Caronte has been a good example.
Regarding festivals with submission fees, there were a total of 250 submissions, with significant effort in managing these fees, which resulted in 67 total selections.
The Second Year of Distribution: The Online Premiere
Seeing the success of the short film, we are going to try a different strategy from what we have been doing so far. We are preparing the online premiere of the short film, free and open, while continuing with festivals for a few more months. We are doing the premiere now, after a year of distribution.
In principle, Caronte has some strong points to attempt this strategy:
#1 Being shot in English expands its possibilities in the online world.
#2 The genre performs well, and there are specialized channels for special effects and science fiction where the short film can do very well.
#3 Its festival success has generated interest in the short film. In this regard, we will contact all the festivals where it has participated to ask them to share it on social media.
We will see how this early online premiere strategy works. We hope the short film expands its audience and gains greater impact, and above all, that it can help Luis and his production company generate new projects, whether new short films or his first feature film as a director.
The online premiere is scheduled for next Monday, December 17, starting at 9:00 AM. You can watch the short film below once it’s available.
We will see how this year goes, whether the early online premiere was worth it, and to what extent success on the festival circuit helps with online dissemination.
Do you have any experience with online short film premieres?
See you in the comments!