I have just returned from the Cannes Film Festival. I spent four very intense days with screenings, meetings, and walks along the Croisette that help provide a very broad view of what is happening in the film industry worldwide. For two weeks, numerous events take place simultaneously: on one hand, the Festival … Read more
These days I have been reviewing some old posts and I have realised that I had not talked much about animation festivals. When we analyse the differences between animation, fiction and documentary festivals, it is surprising to see some differences, especially between animation and documentary. While most documentary film festivals have a … Read more
Festival segments and niches are increasingly important. When we start with the distribution of our film, we always tend to begin with the most general festivals, such as Class A festivals, and leave niche festivals aside, giving them less importance. But you cannot forget that thousands of films move each year and … Read more
Last weekend, the Short Film Week and the Distribution Meeting concluded, which took place in a great atmosphere and from which we learned a lot. Now it’s time to get back to work and start preparing the short film distribution strategy, especially at an international level. When we start planning the calendar, … Read more
In recent days I have been reviewing fantasy film festivals that still have submissions open; among them I have selected five festivals that will be closing submissions soon. Within the segment of these festivals there are several niches or subsegments, such as horror or science fiction. Although most festivals usually cover them all, … Read more
Last Saturday I was teaching a class in the Distribution Master’s Program we have at ECAM. Among several topics we covered were submission platforms and the facilities currently available for festival distribution, and how, sometimes, these facilities can also cause some problems. This case probably sounds familiar: there are some directors who … Read more
News of cinema closures is becoming increasingly common in our country; we are watching, resignedly, the gradual disappearance of commercial cinemas from city centres. Not long ago, the historic Palafox cinema in Madrid closed, and these days in Reus, Tarragona—a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants—the Palace has closed, the only cinema … Read more
There are very few film screenplay competitions. I mean only screenplays and not projects; for the latter, there is already a production company, budget, shooting schedule, and an estimated technical crew. In some festivals, there are indeed awards for projects, such as Medina del Campo, Gijón, Cinema Jove, Abycine, etc., and there … Read more
This past weekend, Carla Simón’s feature film Summer 1993 won the prestigious Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale. This is great news for Spanish cinema and for the film’s trajectory, as well as, of course, for its director. Carla Simón is the first Spanish female director to receive this award. Achieving … Read more
Until very recently, there was only one procedure for film festival submissions. DVD copies were the only medium programmers had for screening. Films were sent along with a paper form, which was filled out with the main details, signed, and taken to the post office. During the busiest months, I remember taking … Read more