Documentary film distribution has several particularities compared to other genres, such as fiction and animation. One of the biggest differences is the premiere requirements that most festivals have.
These mandatory premiere requirements and the criteria many festivals apply make strategic planning for documentary films throughout the year more difficult.
If you are just starting to circulate your documentary, it is advisable to review the calendar and carefully study the different options based on premieres.
In this post there are several examples of festivals with an open call right now, where you can see some of these options, for world, international, and national premieres.
I hope it helps you make decisions, although it can become very complicated.
Documentary film festivals with an international or world premiere
The call is now open for the festivals in Marseille, Sheffield and Karlovy Vary. For these festivals, it is advisable to reserve the international or world premiere.
In these cases, it is common for them to have several submission periods; for some of them we are already in the last deadline.
#1 FID International Film Festival Marseille (France)
It will take place during June, although the final dates are not yet confirmed. The next deadline is January 31 for films produced in 2018; the second deadline is March 31 for films produced this same year.
It is important to bear in mind that the Marseille selection, where short and feature films are mixed, places a lot of value on the world premiere. The submission fee is €25 for feature films.
#2 Sheffield Docfest (United Kingdom)
One of the most important festivals on the documentary circuit, closes its second deadline on February 11, with a fee of £35 for medium-length and feature films. The latest deadline is March 4.
In this case, we are also looking at a festival that values, in this order, the world, international and European premiere. However, it is important to bear in mind that very few films participate with only a European premiere. It will take place from June 6 to 11.
#3 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech Republic)
Karlovy Vary is the only A-class festival on this list, and also the only one, together with Krakow, that is not exclusively documentary. In addition to the official feature film section, there is a specific section for documentaries.
This section has a premiere requirement similar to Sheffield; they value the world, international and European premiere, in that order. The first submission deadline is February 28, with a fee of €50. It takes place from June 28 to July 6.
Documentary film festivals with a national premiere, but that value a world premiere
This is where festival planning becomes complicated, depending on the premiere: these festivals only require a national premiere, but they value a world premiere.
There are two very clear examples in this regard: Krakow and DocLisboa.
#1 Krakow Film Festival
It has a strong documentary section and is one of the oldest festivals on the entire circuit; the next edition will be the 59th. In addition to documentaries, it has short film sections in all genres.
The final deadline is January 31, only for films produced after October 31.
Although the premiere requirement is in Poland, it places a lot of value on the world premiere. You can see this in the festival dates themselves.
It is important to bear in mind that, if they accept films until the end of January and produced before October, it is clear that they are looking for world premieres—films that have not yet been seen at other festivals.
The submission fee is €10 and it takes place from May 26 to June 2.
#2 DocLisboa Festival
In the case of DocLisboa, they have just published the new call. It opens on January 15 and closes on May 31. It takes place from October 17 to 27.
This is the latest festival of those I mention in this post, and also a good example of a festival that also places a lot of value on the world premiere, compared to a mandatory requirement only in Portugal.
If you are betting on this festival, it is advisable to reserve the premiere, but you must be very aware that you still have a year ahead of you. You need to carefully weigh other options and whether it is worth waiting.
The new rules have not yet been published; last year the submission fee was around €18.
How to get started with documentary distribution in these months?
As you will have noticed, the three festivals I mention at the beginning take place on similar dates, all of them in June, which means you have to choose one of them.
It is very common to try to submit to all three, wait for the different responses to start making decisions; you need to be very careful with this strategy so as not to end up looking bad with any of these festivals.
This also happens with Krakow, and less so with DocLisboa and similar festivals; in the latter case you can consider it if you do not get a selection, or make a bet from the start.
With all these considerations, you can start today with submitting your documentary to the premiere festivals, in this order:i
- Krakow – January 31
- Sheffield – February 11
- Karlovy Vary – February 28
- FID Marseille – March 31 (you can submit right now if you can, so you do not wait until the last day)
The problem with this strategy is that Krakow will probably respond first and, if it is positive, you might wonder whether you still have a chance with the rest of the festivals.
Therefore, you need to think very carefully about what your main bets are; bear in mind that any of them would be a great start on the festival circuit.
The investment in fees, if you submit to all these festivals, would be around €123.93.
As you can see, it is very difficult to establish a rule in these cases, but do not forget to take into account the premiere calendar you have ahead of you and the different options, especially to have the greatest number of possibilities.
How are you approaching your documentary’s festival strategy? Had you taken these festivals into account?
See you in the comments!