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 it is increasingly difficult to find a slot in festival programming. Therefore, being able to find the most suitable niches is fundamental for designing the distribution strategy.
Festival niches are groups that share similar characteristics and whose programmers seek a very specific type of film. New niche festivals emerge every year, and I am increasingly clear about the importance of segmentation and market niches to combat the overcrowding of festivals and the production of films, both short films and feature films.
To navigate these niches and segments, I have divided festivals into four major groups based on different criteria: by genre, niche festivals, by director characteristics, and by film duration.
#1 Festivals by genre
This group would include festivals specialized in animation, documentary, or experimental cinema. Additionally, there are festivals focused only on fiction, which do not accept documentaries or animation. Therefore, in this first group there would be four types of festivals:
- Animation
- Documentary
- Experimental
- Fiction
#2 Niche festivals
This group would include all niche festivals properly speaking. This group is enormous; I would venture to say it is practically unlimited. There are many festival niches and new options constantly emerge that make it very difficult to know them all. This is a small list with some of the most popular ones.
- Fantasy and Horror Cinema
- Human Rights
- LGBT
- Film Schools
- Festivals for children and youth audiences
- Environmental Festivals
- Comedy
- Disability
- Musical
- Sports
- …
#3 By director
It must be taken into account that the director is the most important member of the team for festivals. These are some examples:
- By age (up to 25 or 35 years old, for example).
- By situation, festivals for first, second, or third films.
- By gender, such as festivals dedicated to films directed by a woman.
#4 Festivals by duration
They are fundamentally divided into short films, medium-length films, and feature films. This separation is increasingly questioned, especially due to the disparity of duration limits that we can find and which I already discussed in this post about duration limits at festivals.
Mixing typologies and festival niches
Many of the typologies and festival niches (or we could even call them micro-niches) are born from the mixture of these groups. For example, we can find music documentary festivals such as IN-EDIT in Barcelona or Dock of the bay in San Sebastián, and even film school documentary festivals, such as Fidé in France. We can also mix genres, as in the case of festivals with sections for animated documentary, such as DOK Leipzig.
Additionally, there are festivals with a programming line that tends toward a very specific genre or type of film, such as the short film festivals of Oberhausen and Vila do Conde, which have a clear tendency toward more experimental cinema.
The possibilities are very broad, both from the director and producer’s point of view, for the creation of new proposals, and from the distributor’s perspective, when designing a festival strategy. The commitment to greater segmentation also allows festival organizers to create new models and different sections that better fit the needs of their target audience.
As I said at the beginning, committing to a segment is increasingly important to participate in festivals, have a certain trajectory on the circuit, and carve out a space in the industry. We must be very aware that the selection percentages of major festivals range only between 1 and 2 percent of all the films they receive.
If you ultimately do not manage to get your film into important and more general festivals, do not worry too much; the important thing is to stand out within your segment and your festival niche. This should be the main commitment.