In recent days, one of the best pieces of news for Spanish cinema in the last year has emerged: Arantxa Echevarría’s debut feature, Carmen y Lola, has been selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Shortly afterwards, the awards were announced at the Málaga Spanish Film Festival, where the awards for Best Debut Feature and Best Actor went to the feature film Sin Fin, by the Alenda brothers.
These two pieces of news are very special, as I have had the opportunity to distribute their latest short films, both Arantxa’s (Yo, presidenta, El último bus and El solista en la orquesta) and the Alenda Brothers’ (El orden de las cosas, Inertial love, Matar a un niño and Not the end).
The success of their debut features consolidates the move into feature films by one of the best generations of filmmakers (both are directors and producers) we have had in Spain, as they have demonstrated with the success of their short films.
After the release of these two films, their festival route should be carefully planned. It should be borne in mind that a director only has one debut feature in their entire career.
There is a very interesting circuit of specialised festivals and sections that you should review if you find yourself in this situation. The first reference would be the FIAPF category of specialised festivals, with festivals such as Busan, Santo Domingo, Sofia, Transilvania, Mumbai and Skopje.
But if we move away from these benchmark festivals and look at other options, we find festivals you should not miss and that also specialise in debut features or have specific sections. It should be borne in mind that we are talking about festivals that may accept the director’s first, second or, at most, third film.
For this post I have selected four festivals with submission deadlines this May (I have focused on fiction, although some also accept documentary). All of them are a good example of the diversity of the debut-feature festival circuit:
#1 Camerimage Film Festival
This Polish festival takes place in the town of Bydgoszcz, in the north of the country. It has become the most important festival dedicated to cinematography; it is the cinematographers’ festival par excellence. It has several sections for student short films, documentaries, music videos and TV series.
It is held from 10 to 17 November, with an official section for feature films and a specific one for debut features, for both the director’s and the cinematographer’s first and second film. There is an award for each of them.
They accept films with a production date from January 2017 onwards and the free submission period is now open, until 31 May. The final deadline is open until 30 June, but with a fee of 200 Polish PLN, around €47.52.
#2 Milano Film Festival
This is one of the most important Italian festivals, accepting both short films and feature films. The main competition is dedicated only to the director’s first and second films. As with Camerimage, they must have a production date after January 2017, and feature films are considered to be 60 minutes and above.
The submission deadline is 31 May, with a submission fee of around €25. It is held from 29 September to 17 October.
#3 CPH PIX
The Copenhagen International Film Festival is Denmark’s main festival dedicated to fiction feature films (for documentaries there is CPH:DOX). It has a specific award for debut features, in which only the director’s first film may participate. This award is called the New Talent Grand Prix and comes with a €6,000 prize.
They must be feature films with a running time of more than 65 minutes, also after January 2017. Although the submission fee for feature films is €30, for debut features it is free.
The submission deadline is 1 May, and it is held from 27 September to 10 October.
#4 FIRST International Film Festival
It is one of the most important Chinese festivals specialising in debut features, taking place in Xining from 21 to 30 July. It is open to all kinds of genres, including short films.
In the case of fiction feature films, it accepts up to the director’s third film, also with a production date after January 2017, in line with the rest of the festivals. The submission period is free until 15 May.
It has one particularity: to submit a film they do not accept screening links, so you have to send a hard drive or a DVD by post. It is held from 19 to 30 June.
You can submit this very week
Here is a summary of the submission dates:
- CPH PIX – 1 May – free
- FIRST – 15 May – free
- Camerimage – 31 May – €47.52
- Milano – 31 May – €25
Despite being feature-film festivals, they do not represent a significant expense in submission fees, with a total of €72.52 if you want to submit to all of them, so you could start submitting as soon as possible.
Best of luck!