Last Saturday, March 10, on the same day as my birthday, I was invited as an attendee to the Spa Conversations, which usually take place every year at the Medina del Campo Film Week. The round table focused on short film distribution today and featured speakers from several sub-sectors within distribution, such as Carmen, from the Andalusia short film catalogue, Luis Mariano, director of the Alcalá de Henares Film Festival, Millán, from Agencia Freak, and Victor, from the Festhome platform.
Among the attendees was also film director David Priego, who was premiering his short film The Kiss in the official section. During the Q&A he raised a very interesting question, which I intend to answer in this post:
Once my short film has premiered at a festival like Medina, how can I continue with distribution?
I think there are many directors and producers who are now in the same situation, whether because of selection in Medina or in Málaga, which will announce its programme in mid-April.
But not only in Spain: last week Ángel de Guillermo visited me, a Spanish editor who has been living in Mexico for several years and whose first short film as a director, Lucía’s Skin, is premiering at the Guadalajara Film Festival these days, so his situation is very similar to David’s. In both cases, they are considering distribution once the short has premiered in their country of origin.
Let’s look at the options for a distribution strategy, both national and international, in these cases.
The national distribution strategy
The first thing to bear in mind is that you already have a clear, defined production date; in these two cases I mentioned, they are already 2018 shorts.
Before the festival premiere you can be in post-production for as long as you need, but once you have screened it, your short film already has a production date—you cannot go back.
Therefore, do not hesitate: the best thing is to start with an intensive distribution strategy. You can start submitting it to all festivals with national competition; if you do not do it this way, there will be some festivals you will not be able to submit to the following year because of the production date.
At a more strategic level of distribution, your premiere at your first festival means two premieres at once: the national and the world. Therefore, you can no longer access festivals that require a world premiere (as in the case of Venice) nor those that require a national premiere in your country of origin (in Spain, festivals such as Seminci or Gijón).
Therefore, the only consideration you should keep in mind is festivals that require a regional premiere, but there are very few cases. In Spain, for example, this happens with Cinema Jove in the Valencian Community, which closed its call last February 22 and takes place in June. For a short premiered now that was not submitted this year, it is not really worth waiting to take part in 2019, so do not worry too much.
It also has a regional premiere requirement—this time in Madrid—the Filmadrid Festival, whose submission deadline is April 2 and which takes place in June.
It is better to start this strategy as soon as you know you have been selected, so you can take advantage of all the open deadlines. You also have to bear in mind that from March onwards there are more festivals than in February and January, as I already pointed out in the latest annual distribution report.
These are some examples of national festivals in Spain where you can submit your short today and whose deadlines close in April:
- Ciudad de Soria Short Film Competition (its first deadline is currently open, which is free until April 1).
- Girona Short Film Festival (April 1).
- Mula Spanish Film Week (April 4).
- Caostica Short Film Festival (April 9).
- Alicante Film Festival (April 14).
- Bueu Short Film Festival (April 14).
These festivals are only a reference; there are many more, including some that qualify for the Goya Awards.
International distribution
The international strategy would also be conditioned by the national premiere, but it is very different and somewhat more complicated. The most important thing is to bear in mind that you still have your international premiere pending; therefore, you can opt for a selective festival strategy, with some of the most important festivals on the short film circuit and with country-based premiere requirements.
In any case, keep in mind that many of these festivals value a world premiere, so think very carefully about the strategy to follow. You need to validate the strategy throughout the year; an overly strict international premiere strategy is not very advisable either, because time is working against you—remember you already have a premiere date.
If we analyse the calendar from now on, we can still opt for these A-list festivals:
- Shanghai International Film Festival (deadline April 15)
- Locarno Film Festival (June 2)
- Montreal World Film Festival (June 9, although this festival has a category under review)
- Warsaw Film Festival (July 15)
Even if you go for these festivals now, it would have been more convenient to reserve a world premiere, but in any case these are the only A-list options you have at the moment.
There are also other strategic options you can consider.
These are three examples of premiere-based international strategies, where I mention some festivals with open calls, so you can get a clearer idea of the calendar ahead of you:
International premiere strategy
Highly prestigious festivals that value an international premiere (even if they are not A-list), such as the Toronto International Film Festival, which takes place in September and whose regular deadline is usually in June. In this case it has a minimum North American requirement, but with international premiere value.
National premiere
National premiere festivals that in many cases are part of the list of Oscar-qualifying festivals and are also very important on the festival circuit, such as the Guanajuato Film Festival in Mexico, the Show Me Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand, or DOK Leipzig in Germany, for documentaries and animation.
Regional or local premiere
Festivals with a local or regional premiere (even if they value a national premiere in their respective countries), as in these two cases in the United States. On the one hand, the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, with a premiere requirement in New York City, and the Austin Film Festival, with a premiere requirement in Austin.
Before choosing one festival or another, do not forget to analyse their programming lines to see how well your film fits each of them.
Start as soon as possible
As you can see, the most important thing is to start promoting the short as soon as possible and not wait too long after the national premiere.
I hope this post has helped you think through the distribution of your short from now on.
See you in the comments.