A few days ago, I was talking with David Gordon about the differences between starting short film distribution at the end or beginning of the year, especially following the post I published in June about the strategy to reach the 2018 Goya Awards, from Seminci or Gijón.
Following that conversation, I decided to publish this post to complement the previous one and analyze the festival strategy starting in January.
The objective is the same: to reach the registration for the 2018 Goya Awards (and in this case, also 2019).
#1 Let’s establish some premises equivalent to those in the previous post
- That it is selected in the Official Section of Medina del Campo (in 2016 it was held from March 11 to 16, being one of the first festivals on the calendar) and that it does not win an award (an award automatically pre-selects).
- That it is fiction.
- That it is not a comedy.
- That it is not subsidized by the Community of Madrid.
#2 Let’s remember the main changes to the rules
- The qualification license and nationality must be in place before the festival. Therefore, being selected in Medina (it could also be Malaga or another festival) requires applying for it.
- The certificate of nationality must be dated between January 1, 2015, and September 30, 2016, according to this year’s rules. Thus, if applying for qualification from January onwards, we have two options:
- 2018 Goya Awards, the date range will be from January 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017.
- 2019 Goya Awards, date range from January 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018.
- We need to get 5 more selections (I already have 1 of the 6 needed, thanks to the selection in Medina).
- It must be taken into account that we are focusing on the national strategy. At an international level, there is a very extensive list, where being selected in just one of them is sufficient.
#3 Preparing the festival strategy
Festivals to consider for the 2018 Goya Awards (ordered by month of celebration):
- MECAL Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival (March).
- Malaga Film Festival. Spanish Cinema (March).
- Lanzarote Film Festival – FICL (April).
- Mostra de Cinema Llatinoamericà de Catalunya (April).
- Sant Joan d’Alacant Film Festival (May).
- Torrelavega Short Film Festival FICT (May).
- Huesca International Film Festival (June).
- Alicante Film Festival (June).
- Valencia International Film Festival – Cinema Jove (June).
- Elche International Independent Film Festival (July).
- Iberian Film Festival of Badajoz (July).
- l’Alfàs del Pi Film Festival (August).
Festivals from October onwards would be considered for the 2019 Goya Awards:
- Cortocircuito. International Film Festival (October).
- Madrid Film Festival. New Filmmakers Platform (October).
- Guadalajara Film Festival – Fescigu (October).
- Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia (October).
- Octubre Corto. Arnedo Film Festival in La Rioja (October).
- Guadalajara Solidarity Film Festival. FESCIGU (October).
- Seminci. Valladolid International Film Week (October).
- Soria City International Short Film Competition (November).
- Alcine (November).
- Zaragoza Film Festival (November).
- Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival (November).
- Barcelona Independent Film Festival. L’Alternativa (November).
- Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival – ZINEBI (November).
- Vitoria-Gasteiz Short Film Festival. CORTADA (December).
- “Almería en Corto” International Short Film Festival (December).
- Aguilar de Campoo International Short Film Festival (December).
In total, we have 28 festivals with options for selection or winning an award; if we don’t make it in 2018, we can try in 2019.
In the case of Mecal, if we do not participate in 2017, we can do so in 2018, which could increase the number of festivals with options for the 2019 Goya Awards to 17.
If our short film is a comedy and is subsidized by the Community of Madrid, we could increase the number of festivals by two, reaching 30:
- Community of Madrid Short Film Week (May).
- Tarazona and Moncayo Comedy Film Festival (August).
The only festivals that would be excluded are Seminci and Gijón, which require a national premiere.
#4 Main differences between starting at the end of the year or from March onwards
- 13 festivals versus 28. A short film premiered in Medina (from March onwards) has more than double the options of a short film premiered in Gijón to achieve the 5 necessary selections.
- Approximately 12 months versus 21 months (1 year and 9 months) of time to be selected in one of the national and international festivals on the list.
- 1 call versus 2 calls for the Goya Awards, which a short film premiered from March onwards could opt for.
As a result of this analysis, it could be stated that short films premiered in the official sections of Seminci and Gijón, and which therefore applied for the qualification license and nationality certificate before these festivals (as required by the rules), would be penalized compared to those premiered in Medina or Malaga.
If your goal is the Goya Awards, the best option would be to wait until March and premiere at one of these festivals to multiply your chances of being selected, both nationally and internationally.