This past weekend I was invited to the Professional Short Film Conference at Laboral Cinemateca in Gijón, where we analyzed several topics regarding the distribution and development of short films. Among them, we discussed festival submission fees and the possibility of distributing without costs, working exclusively with free festivals. An option that is not highly advisable (since you may miss many interesting festivals), but one that is currently possible.
Every month I encounter new festivals that introduce submission fees, making distribution more costly and complicated. If this trend continues, very soon we will have more festivals with fees than without them in Europe.
Download Over 100 Free Festivals
Taking this difficulty into account, I have revisited a post I published in January with over 80 free festivals. Now I have been working on a new list of free festivals, but with the deadline updated for June.
In this case, I have prepared a list of over 100 festivals so you can submit without fees—these are festivals you can start submitting to today. I have included festivals of various durations and types. Keep in mind that most of the major festivals do charge fees and therefore are not included in this list.
To make your work easier, they are organized by deadline, and I have added the website, submission platform, and the start and end dates of each festival. This last piece of information can be very useful for planning your premiere strategy, especially if you are in a more selective phase.
In order to send you the list by email, I need you to fill out the following blog subscription form. You only need to provide your name and email:
>> This form is no longer available. If you are interested in festival lists, you can contact me through the contact page.<<
Also Download the List of Oscar-Qualifying Festivals
This list complements the Oscar-qualifying festival lists already available on the blog, where there are festivals with submission fees. You will find the form to download them below.
With these two lists, you can start preparing your submissions and create a distribution budget. You can opt for distribution exclusively through free festivals or allocate part of your budget to paying some submission fees.
I hope these festival lists are useful to you and that you find some that suit your film.