Documentary film distribution has several particularities compared to other genres, such as fiction and animation. One of the biggest differences is the premiere requirements that most festivals have. These mandatory premiere requirements and the criteria many festivals apply make strategic planning for documentary films throughout the year more difficult. If you are … Read more
Last week the Documenta Madrid Festival took place, which closed on Saturday and is celebrating its 15th edition this year. Over all these years it has become one of the most important documentary festivals in Spain. The award for Best Short Film in the International Section went to Saule Marceau, by Juliette … Read more
Do you have a documentary pending its festival premiere? Now is a good time to start planning distribution. Some of the most important documentary festivals on the circuit are currently open for submissions. In documentary distribution, it is increasingly important to plan premieres properly, as many festivals require or value an international … Read more
If you are just starting to distribute a documentary, it is advisable to take into account some preliminary considerations, not only to plan the festival circuit, but from the post-production process, and before finalizing the final edit. There are some elements that are specific to documentary festivals, and that differentiate them from … Read more
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival closed on July 8, with the Best Documentary Award going to Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle, by Gustavo Salmerón. This award represents a great start on the documentary festival circuit, serving as the film’s international, world, and European premiere. This took place at … Read more
Most major documentary festivals on the circuit have premiere requirements, whether international or world, and at least national. Last year, I already discussed some of them, as the distribution strategy needs special attention in these cases. In documentary distribution, initial selections can take time, especially if you are trying to participate in … Read more
These days I’ve been reviewing the most prominent documentary short films so far this year. Documentary shorts are gaining increasing importance, and every year we are surprised by high-quality works. Furthermore, we recently learned of an important development. The prestigious IDFA, the Amsterdam Documentary Festival, has created a competitive section for documentary … Read more
Since I published the list of Fiction and Animation festivals ordered by deadline during the first week of this month, I have been meaning to do the same for the Documentary Academy Awards. Over the past few weeks, I have finished completing this list, with the same characteristics as the previous one, … Read more
These days I have been reviewing documentary film festivals with open submissions. Premiere requirements vary greatly between them, so they need to be studied carefully in order to plan the festival strategy. In the vast majority, the production date must be after January 2016, and they usually have two deadlines depending on … Read more
In recent weeks we have been analyzing the situation of Spanish short films with the new regulations of the Goya Awards. I have published posts on the new strategies to follow for fiction short films, and thanks to Carlota Coronado we have also analyzed animation short films in these two posts: Filter … Read more