This week we learned about the three short films nominated for the Forqué Awards, Los desheredados, by Laura Ferrer, Tabib, by Carlo D’Ursi, and Madre, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
In the case of Madre, we are distributing it as part of the Madrid en corto 2017 catalogue. In addition to this nomination, it is currently selected for the Goya Awards, along with Australia, by Lino Escalera, and Ni una sola línea, by Victor D. Somoza, also included in Madrid en corto. The nominations will be announced next December 13.
The latest recognition that Madre is receiving confirms it as one of the year’s standout works, and an example of a festival run that can serve as a reference for other shorts.
Now that we are already in December, it is a good time to take stock of the early stages of distribution. October and November have already passed, which are, by far, the months that bring together the greatest number of festivals and, therefore, selections.
Initial considerations for getting started with distribution
When we started working with Madre, we began with several premises; the most important was its premiere at the Short Film Week of the Community of Madrid at the end of April, along with earlier selections in Medina del Campo and Málaga, and later selections in Alicante and Alfàs del Pi.
These first festivals already shape the distribution in two ways: on the one hand, it has already had its world premiere, so we have to rule out A-list festivals such as Venice, and we can only work with the international premiere.
It has also already premiered in the Valencian Community, so we have to rule out festivals such as Cinema Jove for 2018, as it requires a premiere in this autonomous community.
National festival strategy
With these two premises, and after the Short Film Week, we began to prepare an intensive national strategy to reach the festivals held in summer, and especially from September onwards. In these cases, it is important to be aware of the dates we are at and make the most of the distribution possibilities.
It worked very well.
During the summer it was very well received at national festivals, and this continued into autumn. The statistics for Madre in this regard are impressive, and among the best we have achieved with a short film.
So far it has been selected in 46 national festivals in competitive sections, and 5 out of competition, for a total of 51 festivals. What is interesting is that it has accumulated 58 awards in Spain—no less than 12 awards more than the number of festivals.
I believe there are very few short films that can match this success at national level, and it shows that the best option was to commit to an intensive strategy.
International festivals
The festival strategy outside Spain has been very different. We opted for a selective strategy at festivals requiring an international premiere, and with geographical limitations such as Austin or Toronto.
We had set October as the time limit to maintain this strategy, as it is the month when festivals such as Warsaw take place—one of the last festivals on our calendar that requires an international or world premiere with A status.
We were fortunate to secure a selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, held in September, where they asked us to hold back the international premiere. This detail is important, as the minimum requirement is North American, but having the international premiere still pending was fundamental.
From here, the short has been selected at the Heartland Film Festival, where it had its U.S. premiere, Austin Film Festival (Austin premiere), and at festivals such as Brest and Courts Devant in France, and Foyle in the United Kingdom.
In these last months we have moved from a selective strategy to a more intensive one at international festivals, while still taking care of some pending national premieres.
In the distribution of Madre, the difference between the national and international strategy has been very interesting. While the short was touring national festivals in summer and winning awards, it had already reserved its international premiere in Toronto.
Some distribution statistics
The festival run can be seen in this chart organised by month:
You can clearly see the three initial phases in distribution: the phase prior to the Madrid en corto submissions and its premiere at the Short Film Week, which runs from March (Málaga and Medina) through May and June. The second phase from July, with the first results from the submissions made in June, and finally the third phase from September, where national festivals are combined with the first international selections.
The result of this last phase is no less than 12 selections in September, and a peak of 20 selections in November, 17 of them competitive.
In total, Madre has achieved 61 selections to date, combining festivals of different categories, and 58 awards.
We are already in the next distribution phase, with 2018 looking very promising.
I hope the example of Madre can help you start planning your distribution strategy. Keep in mind that this case is working very well, but it is not always like this.
For this reason, it is advisable to analyse the performance of each phase and draw the necessary conclusions to move forward.
Best of luck with the distribution of your short film!
See you in the comments.