I was recently on a panel at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, called “Show Your Film to the World” (link). We (a distributor, a filmmaker, a festival person) discussed the “dos and don’ts” of getting your film to an audience if you’re a queer filmmaker. Full disclosure moment: I was having a bit of a schizophrenic time of it, as I also scout films for an online VOD portal, so I had to talk about that as well as the opportunities festivals offer filmmakers in terms of their work being seen.
Let’s just stick to festivals, though. As someone who’s based outside North America I pleaded with the filmmakers to submit their films to festivals outside their own continent. Jason, the filmmaker, advised knowing your niche. All of us agreed that since everybody’s on a limited budget being smart and targeting your film to the right audience is key.
Seems we’re not the only ones that think this way. The Film Collaborative is releasing a book, “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul”, which seems to jive with a lot that we talked about. Since this excerpt pertains directly to the film festival circuit, perhaps you’d like to take a look.