are US low budget indie features at a disadvantage?

[fantomette]

Lets take Berlinale for example...

Forget about the competition section as it is mostly for studios, big budgets and stars.

panormama 2013:

Panorama fictional films

Boven is het stil (It's all so Quiet) - Netherlands/Germany
By Nanouk Leopold
With Jeroen Willems, Henri Garcin, Wim Opbrouck, Martijn Lakemeier
World Premiere

Burn it up Djassa – Ivory Coast/France
By Lonesome Solo
With Abdoul Karim Konaté, Adelaïde Ouattara, Mamadou Diomandé, Souleymane Bamba
European Premiere

Concussion - USA
By Stacie Passon
With Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Emily Kinney, Daniel London, Ben Shenkman
International Premiere

Hayatboyu (Lifelong) - Turkey, Germany, Netherlands
By Asli Ozge
With Defne Halman, Hakan Çimenser
World Premiere

Interior. Leather Bar. - USA
By Travis Mathews, James Franco
With Val Lauren, Christian Patrick, James Franco
International Premiere

Kai PO Che - India
By Abhishek Kapoor
With Sushant Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri
World Premiere

Lose Your Head - Germany
By Stefan Westerwelle, Patrick Schuckmann
With Fernando Tielve, Marko Mandić, Sesede Terziyan, Stavros Yagulis, Samia Chancrin
World Premiere

Maladies - USA
By Carter
With James Franco, Catherine Keener, David Strathairn, Fallon Goodson, Vince Jolivette
World Premiere

Mes séances de lutte (Love Battles) - France
By Jacques Doillon
With Sara Forestier, James Thiérrée
World Premiere

Reaching for the Moon - Brazil
By Bruno Barreto
With Miranda Otto, Gloria Pires, Tracy Middendorf
World Premiere

Soğuk (Cold) - Turkey
By Uğur Yücel
With Cenk Alibeyoğlu, A. Rıfat Şungar, Valeria Skorohodova, Yulia Vaniukova, Yulia Erenler, Şebnem Bozoklu, Ezgi Mola
World Premiere

Something in the Way - Indonesia
By Teddy Soeriaatmadja
With Reza Rahadian, Ratu Felisha, Verdi Solaiman
World Premiere

Upstream Color - USA
By Shane Carruth
With Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins, Kathy Carruth
International Premiere

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Taiwan
By Arvin Chen
With Richie Jen, Mavis Fan, Stone, Kimi Hsia, Lawrence Ko
World Premiere

Workers - Mexico/Germany
By José Luis Valle
With Susana Salazar, Jesús Padilla
World Premiere

Youth - Israel/Germany
By Tom Shoval
With Eitan Cunio, David Cunio, Moshe Ivgy, Gita Amely, Shirili Deshe
World Premiere

 

[AudioPostExpert]

so .. what are the odds of a US Indie ( whose not named James Franco & didnt premiere at Sundance) to get a shot at Berlin

Huh? The odds are better than most, according to your list! Cannes and Berlin are international film festivals. I know that "international" or "world" competitions in the USA tend to mean competitions with entrants only from the US (baseball's World Series for example) or only from the US with one or two entrants from somewhere else in the world but that seems to be a peculiarly American definition of "international"! The USA represents what, about 5% of the world's population? Yet of the 16 films in your OP, 25% of them were from the USA which seems to me, if anything, an unfair advantage. Of course, it might not seem like an unfair advantage to those who are used to "international" film festivals which don't actually allow international entrants in their main category!

..try to get your movie be from another country to have a shot... otherwise take that 150 and spend it on a nice trashcan to just throw your film in

Huh, I don't get you math? Unless of course, as I mentioned above, you are expecting an "international" film festival to only accept films from the USA. For the rest of us (non-Americans), "international" implies at least a degree of fair chance regardless of where you're film was made/funded.

... also consider that none of us on this board are even dreaming about getting a 200k budget. our aspirations are more like .. 25,000

That's a problem! For their main category, Cannes, the Berlinale and all the major international film festivals (inc. Sundance) require features at, or very close to, commercial theatrical quality/standards. It's very difficult to achieve those standards with a 200k budget and almost impossible with a 25k budget.

But as a rogue no budget filmmaker, Hollywood and ny are the last place u want to be.

Again ... huh? You're talking about competing in international festivals with films of theatrical release standards and yet "the last place u want to be" are those two cities where the facilities and expertise to create films of international theatrical release standards are concentrated!

I'm obviously missing something, because the logic of this thread escapes me. If you are a "rogue no budget filmmaker" then either aim for one of the many provincial film festivals designed for rogue no budget filmmakers or find a way to be (or at least appear to be) something other than a no budget filmmaker.

G

 

[WalterB]

It's not the budget, it's the quality that often correlates with it

I'm sorry to put it this hard, but it's not about being from the US...
As a Dutch filmmaker I can tell you the most expensive feature ever made in the Netherlands is Paul Verhoeven's Black Book for approx 12 million euro.
Most don't ever come close to that: 3 million is big budget feature here.
Let me correct myself: 1 million is big budget.

Low budgets hardly ever make it into international festivals... unless your story is truely exceptional or spectaculair. Don't forget: there are over 140 countries on this planet