Submitting for American Film Festivals

Hello Everybody :), this is Amogh from Bangalore, India.

I'm 19 years old and currently attending my first year engineering. It will take another four years for me complete my degree and later I have plans of making an ultra low budget feature film especially for American festivals.

Currently, I'm working on my first ever DSLR short film titled Hobson's Choice and it's in the post production stage and another short film titled Daily is in discussion :coffee:

I'm not trying to BOAST :D but just to express my level of confidence, I gave away a few short film scripts to my friend with which he was able to land a job in a popular Media Company.

I have written a 30 page narrative treatment for that first feature of mine, and it's about an NRI from US who's lost in India during his first time visit. So it's chiefly in English language. It's simple and won't cost much.

But after I finish making that film, how should I submit it for American Festivals? What are the requirements and expenses that I must go through? Which are the best film festivals for someone like me? If someone is interested with my work, what will happen? Need to understand the whole Film Festival and marketing thing.

I understand that hollywood guys will first gauge the value of my work, it's tough to get them talking or get them hooked into my work, but I will surely be as consistent as I can in my work. Anyway this is how I guess I will appear to them in the beginning :bag:

Four years is a long long time and things may change radically, if so how will they change probably?
 
withoutabox.com is a great way to submit to festivals and pretty much every major and a ton of minor festivals are registered with them. Have a browse around that site and it'll answer a lot of your questions (cost, requirements, etc) as they vary from festival to festival.
 
Hmmm... really nice website, linked to the most popular IMDb. Was really helpful, thank you :) But one thing, when is the best time to create my account? Shall I do it once I complete my short or wait until I finish making my feature?
 
As long as your money is good, I don't think American festivals differ from foreign festivals -- pay the fee, send it in and don't show it on the internet. If the actors speak English, I'd say you have an almost an equal shot as getting in.

Good luck.
 
withoutabox.com has all the information for all the festivals around the globe. Once you finish your product and you know the value of it then you can decide which ones you feel it has the best shot at showing in the festivals. Pricing depends on the stages of the festival because if its at an early deadline then u would pay the minimum towards paying the maximum at the late deadline fee's. Hope this helps
 
Which are the best film festivals for someone like me? If someone is interested with my work, what will happen? Need to understand the whole Film Festival and marketing thing.
Enter it in medium sized festivals in major markets. Don't waste your time entering it in cities that are far from Los Angeles and New York. Also don't bother with the big BIG festivals like SunDance. They will just take your money. Pointless. Having said that, most festivals will just take your money. Film Festivals are a business just like selling movies is a business.
I recommend perhaps the Malibu Film Festival, the San Fernando Film Festival, CineVegas, Long Island Film Festival, etc.
 
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