Your festival strategy
Before you submit your film, ask yourself one question: why this festival?
A free template to choose the festivals where it makes sense to present your film.
What I learned on the other side of the screen
I had the privilege of working as a programmer and curator for two film festivals with very different editorial lines: Filmets Badalona Film Festival and the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival.
I saw excellent films left out and smaller ones that made it in. Often the difference lay in the fit between the film and what that festival wanted to say with its programme.
Every festival has an audience it wants to reach.
But every film, YOUR film, also has a window of its own.
I put this template together for you with the questions I'd ask myself before submitting a film. And over the next fifteen days you'll get emails with examples, reflections and practical advice to plan your festival run.
What you will find in the template
Find festivals for your film
Learn to use a free platform that matches your film against more than 5,000 festivals and shows your compatibility percentage with each one.
Decide where and when to premiere
I ask you five questions about your film, your premiere goals and your budget to help you choose festivals and decide in which order to submit your film.
Organize all your submissions
You get a table to keep deadlines, entry fees, requirements and the status of each submission at hand. You will also find a list of the materials festivals usually ask for.
Contact programmers and sales agents
I share an email template to introduce yourself and write to programmers, plus a table to organize your contacts and follow up on your conversations.
Start planning your route
Leave your name and email and I'll send you the template so you can make your own copy in Google Docs. Download it free and start choosing your festivals with the help of my strategy.
Josephine Landertinger Forero
Director, screenwriter and producer with more than fifteen years of experience in documentary and fiction. With a Colombian mother and an Austrian father, I grew up between Lesotho, South Africa and Portugal. I studied film in Berlin.
My work explores identity, migration, family bonds and gender roles from an intercultural, female perspective. Alongside directing, I write scripts, curate for film festivals and teach at universities, film schools and my own academy, Just Love Film Academy.
My films have been released in cinemas, air on television and stream on platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Filmin and Flixolé.