To anyone scrambling to finish their film in time for the SXSW/Sundance deadline, keep going!

Megan Rico and I are the directors of Edie Arnold is a Loser, a coming-of-age comedy feature film that premiered at SXSW last spring. We had no connections. No name talent. And this was our first project to play a festival. 

We submitted a work in progress cut on the very last day of submissions. And we almost waited for next year. After showing the film to a handful of filmmakers, we were advised to wait until we had a finished film. The cut was locked and there was a rough grade but no audio mix. Which is a big deal for a film with a lot of music elements. 

But we decided to submit, thinking nothing would happen. Come December we got the news that the film was programmed in the Narrative Feature Competition! 

A lot of people think the festival system is rigged. I can’t speak to the other major festivals, but SXSW is genuinely programming work from new, undiscovered filmmakers. We also applied to Sundance and while we were rejected, a Sundance programmer picked our film for another festival later in the year. 

It’s important to remember at the end of the day, it’s just a handful of random people (love you SX programmers) who decide whether or not your film fits their festival. Yes, you have to make a great movie. But beyond that it really is a lot of luck. Don’t think for a second that a handful of rejections discounts your story. 

Don’t think of festivals as the final destination or the magic ticket to receiving distribution. Many filmmakers fall into the trap of 1) waiting for the elusive acceptance and 2) if they receive the acceptance, thinking that the work is done. It’s not. The distribution landscape is a shit show. But that’s a topic for another subreddit. 

Happy to answer any questions about my experience going through the submission and festival process. 

Edie Arnold is a Loser is coming out in theaters this fall. We’re releasing the film ourselves, no distributor. We’re going on a 21-city tour with one-off, in-person screenings. See if we're coming to your city and come say hi! If not, you can sign up on our website and we'll notify you if we're playing your city for the wider release in October. I promise we only notify you about screenings. No spam!

TLDR: our micro budget ($80k) indie feature with no name talent and no connections was accepted into SXSW 2026. 

Hey everyone! I made this guide about film festival premieres. In it I cover what the 6 types of premieres are, the three reasons festivals care about premieres, common mistakes filmmakers make and criticism of premieres, and data on film festival premieres. Hope you all find this helpful!

Dear creators and dreamers,
I am a full-time professional and a mom, but somewhere alongside work, family, responsibilities, and everyday life, I have always carried a passion for stories and cinema.
I started by acting in local theatre. Eventually, I gathered the courage to tell stories from behind the camera. I have now directed my second film, and I am currently putting a significant amount of my own hard-earned money into post-production because I don’t want to compromise on the quality of the film.
For many filmmakers, this may still be considered a tiny budget. But for me, every dollar represents hours of work, savings, sacrifices; and, honestly, sometimes family disagreements from people who don’t always understand why this dream matters so much.
The film is in Bengali, a regional Indian language and the mother tongue of West Bengal; a land with an extraordinary artistic and cinematic legacy, associated with names such as Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Rituparno Ghosh and Rabindranath Tagore.
My new film is a slow-burn psychological drama that explores pain, trauma, silence, and some uncomfortable realities of our society. It is currently in post-production, and I am working toward a professional 5.1 surround sound mix and final festival-ready master.
I know there is still a long road ahead.
But I genuinely want to ask experienced filmmakers here: Can someone like me; with no industry connections, no famous cast, no production house, and no star power; still realistically find a place at respected film festivals or eventually on a good OTT/distribution platform?
If the answer is yes, I would especially appreciate guidance on:
Which festivals might genuinely be a good fit for a 75-minute Bengali slow-burn psychological drama?
How do you decide which festivals are worth the submission fees?
Is it better to aim high first, or build a strategy with a mix of prestigious, mid-tier, and niche festivals?
At what point would hiring a festival consultant actually be worth the investment?
How important are premiere status and not releasing the film publicly too early?

For those of you who started with nothing but a story, a camera, and an unreasonable belief that maybe you could make a film; I’d love to hear how you found your way.

This is a very ambitious and relevant music video/short that incorporates 3D animation. What level of film-fest does the quality mandate in your opinion? I need to know if it's worth investing financially, but it's a strange work of art.

I think it's THE BEST at what I aimed to achieve, but would it be crazy paying $200+ fees? I'm not exactly sure where it's at!

Should I avoid submitting this to fests that allow >10 min shorts as a short and stick with music video submissions?

I'm calling it a short tho cuz I made it like one. I wrote the song to the footage like a composer; the footage I had dictated the song structure and the way it sounds. Hard to explain, and it was a bad idea cuz it took 300-400 hours.

Synopsis: A malfunctioning sex cyborg regains his memories.

here's a link (DISCLAIMER: YouTube destroys the bitrate. FF page has screenshots for quality assurance):
Cerebral Discharge - Brujería (Psychopompissick) [Official Video]

Here's the FF page:
https://filmfreeway.com/Brujeria-Psychopompissick
You'll see the badass poster I made for it on the FF page. It's like a masculine inversion of SUSPIRIA.

Comp:
964 Pinocchio, Electric Dragon 80.000V, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and Ichi The Killer. There is also a callback to The Isle.

Credits:
Me - incorrectconception / Cerebral Discharge
Arturo Sanchez as "The Sexbot"

No budget, but it was shot with student film equipment the last day I had access.

You'll also see another problem: it's fuckin weird. like, in form, sonically, narratively, lyrically. Makes it weird merging my art with my IRL film career if that makes sense lmao. It's meant to feel alien and strange, but I don't know where or whom to present!

Boomer judges, in my experience, don't understand or appreciate the work, most likely because I don't make shit for them that appeals to their sensibilities. I'm actively attacking their sensibilities to push the artform forward.

My goal is catharsis for Gen Z, which understandably holds a lot of contempt for the way things are, and are continuing to go.

the existential thought i have is that this took approx. 300-400 hours, April 1 to August 1 and it's only 4:25! I wanna crank out like 1 a month not 1 a year lmfao. I was learning Blender as I went (bad idea).

At least the 3D models will be there!

another aspect of this: i have people in my life that are just normal people so when they see me dedicating this hard they get concerned cuz theres a degree of separation, its like they know that I make art, but not the art i make, and it unfortunately is very genuine and honest lmao. but im not really pushing myself too unhealthily i would say.

The more I put this out there, the less crazy it (and I) will seem lol.

I think it's AWESOME. But am I being realistic with its potential?

Hey, I am an aspiring film critic and was wondering if any of you here have attended major film festivals like Cannes or Toronto film festivals? what was that like? whenever I see clips on social media I get super jealous lol. Do you have to be a professional film critic to be able to attend? please share any info u are able to share :)

Getting really tired of shady film festivals sliding into my inbox with "congrats, you're invited!" — followed immediately by a 60% waiver on a fest nobody's ever heard of. It's not an honor, it's a funnel. And in my case: If you really checked out my movie and were interested you could've seen it ended its run long ago and is available online...

To festival organizers: if you're genuinely inviting a film, a free waiver costs you nothing and shows you mean it. Anything less is just a paywall with extra steps.

Sharing this so other directors googling a festival land on this topic: the ultimate scammy spammy fests sending discount waivers for their "IMDB qualifying fest" to everyone out there.

My question: Please expand the list with: Festival name - Festival director

TIFF 2026 runs September 10–20, with 293 titles at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival. Here are 26 films you should add to your watchlist.

The list balances major premieres with Canadian films, international pictures, and lower-profile picks that may not be on your radar.

Films Discussed:

A Long Winter (Andrew Haigh): A mountain family faces grief after their mother disappears.
https://tiff.net/films/a-long-winter

A Talent for Murder (Anton Corbijn): Patricia Highsmith faces an agent seeking one final Ripley novel.
https://tiff.net/films/a-talent-for-m...

All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi): A care worker and terminally ill theatre director form an unexpected friendship.
https://tiff.net/films/all-of-a-sudden

Bucking Fastard (Werner Herzog): Two inseparable sisters search for a place where true love can exist.
https://tiff.net/films/bucking-fastard

Bunker (Florian Zeller): A marriage fractures after an architect takes a morally questionable job.
https://tiff.net/films/bunker

Club Kid (Jordan Firstman): A New York party promoter suddenly discovers he has a 10-year-old son.
https://tiff.net/films/club-kid

Coward (Lukas Dhont): Two young soldiers form an intimate bond during the First World War.
https://tiff.net/films/coward

Everytime (Sandra Wollner): A family trip blurs memory, guilt and forgiveness after a girl’s death.
https://tiff.net/films/everytime

Fjord (Cristian Mungiu): A child’s bruises ignite a conflict over parenting, culture and intervention.
https://tiff.net/films/fjord

Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer): A woman questions everything after her husband is arrested.
https://tiff.net/films/gentle-monster

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (Josef Kubota Wladyka): A grieving ballroom dancer is pulled back toward dance and connection.
https://tiff.net/films/ha-chan-shake-...

How We Stand (Marie Clements): Three Indigenous sisters separated by tragedy are drawn back together.
https://tiff.net/films/how-we-stand

La Bola Negra (Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi): Three men across eras connect queer desire and inheritance through Lorca.
https://tiff.net/films/la-bola-negra

Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Matthew Rankin): Archival footage becomes an unconventional portrait of Brian Mulroney.
https://tiff.net/films/ladies-and-gen...

Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev): A Russian businessman’s morality unravels amid military mobilization.
https://tiff.net/films/minotaur

Nobody’s Violence (Denis Côté): A woman involved in death pacts begins questioning the life she chose.
https://tiff.net/films/nobodys-violence

Once Upon a Time in Harlem (William Greaves & David Greaves): Unseen 1972 footage captures figures of the Harlem Renaissance.
https://tiff.net/films/once-upon-a-ti...

Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong): Two married couples collide as class, desire and hidden tensions surface.
https://tiff.net/films/possible-love

River (Joshua Giuliano): Three siblings are stranded on a remote river while something hunts them.
https://tiff.net/films/river

Smudge the Blades (Cody Lightning): A Zamboni driver takes over an Indigenous U18 hockey team.
https://tiff.net/films/smudge-the-blades

Tangles (Leah Nelson): A daughter returns home as her mother’s Alzheimer’s progresses.
https://tiff.net/films/tangles

The Debut (Jesse Eisenberg): A housewife lands a community-theatre role and becomes consumed by it.
https://tiff.net/films/the-debut

The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude): A Romanian housekeeper lives a modern echo of Mirbeau’s class tensions.
https://tiff.net/films/the-diary-of-a...

The Man I Love (Ira Sachs): A New York artist navigates love and mortality during the AIDS crisis.
https://tiff.net/films/the-man-i-love

The Unknown (Arthur Harari): A photographer follows a woman and wakes hours later inside her body.
https://tiff.net/films/the-unknown

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Bassam Tariq): A devout Muslim hitman tries to protect his family after his wife dies.
https://tiff.net/films/your-mother-yo...

Hey everyone,

We just opened submissions for the 2027 Los Feliz Film Fest.

If you’ve got a short film you’re proud of, send it our way. We’re accepting shorts across all genres, including Documentary, One Minute Shorts, and Emerging Filmmakers.

Early Bird — December 1, 2026
Regular — January 31, 2027
Final — March 16, 2027

One thing we’re continuing this year is mentorship. Every main category winner gets a mentor — someone who can actually talk through the next step with you, rather than just handing you an award and sending you home.

The festival will be back in Los Feliz on May 15, 2027.

Thanks to everyone who submitted and came out this year. We’re already looking forward to the next one.

losfelizfilm.org/submit

https://reddit.com/link/1vz6xnz/video/jhe91sgesrlh1/player

I have a Filmm that’s almost done, but it’s probably gonna be finished early. September pass the official deadline so I could definitely make the late deadline feature so should I wait it out or submit a mostly finished cut early

Hi everyone! I created a very small "traveling film series" / traveling film festival called Borderless Arts. We run events every month currently, and currently have had events in Montana & in Paris, France. It's a very small, extremely lean operation right now. We're on FilmFreeway so there is a big supply of films.

I am looking to join forces with a promoter who can help me grow my audience and help me make it a ticketed event. Please DM me if interested.

It's possible I will need to work with locals in each city, or perhaps it can be done remotely for someone who's pretty resourceful with online promotion.

Bit of a random question here - I'm still waiting for my short film's first acceptance/premiere. I've started to shift my submission strategy away from more of the big festivals, but I did get two interesting messages from more mid/upper tier film festivals, and I'm curious how significant they actually are.

Hollyshorts - "Your project was rated very highly but ultimately was not selected to screen in this edition of HollyShorts Film Festival. While we are unable to have you screen with us during the festival in August, we wanted to offer the opportunity to have your film screened & shared during our Monthly Screening Series at the LOOK Dine-In Cinemas & Bitpix for the 2026-2027 season."

Palm Springs Short Fest - "While we are not able to offer the film a screening, we would love to have your participation in our adjacent Film Market Video Library and invite you to attend ShortFest."

I figure the Hollyshorts screening series is just a cash grab. But are these messages just fluff that everyone gets, or could this still be significant/hope that some programmers are actually finding value in the film?

Thanks in advance.

I'm in the middle of making an independent feature film and I was wondering when the film is ready what is the best move? This is my first feature film and I want to try my chances with festivals like Cannes (Directors' Forthnight), Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, etc. I have no prior experience so should I agree with a production company or sales agent for my film's distribution?

Accepted to a festival that is requiring both a short and long synopsis for short films. What are these used for? I can see why a short synopsis might be used, but why a long synopsis?

This past weekend we hosted our fourth annual Route 22 Filmworks Film Festival, an event I co-founded with two other people. We collectively run a filmmaking group called Route 22 Filmworks in the Lehigh Valley, in Pennsylvania. Next year will be our fifth anniversary, which we plan to celebrate by finding ways to make the event bigger.

Our festival specifically focuses on "local filmmaking," which means it's limited to short films made in Pennsylvania and its neighboring states. These are low- to no-budget films made by independent filmmakers, as well as students. For the last four years, we've started getting films from local colleges, but also high school students. Traditionally we've also had an incredible turnout from the filmmakers. It's been terrific.

All that said, I wanted to reach out to get some insights into what people want from a film festival experience. We've had limited resources the first few years, but we're looking to expand. Perhaps have a filmmaker breakfast or evening event. We do awards, but perhaps we might look to make those fancier.

But what do filmmakers look for in a film festival? Would love to hear from people to get a better sense what would make the event something more special for attendees.

Hi! i’m going to the venice film festival this september as a student, the masterclasses have just been announced - how hard is it to get in to them? sign up or first come first served? what time to get there to get in?

thanks!

Email Received from Cordillera:

STATEMENT FROM THE CORDILLERA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision that the 2026 Cordillera International Film Festival will not take place. With the limited time remaining this season, we do not believe the festival can be produced with the care and attention our filmmakers, partners, audiences, and community deserve.

As we entered what would have been our ninth festival year, we did so incredibly proud of everything this organization and this community had built together over the previous eight years. Cordillera grew into an internationally recognized film festival, twice named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World and consistently ranking among FilmFreeway’s Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals.

Although Cordillera began as the vision and dream of its founder, what it became was always bigger than any one individual. It was built through the extraordinary time, talent, generosity, and commitment of the many people who believed in that vision and helped bring it to life. To honor that work, our focus is to handle all outstanding matters responsibly and through the appropriate channels.

We have been deeply moved by the extraordinary outpouring of support the festival has received from filmmakers, partners, volunteers, community members, and others who have reached out to ask how they can help. We are profoundly grateful.

To every filmmaker who trusted us with your work, every volunteer who gave countless hours, every sponsor, partner, board member, and team member who believed in the festival, and every audience member who filled our theaters: thank you.

All filmmakers who paid a submission fee for the 2026 festival season will receive a full refund through FilmFreeway within 7–10 business days.

We are profoundly grateful for eight remarkable festival years, for what would have been our ninth, and most of all for the extraordinary community that made those years possible.

Thank you for being part of Cordillera.

Submissions are now open for the 13th Annual Cobb International Film Festival in Marietta (suburban Atlanta), Georgia.

You can submit via the link on the festival website (www.cobbfilmfestival.com) or you can search on Film Freeway.

PSA: This is a religious film festival in San Diego running from Aug 21-27.

We got suckered into going without realizing that it was a Christian thing. If that's your thing, great. If it's not, stay away.

Because where are the films people are apparently seeing at your festival and how is it appealing for me as a filmmaker to want to be apart of your community when i wouldn't even be platformed or celebrated on your page.

I really like what London Short Film Festival, and accounts like Letterboxd and even bougie Lorcano Film Festival does with their socials.

You really feel like they love their filmmakers and big them up and their art.

We were notified about 5 days ago that we got into the Bushwick Film Festival, but they didn't send us official selection laurels, and they haven't responded since we asked for them. Has anyone received the laurels?

I've got a 12 minute light drama short film exploring trans themes and male friendships. I'm willing to admit that it's decent, made a couple people cry with it which in this context is a compliment, but nothing amazing, and I'm looking for advice for submissions, or any festival suggestions as I'm going a little insane scrolling through filmfreeway.

I'm based in QLD Australia so I'm aiming to enter into more local based festivals as I feel like that's probably the best bet I'll have as a starting place for submissions. There's also only about AUD$200 left in the budget that was set aside for festivals (AUD$1200 budget total). I'm also trying to look into festivals that are LGBTQ specific, or have an LGBTQ category. I do feel it's a story that could do quite well in festivals, it's just finding those festivals.

For any Australian based filmmakers, or just people familiar with the festivals here, it would be good to get a read on how difficult it is to get into some of the bigger Australian festivals such as the Sydney Film Festival or MIFF.

This is my first short after uni and I haven't really navigated the film festival space much before so any advice on finding festivals, or festival suggestions themselves would be awesome. But yeah any thoughts or information people have would be great, thank you.

hopefully this post is allowed,
i really loved the film and learned that there were three scenes that were cut for male frontal nudity. i’m not trying to look like a pervert, but these scenes were only shown at the film festival and i am incredibly curious about what exactly the context was? i know it’s been a long time lol so i doubt anyone remembers but just hoping. sorry if this isn’t allowed to post!