I am thrilled to announce that "Skin" by Orla Harrison will be the opening film of this year’s London Festival of Cinema in collaboration with the Northern Festival of Cinema at Garden Lane, South Shields. This marks a huge milestone for us, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.
"Skin" addresses the important issue of on-screen representation for people with acne, sharing the personal struggles of its protagonist. It’s a film that’s both intimate and impactful, with Orla’s directorial debut making waves in the industry.

As we continue to push the boundaries of diversity and inclusion in film, I’m proud to highlight that both of our festivals are platforms for voices and stories that need to be heard. We’re committed to showcasing films that represent a wide range of cultures, identities, and experiences because true storytelling thrives when all voices are represented.

We’re also still accepting submissions for both the London Festival of Cinema and Northern Festival of Cinema. If you’re a filmmaker with a unique perspective, now’s your chance to be part of something truly special! Submit now on https://filmfreeway.com/LFOCinema

We are thinking of adding a category for trailers and music videos in our festival.

While talking it over it was brought up about trailers people may have made for public domain movies. Or re-edits of pd movies. What are your thoughts, as a festival would you accept those projects as submissions?

Hi. I'm trying to find out more information about the TIFF Wavelenghths submission. Do they contact you with a waiver code or how does that work? Can we contact them with our film (link, epk, etc.) to demonstrate we are eligible? If anyone has a clue - would be so helpful. Thank you!

Hi, recently completed a short film called Taps, it's a comedy about a gay guy that accidentally summons a demon on Grindr and must survive the night. As you all know getting people to watch your content is actually the hardest part. I was looking for good queer/gay festivals or short film nights in the EU or UK where I can submit the film.( If they have fee waivers even better because I'm broke af rn lol)

Any suggestions would be great 🫶🏾

I’ve been seeing more films ("Origin"and Angel Studios) showing QR codes during the end credits or after the Q&A, and I’m wondering if anyone here has tried that at a festival.

• Did any festival allow or push back on it?
• Where did you include it—during credits, or on screen during your Q&A?
• What did the QR code go to—mailing list, social media, a way to stay involved, something else
• What were you hoping to get out of it, and did it work?

I’m trying to get a feel for whether this kind of thing is allowed/appropriate, and whether audiences actually scan it 👀

🎬 Riptide Film Festival Submissions Now Open

We’re now accepting short films (10 minutes or less) across all genres for the 2025 Riptide Film Festival.

📅 Submission Deadline: April 30, 2025

🎟️ Use code RIPTIDE2510OFF for 10% off your submission on FilmFreeway — limited time only.

• 📍 Submit here: https://filmfreeway.com/RiptideFilmFestival 
• 🌐 Learn more: https://riptidefilmfest.com/
• 📸 Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/riptidefilmfest/

🌟 About the Festival

In association with the Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation (TOCA), the 2025 Riptide Film Festival will be held on Sunday, August 31st, 2025, at the James R. Armstrong Theatre — a 500-seat venue in Torrance, CA.

• 🕚 Festival Hours: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
• 📍 Location: 3330 Civic Center Dr, Torrance, CA 90503

🎞️ The event will feature:

• 2 Screening Blocks: High School Shorts & Indie Filmmaker Block (names subject to change)
• Award Ceremony
• VIP Areas
• Concessions & Merchandise Sales
• And more!

I'm facing a dilemma with my upcoming short film.

While I could produce it on a zero budget, I'm at a career stage where I need my work to significantly advance my directing career.

With $10K (plus calling in substantial favours), I could achieve production value comparable to a $40K short.

My previous short suffered from limited budgets that compromised certain shots, and didn't perform well on the festival circuit despite my $12K investment—money I now realize wasn't optimally allocated.

Despite the lack of festival success it was picked up by ShortsTV and Nobudge.

This new script is dramatically stronger, and I need festival success to build credibility as I pitch my feature film project. I'm weighing whether:

1. The financial investment significantly increases my chances of creating a festival-worthy film that builds my directing reputation
2. I should explore zero-budget approaches that have still achieved top-tier festival success

Any thoughts?

I looked on past posts, and the most I saw for someone to get word back was 20 days. I applied (and paid of course) on the 24th of March and I'ved checked everyday since. The biggest issue for me is that the following months for me depend on possibility of attending Cannes , in terms of study, work and vacation.

Should I just assume I've been rejected? Or maybe approach directly through the "contact us" space, in case the long wait has been due to error (which has happened to me with other things)?

We've got some great news, as suggested by a reddit user, we are offering a 25% discount to all Redditers for the River Valley Film Festival submissions! We want to see your films, so get those submissions to us! We are still searching for the Opening Night Film as well.

We've got big announcements coming for our Jury next week (including an Academy Award Winner)! I'll be taking on the winning films to help with their next publicity need, whether that be release, other festivals, or awards campaign!

My career started with Dances With Films, doing publicity for them, then venturing on to their filmmaker liason, and Downbeats programmer. Then on to championing all things indie films, from festivals, DVD/VOD, theatrical releases, etc., then off to Phase 2 PR and Academy Award campaigns. I started the River Valley Film Festival, as it's my vision to create a place for indie film to really sprout and take it to the next level here in PA!

www.LycomingArts.org/RVFF

/ is it a bad look? Lol

What materials do I need? Press kit? Where does that press kit live? Does my film need an insta page? How do I go about marketing this? I’m solo and would love any advice, examples, or any other tips. Thanks!

Hi All,

My Narrative Short Film has been rejected so far from all the top tier festivals. :( I have gotten Into one regional festival so far Indy Film Fest... It looks like high profile fests are not in the cards for our project. Any suggestions on what festivals I should submit to for a 2nd round of submissions? I have been pre-selected for a major and high prestige short film festival, so I do think it has some legs... any thoughts or suggestions? This is my first festival submission run so... it's all new and it's hard. thank you!

Hi there,

First, I want to say thank you to everyone here for being such a great resource for filmmakers.

A couple weeks ago, I locked picture on my documentary feature and have been submitting to festivals with the "more is more" approach. I do have questions about the premiere status eligibility of a film.

Now, I understand completely it's a great (!) problem to have to been accepted into multiple festivals that may have competing or conflicting eligibility requirements. Still, I would like to hear some other filmmakers' perspectives on how they navigated this and approached the if-then part of submitting to festivals.

Thanks again!

Accepted into Indy Film Fest! 1st Acceptance for our narrative short film. Rejected from: Aspen, Cinquest, Santa Barbra International Film Festival, Beverly Hills Film Fest, Slamdance, Atlanta, Sundance and SXSW... so this is our FIRST acceptance... It really is a good short, it's gorgeous, the acting is fantastic, everything is so professionally done and I expected it to do so much better. My DP is from Indiana so I submitted to some Indiana Festivals so his friends and family can see... Only caveat is that I am waiting to hear back from Indy Shorts by Heartland, and although they don't REQUIRE premier status, I'm worried that they might cut me off completely because I had a screening in Indiana.
Only thing is I have no idea if I will get into Indy Shorts... and I have to let Indy Fest know by end of week if I am accepting. Any Advice??

Just curious what this means if today is notification date and they are requesting to download it even though I have it up to where they can watch it through the original submission?

Hey all, Festival Director for the River Valley Film Festival, presented by Lycoming Arts! We are working on our inaugural year presenting July 17-20, 2025 here in Williamsport, PA.

I've been working publicity for the past ten years, from indie films, festivals, releases of all kinds, and most recently Academy Award campaigns. I'm very passionate about the indie film industry as a whole, and am elated to bring you to my hometown!

We're currently in our Regular Deadline, get those submissions in now to be a part of our first year! We have an Academy Award winner on our Jury, to be announced soon!

If you have questions, AMA!

… versus 31% in 2022. We received 149 feature submissions, a record for us. We had a total of 622 submissions, down from 671 last year. 25% of all submissions came from international filmmakers, up from 22% last year. 61% of submissions were narrative shorts. 23 submissions were produced in Wyoming, the most we’ve ever seen.

Anecdotally, we received more genre films this year than previous years. “Movies About Movies” seemed to be a broadly popular topic among narratives this season. “Medical” documentaries seemed to be a broadly popular topic among non-fiction submissions this season.

Just thought y'all might appreciate a quick lay of the land in our corner of the festival world!

Hi all, I am very interested in Iowa City Docs, and it is very exciting that that are affiliated with the journalism department and have an academic base. I am wondering if folks have had an experience with the festival and how they perceive its reputation in the ecosystem of film festivals? The deadline for submission is passed but I’m interested for next year. Thanks for your thoughts!

Hello film-goers... We regularly visit different cities to enjoy their film festivals, and this October, we decided we will go to Bergen (Norway) International Film Festival. biff.no

It has been very challenging finding first hand experiences from people who have attended, and their website doesn't describe what the experience is like for visitors. So I thought I would ask a few questions here....

1. How far in advance of the Film Festival opening do tickets go on sale?
2. How difficult is it to get tickets (ie do they sell out the day they become available, or are most showings not sold-out)?
3. Are there long lines requiring being at the venue long before the showing to get a good seat? (I read that the venues have open-seating, so first-come-first-served for seating).
4. Is there an app for creating a film schedule? (I suspect not)
5. The website states "Please note that foreign credit cards are not accepted online". So how is someone from abroad who is planning on attending able to make purchases? Is there some kind of work-around? I did an experiment and was able to make a ticket purchase using a foreign credit card from the Bergen Kino app. I'm not sure if only films showing at the Bergen Kino venue can be purchased on that app.

Thank you if you know the answers to any of these questions!

Marc

Just in the midst of finishing my first feature (after many shorts - not Sundance/SXSW/Tribeca/TIFF/Cannes/etc, but respectable Tier 2 Oscar-qualifying fests and some awards). I have also played supporting roles on films that have played at these fests. We've started submitting this film to festivals a few months ago and so far....nothing.

I am fairly used to rejection at this stage in my career, but it's really starting to get to me after making what I believe to be the best film of my career. Beyond just the festivals, the difficulties we've had attaching a celebrity or big name EP to it, the difficulties getting distribution, etc. It feels like we can't even get a sales agent to so much as watch it without a festival premiere. It sucks even more to receive these rejections and setbacks and then have to pass the message on to crew, investors, etc who have similarly high hopes, as well as to friends and family who constantly ask how its going.

We've test screened it for audiences of strangers who have consistently given it high ratings (so not jut friends puffing me up or my own self delusion). I genuinely feel pretty lost & hopeless about what to do with this film that nearly killed me to make.

How do people pull themselves out of this funk?!?! I've been just dying for a "win"...anything....and it feels so hard to come by. I love filmmaking but I'm just really struggling right now to find joy in it when every day seems to bring another rejection and another humiliation.