Why Your Film Didn't Make the Cut: Film Festival Rejections

To a filmmaker, student or otherwise, it is the final step to have your film shown in a Film Festival. It's where anybody can show their work and take it to "the people". Suppose you get to that final step and for some reason your submission receives a rejection letter. Here are some of the reasons why.

The most common are the most obvious. Missed deadlines can be avoided by either mailing and/or emailing in enough time for your submission to be received and hopefully a confirmation will be obtained. If you are using snail mail for your submission, spend the extra cash on priority delivery. Also get a tracking number on the package so you can follow the progress of its delivery. Other obvious reasons for rejection are the following. A missing entry form and any releases that you need signed will definitely get your film kicked back. They need all pertinent information and fees at the time of submission or you will get a rejection letter.

Your film must be in the proper format; some will require disk format while others will require VHS or Beta. Some guidelines are very specific to a demographic of people. Seattle Film Festival has a submission specifically for Young Adult Films. Some are specific to a culture or nationality, such as Asian film festivals or Black film festivals

Other Festivals will be specific to subject matter such as Science Fiction, or Foreign Language films. If the demographic or subject are not a match for the festival, you will get a rejection.

Many film festivals will have very specific times for their short films. A short film varies in time requirements and time requirements are adhered to strictly so be very careful not to exceed the required time. Short Films have a wide range of time lengths; some can have as much as 40 minutes while others will be 7 minutes or less. Also be careful not to miss a step. Some submissions will required info be emailed AND mailed by post, so make sure you understand all the steps that are listed.

There are situations where films get rejected because of a censor objection. An example of this would be the Auckland/Wellington Film Festival in July 2002. The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) tried to get a temporary suspension of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" Be aware that if your subject matter is too violent or sexual in nature it may come under the censor's eye. There are film festivals where this is not necessarily a consideration. Once again, knowing where to submit your type of film can be very helpful.

After reading Marc's rejection letters, I found that in many cases the festival had a huge number of entries and ended up rejecting entries after they had accepted the films they had time to see. After reading a few of these rejection letters, it would seem that the deadline date is not the best time to submit. The question to ask would be, "how early can I submit?", and then have your film ready for submission by the earliest possible date. In many cases the rejection letters themselves are very encouraging and supportive. It is important to understand that a rejection letter is not necessarily a rejection of your film. Marc's rejection letters are certainly a testament to that.

There is the rare case of venues being created as a result of film rejections. This link has a Salon that is based on the films rejected from a festival. In another case there is this website which is devoted to a documentary film made chronicling the process of submitting a film and having it rejected. It would seem that there is art to be found even in rejection.

You must be proactive about your film and remember to call and check the status of your film packet arrival. It is hard to know when you are bugging people, but it is reasonable to check and get confirmation of the arrival of your film. Remember, it is all in the details. The aspiring filmmaker must understand that there will be rejections along the way. As a matter of fact, there could be quite a few rejections. Just keep submitting your film and eventually you will get your first acceptance.