<p>My son has just completed a fab documentary film, about 20 mins in length that he has been working on for the last year. Although he is only a sophomore in high school, it is really an amazing film- done with professional equipment, and on an interesting subject, with great visuals and very interesting interviewees (from all over the east coast). To my biased view, it is as good as many documentaries I've seen by established film-makers. Where would you suggest he submit this film? He is interested in competitions, festivals, and any other place that it might get shown. Any suggestions would be appreciated. He has submitted films and won at a local level, and he is now looking for something more national.</p>
<p>this nice lady who is a director of this joint came to public radio show and talked as if anyone can send in film… but wow, not that easy.</p>
<p>anyways, this is where snobby NYers go see really nice (and often obscure) documentaries that runs only about a week each and usually I 'd miss it by the time I get there.
more FAQs, I did not read all but maybe some other info could be found?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.filmforum.org/faq.html#17[/url]”>http://www.filmforum.org/faq.html#17</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38660[/url]”>http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38660</a></p>
<p>Many, many of the competitions for high school films are local in nature, but here’s a start:</p>
<p>[FLIFF</a> | Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival<a href=“deadline%20coming%20up%20soon”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.827filmfestival.com/]827”>http://www.827filmfestival.com/]827</a> Film Festival | High School Students Only<a href=“over%20for%20this%20year,%20but%20what%20about%202011?”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.trulymovingpictures.org/HighSchoolFilmCompetition/Pages/default.aspx]Heartland”>trulymovingpictures.org]Heartland</a> Truly Moving Pictures - High School Film Competition<a href=“also%20closed%20for%202010,%20but%20dates%20are%20posted%20for%202011”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.reelteens.org/home.htm]Reel”>http://www.reelteens.org/home.htm]Reel</a> Teens USA](<a href=“http://www.fliff.com/submission_highschool.asp]FLIFF”>http://www.fliff.com/submission_highschool.asp)</p>
<p>[Open</a> Directory - Kids and Teens: Arts: Filmmaking: Festivals](<a href=“http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/Arts/Filmmaking/Festivals/]Open”>http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/Arts/Filmmaking/Festivals/)</p>
<p>[NFFTY</a> - National Film Festival for Talented Youth | Seattle Youth Film Festival | Student Film Festival](<a href=“http://www.nffty.org/]NFFTY”>http://www.nffty.org/)</p>
<p>[Teen</a> Filmmakers : Sidewalk Film : AMIA](<a href=“http://www.sidewalkfilm.org/teen-filmmakers.html]Teen”>http://www.sidewalkfilm.org/teen-filmmakers.html)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.diyds.org/]DIYDS[/url”>http://www.diyds.org/]DIYDS[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Also check out httP;//<a href=“http://www.withoutabox.com”>www.withoutabox.com</a> They handle most film festival submissions, etc. Browse through and pick out categories.</p>
<p>Do not overlook local outlets. The public library is always looking for programs. Check out the local history society (if applicable). Check local public/community-access channels. The school board might be interested (my son showed one of his docs there). And do not forget National History Day as as outlet.</p>
<p>And, one of the things that I would suggest is for him to organize his own festival - or get another organization to organize it.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you! Great suggestions. He is involved in the local film festival, and on the organizing committee for the last few years. He has done well at National History and PTA reflections contests. He is submitting to FLIFF and Reel Teens- but I didn’t know about the others! Great suggestions! He has signed up for withoutabox.com, but I didn’t see a way to brouse. He was logging in to each festival, and then linking it to without a box. I’ll have to check that out again. Have you ever heard of the International Film Festival in Hollywood. We found that one online, but haven’t seen it mentioned in any film related sites. How about the Colorado festivals: Telluride, Boulder, Aspen, etc… Are they amenable to getting teen films?</p>
<p>scholastics changed its categories. save it and apply for 2011, in fall-winter, if college is the goal, it helps.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.artandwriting.org/AwardInstructions/art_categories.pdf[/url]”>http://www.artandwriting.org/AwardInstructions/art_categories.pdf</a></p>
<p>Seriously, about film festivals in general, don’t think it’s all about quality. It is all about the person(s) screening the entries. Many times, they may have a preconceived notion of what a “student film” should be - typically, a student film involves a lot of angst and centers around some clever gimmick or comic twist. Screeners are sometimes programmed around that notion and if a film doesn’t have that, then it’s rejected.</p>
<p>Also the longer a student film is, the less chance it has of being accepted (under 10 minutes is best). The reason for this is three-fold - especially for the larger festivals: (1) A screener has to make decisions on a lot of films and can go through more short films in the same amount of time as a longer one; (2) There is only so much “screen-time” at a festival. They can show three 10 minute films in the same time slot as one 30-minute film, and that weighs into decisions; and (3) see-above: longer films do not follow the typical student film mold of angst, twists, and gimmicks. Screeners get bored waiting for the “ba-da-boom” to hit.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the more “professional” a student film is, there’s a chance that people don’t then view it as a “student film.”</p>
<p>I know this doesn’t make sense, but I got quite an education over a couple of years watching my son’s group submit. Their 33-minute film was rejected by the little local-yokel festival, but went on to win “best-of” awards at several major festivals. Go figure. It was no coincidence that their biggest win (Grand Jury Prize at the Ivy Film Festival) was one which was judged by Hollywood directors and producers (who, presumably, were looking for quality). That win won them an invite to LA and some power lunches/dinners.</p>
<p>So don’t be discouraged by rejections. It’s not personal, and (surprise!) is not related to quality, exactly. It all depends on the person screening it, the value of the festival’s screen-time, and the type of student film the festival (and the audience) expects.</p>
<p>Thought I’d update you on what happened. Thanks to Digmedia, he did submit to FLIFF and his film won best documentary for the high school competition and was shown there last fall, with him in the audience. On the program that evening was Michael Moore, and he had an amazing interaction with him. Encouraged by that, he did a short fiction piece that has recently been accepted at NFFTY and the Lovett Film Festival in Atlanta. It is in consideration at several other festivals with notification dates later in the year. On Withoutabox there seem to be more and more festivals with either a high school or student category. Some have very reasonable entry fees. For a young film-maker, these have been such positive responses- it makes him even more enthusiastic about his filmmaking. Thanks for everyone’s advice!</p>
<p>maddenmd,</p>
<p>Hey congrats to your son! All of that sounds terrific… and thanks for posting this so that I could see this older thread. I’m a rookie in this whole field and I’m trying to learn quickly so I can offer help and advice to my younger daughter. Thanks for the info and thanks to Digmedia as well!</p>
<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>
<p>Wow! Like I said in another thread, your kid has everything needed to succeed.</p>