Without-a-clue about the needs of the industry, the online monopolists have sat back and reclined on average technology, building an empire with so much potential but never really fulfilling it.
Remember when online submissions became possible? We do. It was celebrated with flexible-keyboard-ready hands, praising a new online way: one upload, unlimited submissions, festival submissions ‘made easy’. It was an innovation that changed the way filmmakers thought about submitting and it still exists, but in the almost primary state that it was conceived in 12 years ago. Can you think what has happened in 12 years online? Can you think about where it could be now and what it could offer the industry if it had embraced our needs further? The FilmFestivalLife submitter will create smarter submissions for the future because we, the ones who designed it, have been trying to understand the needs of filmmakers and festivals these past 12 years and beyond. We get it.
What does a smarter submitter mean for filmmakers?
- A clean, usable platform which turns a traditionally painful job into what could almost be deemed as fun.
- A reliable database of film festivals which is a curated list of the biggest game-changes internationally, with up-to-date data and no dead bodies.
- The independent quality vs. quantity alternative.
- A shared documentation of your film festival success through searching for festivals, building and borrowing target festival lists, uploading your film, inputing film information, submitting to the festival and attending and rating it through your film’s track record.
Here at FilmFestivalLife, this is the beginning of a mission to change the industry’s vocabulary for film exchange. ‘Submitting’ is a an ancient term associated with offline which found its way online through natural progression and age-old thinking. ‘Suggesting’ is our understanding of the possibilities for online film exchange for the future. Over the coming weeks, tune in and let us unfold how Suggestions work on FilmFestivalLife.
But let’s take one step at a time. Today we are launching this new technology’s backbone. With Taos Shortz Film Fest as a pioneer of industry change, more festivals are going to follow in the coming weeks. Right now you can land on your profile, add a film, access a new gateway to your FILM PACKAGE and submit to Taos Shortz. Here is a quick how-to in 5 steps:
1. Add or access your FILM PACKAGE
2. Fill it
3. Check the PREVIEW
4. Find the (growing) list of festivals open for FFL submissions
5. Join-in early and help us spread the word
Drag one of these stickers into the sidebar of your blog, put it on your partners page or print it out and stick it somewhere. If you like us – get behind us. Help us suggest industry change.
More on the FilmFestivalLife Smarter Submitter for Festivals here
Read FFL festival stories
:: A talk with Jane Campion: ‘TOP OF THE LAKE’, Cannes, female filmmakers and Harvey Keitel
:: Ari Folman’s new road to ‘THE CONGRESS’: Filmmaking after his first major success
