{"id":49988,"date":"2015-05-12T11:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=49988"},"modified":"2015-05-12T10:05:42","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T15:05:42","slug":"how-to-avoid-film-festival-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-film-festival-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Film Festival Rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rejection is a brutal reality in any creative industry. Fortunately, there are steps filmmakers can take to avoid film festival rejection.<\/h2>\n

Getting into a festival (especially a major) is a huge challenge to say the least. Even with all the competition out there, you still have a shot…you just need to tell your story in a way that\u00a0is conducive to a festival acceptance. Below, I’ll outline\u00a0my top 3 reasons that your film might face film festival rejection.<\/strong> Next time around you’ll know what NOT to do!<\/p>\n

You Submitted\u00a0a Genre Film to the Wrong Festival<\/h3>\n

\"Avoid
\nImage from It Follows courtesy of It Follows Film.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Genre films (horror, sci-fi, etc.) are very often created by filmmakers on a very tight budget, as they are typically easier to sell when compared to dramas or comedies. As such, there are staggering amounts of genre films finished every year and a great deal of them are subsequently\u00a0submitted to major film festivals. The problem is, there are only a small handful of\u00a0spots for a genre film at any of the majors. <\/strong>Of course, sometimes it works out. The small 2015 horror film It Follows<\/a><\/em><\/strong> found acclaim at Cannes and went on to mainstream success. Indiewire’s<\/a> Eric Kohn<\/a>\u00a0covered the film’s rise<\/a>:<\/p>\n

At the movie’s world premiere in Cannes, a programmer introduced “It Follows” as a blend of the atmospheric classic horror movies of Jacques Tourneur (“I Walked With a Zombie”) and the metaphorical coming-of-age elements of John Carpenter.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n