5 Filmmaker-Friendly Film Festivals for Indie Short Films

When it comes to film festivals, people tend to think of the biggest and flashiest—Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, Venice. Yet there are hundreds of other festivals ready and waiting to showcase your films! Here are five filmmaker-friendly festivals that go the extra mile to roll out the red carpet for indie filmmakers, and offer great opportunities for short films—and features, too. (I know because I’ve personally screened at all of them!)

1. Sedona International Film Festival – Sedona, Arizona

The only thing that beats the gorgeous views everywhere you look is the hospitality at the Sedona International Film Festival. In addition to providing free lodging for all selected filmmakers, they provide complimentary meals throughout the day in the Filmmaker/VIP lounge, screenings to large audiences with Q&As afterwards, and even set up interviews for filmmakers with local media outlets. Executive Director Patrick Schweiss goes out of his way to make sure that each filmmaker feels welcome and supported.

As their Film Freeway site says, “the filmmakers are our “STARS” and we treat them as such!” Couldn't agree more.

2. Julien Dubuque Internationl Film Festival – Dubuque, Iowa

The most enthusiastic audiences we ever found, after years on the festival circuit, were at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival. The town goes absolutely film crazy! In addition to screenings all around town (including at the absolutely gorgeous, historic Five Flags Theater), the festival provides Hollywood-quality red carpets, interview opportunities, networking parties, and events. The top three nominees in each category are provided travel and accommodations. All filmmakers can take advantage of the festival’s homestay program, where filmmakers are matched to stay with a trusted, local host family, and food is regularly available for filmmakers at various events.

Executive Director Susan Gorrell couldn’t be more welcoming and supportive and the town comes out in droves to support indie filmmakers. MovieMaker Magazine was right when it called Julien Dubuque “one of the top 50 festivals worth the submission fee.”

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3. Breckenridge Film Festival – Breckenridge, Colorado

There’s nothing quite like Fall in Colorado, hardly anywhere as picturesque to experience it than the quaint, mountain town of Breckenridge. This laid-back, inviting festival trades in red carpet gowns for sweaters and Uggs, and it’s such a refreshing change. Breckenridge Film Festival (Breck Film Fest for short) goes all out to make filmmakers feel at home. Every filmmaker is assigned a personal liaison—which are local residents taking time out of their busy schedules—to assist with everything festival related and to answer any questions that come up along the way.

Numerous parties and events are scheduled throughout the day with food and drinks, and the VIP lounge offers treats and beverages throughout the day. Filmmakers are also invited to not just watch—but be—on a number of different panels throughout the festival.

Breck Film Fest offers several unique categories that give both short and feature filmmakers the best chance of success—including dividing the narrative category into both Drama and Comedy for shorts and features, so your rom-com isn’t competing against a dramatic war epic. Other categories include Documentary, Animation, Adventure/Outdoors, Human Spirit, and even films by high school students—for both shorts and features.

4. Independent Filmmakers Showcase (IFS) – Los Angeles, CA

IFS is unique in that it offers not only the yearly film festival, but also multiple showcases for nearly every category under the sun—not only for traditional narrative and documentary films—but also Animation, Horror, Experimental Films, International Films, LGBTQ films, Student Films, Episodic Series, Web Content, Music Videos, Songs, 35mm projects, and even a competition for film trailers. There are also screenplay and teleplay competitions. It’s simply an amazing amount of opportunity to showcase both short and long-form independent work throughout the year, with many chances to win awards and cash prizes.

Not to mention, the festival takes place in the heart of L.A. at venues such as The Grove and L.A. Live, making it easy to invite industry professionals to screenings. An especially nice thing about IFS is that even though it’s in Los Angeles, it’s truly independent. The organization is funded completely through ticket sales and donations, without major corporate sponsorship or studio programming oversight, with profits going toward toward cinema restoration and future festival events.

5. Dances With Films – Los Angeles, CA

Dances With Films prides itself on being “defiantly independent since 1988,” first in Los Angeles, and now also in New York as of last year. The festival has a fantastic reputation for showcasing new, fresh, yet-to-be-discovered talent. (Although many past participants do not stay unknown for long.) Many of its submission categories do not allow the use of known actors, directors, writers, or producers, allowing innovative and lower budget work by new filmmakers to truly rise to the top.

As an additional bonus for short filmmakers, DWF offers the 2-Minute Short Film Challenge, where up to ten selected filmmakers produce two-minute short films using the latest technology during the festival itself. (I was lucky enough to participate two years in a row in 2011 and 2012.) It’s an unreal, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shoot and edit a film and then watch it with a packed house up on the big screen at the Chinese Theaters in Hollywood just days later!

DWF also qualifies a slate of shorts for Academy Award® consideration, stating that “…short films that premiere with us [Dances With Films] actually have a higher possibility of being Academy® qualified than most any other short film competition in the country.”

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So if your film didn’t make it into Sundance or Slamdance or [Fill in the Blank] Dance this year, don’t fret. There are plenty of opportunities to find audiences and network in smaller festivals that are truly motivated to help indie filmmakers. You never know where your journey might lead—we landed our first distribution deal for our feature not at Cannes or TIFF, but at a post-screening party at Breck Film Fest!

Wishing you the best of luck!