The Golden Bear goes to....

(we were so close!)

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. There are thousands of film festivals in the world and the only thing that they have in common is that films shown in the festivals are selected by programmers. Mere mortals in other words, people like you and me. People with wildly differing tastes. I have produced films which have won awards at some film festivals while others will not even screen them. Anyone who has attended Cork, Kerry, Galway & Dublin film festivals will realise that each emphasises different values in filmmaking: animation, documentary, experimental, story, recognisible actors, production design, film vs video etc.

It can be tricky trying to find a festival that suits your film - and expensive to send it to all of them. Do some research. Some festivals have explanatory titles such as the Add A New Soundtrack To An Old Silent Movie Festival (www.4ff.it, deadline July 15th), Document 4 - International Human Rights Documentary Festival
(www.variant.randomstate.org/Doc4.html, deadline August 4th) and Norwich International Animation Festival (www.niaf.org.uk, deadline June 16th)

Here are some upcoming festival deadlines. Check websites for guidelines and application forms.

Cork Film Festival - www.corkfilmfest.org
deadline for entries: June 30th

Kerry Film Festival - www.kerryfilmfestival.com
deadline for entries: July 16th
(note: there is a €20 fee for Kerry)

Foyle Film Festival - www.foylefilmfestival.org
deadline for entries: September 4th
(note: Foyle accept digital formats for documentary only. All other categories, fiction, animation etc. MUST be screened on 35mm film print)

Boston Irish Film Festival - www.irishfilmfestival.com
deadline for entries: August 31st
(note: there is a $50 entry fee)

Aubagne International Film Festival - www.cineaubagne.com
deadline for entries: 30th October

Tags: Berlin Film Festival, film festivals, film festival deadlines