by billnwmsu
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival: The Only Place Left for Real Independent Filmmakers to Go
If you’ve just overcome the hurdles of making your first independent film, the experience of finding festivals and distribution for your project can be incredibly daunting. The A-List festivals frequented by Hollywood’s Who’s Who are usually the first choices for an independent filmmaker. Unfortunately, they are also the most difficult ones for small independent films to be accepted into because of the high standards and politics that they employ in their selection processes. Most of the films that win awards and screen at the elite festivals are made either by so-called “specialty” divisions of the major studios, i.e. Warner Bros., Disney, 20th Century Fox, etc. or are represented by high power sales agency firms who specialize in getting their projects into these festivals to facilitate sales on them. Moreover, the major studios themselves are