Wednesday 16 November 2016

Film festivals -- how often did they access Anna Unbound via filmfreeway?

This is the nerve-wrecking time for the filmmaker when you submit your film to festivals. I was curious if I could find out if/how often they actually accessed the film.

I've submitted mostly via film freeway and when you check out the vimeo stats you see in the "embedded" section the following links (press the "+"):

filmfreeway.com/submissions/2289452  0 10

which means the festival has loaded the video 10 times. The plays (the 1st column) are often not registered so it's not possible to find out if they have actually watched it. In the old vimeo layout that was pretty easy to do and I recommend using the old vimeo stats.

The number 2289452 is the code of the festival. How do you find it out? Just go to filmfreeway and list your submissions. Then do "view source" and search for that number:

<div class="accordion-column truncate">Geneva Film Festival</div>

In this example it's the Geneva Film Festival.

I've written a Python script to associate the number with the list of festivals. The result is this one (remember these are the loads not plays):

British Independent Film Festival    1 ( only access after they've announced the selection )
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival    4
IFS FILM FEST - Independent Filmmakers Showcase - Beverly Hills / Santa Monica / Los Angeles (L.A.) IFS LA FILM FEST    2
New York Los Angeles International Film Festival (NYLA)    0
Take Two Film Festival    2
ZERO Film Festival-  Los Angeles    1
NEW YORK CITY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - NYCIFF    1
Manhattan Film Festival    4
New York City Independent Film Festival    10
RxSM Self Medicated Film Expo    3
London Independent Film Festival    1
Sehsuechte    1
Liverpool Lift-Off Film Festival    2
London Lift-Off Film Festival    8
Newport Beach Film Festival    watched offline
USA Independent Film Festival    0
Athens International Film and Video Festival    4
Cardiff Independent Film Festival    5
6th Annual Queens World Film Festival    6
Pasadena International Film Festival    1
Geneva Film Festival    10
DC Independent Film Festival    6
ÉCU - The European Independent Film Festival    3
SNOWDANCE Independent Film Festival    3
International Filmmaker Festival Of World Cinema London    2
Manchester Film Festival    1
Los Angeles Movie Awards    1
Kansas City FilmFest    14
Portland International Film Festival    3
Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival - HRIFF 2016    2
Chicago Underground Film Festival    7
Winter Film Awards Indie Film Festival    2
SYDNEY INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL    1
Cine Pobre Film Festival    0
North Hollywood CineFest    14
Irvine International Film Festival    5
FirstGlance Film Festival Los Angeles    0
California Women's Film Festival (Winter)    1
Pune International Film Festival    1
Boulder International Film Festival    1
Sonoma International Film Festival    0
Sedona International Film Festival    4
New Hampshire Film Festival    3
Omaha Film Festival    2
Bronx International Film Festival    1
High Falls Film Festival - Rochester, NY    18
San Luis Obispo International Film Festival    12
San Francisco Independent Film Festival    2
Victoria Film Festival    2
Columbus International Film + Video Festival    1
The Valley Film Festival (Los Angeles)    6
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival    2
Independent Days International Filmfestival    0
SoCal Film Festival    2
Sunscreen Film Festival    5
Big Apple Film Festival    0
Berlin Independent Film Festival    2
Oxford Film Festival    16
Whistler Film Festival + Summit    0
Palm Springs International Film Festival    5
Ottawa International Film Festival    2
TORONTO AFTER DARK: Horror, Sci-Fi, Action &amp    0
Dublin International Film Festival    0
Mill Valley Film Festival    2
Hollywood Film Festival    15
New Orleans Film Festival    2
St. Louis International Film Festival    1
Nashville Film Festival    4
Cleveland International Film Festival    9
Atlanta Film Festival    1
Screamfest Horror Film Festival    0
Dances with film    6
Las Vegas Film Festival    5
Seattle Transmedia + Indie Film Festival    7
Toronto Film week    1
Film Festival Kitzbuehl    2
Lower Eastside film festival    3
FilmQuest    8
San Francisco Greek Film Festival    4
NewFilmmakers NY    4
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles    7
Oldenburg International Film Festival    6
Revelation Perth International Film Festival    2
The Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival    4
International Film Awards Berlin    4



Note that a load is also probably generated when a festival just does their admin (sending out the rejection letter etc). Still they could watch it and then make a decision straight away. As you know usually festivals watch the film and make a decision later (= 2 loads min). Let say in conclusion that festivals with loads 0 and 1 are the ones to avoid.

Plus Black Nights never watched it by just looking at the vimeo stats directly. I complained. Then they watched it and trashed Anna Unbound.

However apart from a couple-ish of black sheep overall most festivals did a very thorough job!

Beyond the stats in terms of communication (and attendance!) I have very positive memories of these festivals:

North Hollywood Cinefest
London International Film Festival
Palm Springs
Film Quest
Newport Beach Film Festival
Berlinale
6th Annual Queens World Film Festival
The Valley Film Festival (Los Angeles)

Dances with Film,
New Filmmakers NY
New Filmmakers LA
International Film Awards Berlin
Southend by Sea Film Festival
Berlin Independent Film Festival 

Thessaloniki Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival