Film Festivals 🥳 and Facing Failure 😬
Why film fests (and what can we learn from the journey)?
Guacamole Yesterdays is officially done with its film festival run and there’s a lot to celebrate!
11 months!
11 festivals!
17 screenings (some festivals screen each film more than once)!
3 awards!
Sharing the film with 100s of film fans!
Meeting dozens of amazing filmmakers!
We decided long ago that our number one priority as filmmakers (and as human beings) was connection. We make movies to connect with fellow filmmakers, with cast & crew on set, and ultimately with the audience. So, given the choice between dropping the film on Netflix (not a real option) or screening the film at in-person events across the country, we’d always choose the latter. Our world has become so virtual that opportunities for human connection have become sparse.
This is where film festivals come in.
While you can probably count the number of film festivals you know on one hand (Sundance, Cannes, etc.), there are actually thousands of them across the world. While those big-name festivals are where splashy, movie star-driven deals are made, the majority of film fests exist because they deeply love the art of filmmaking and believe in its power to bring us together.
Film festivals have become about the only place that indie filmmakers can share their work with an audience. And, after spending YEARS (and tears) struggling to bring a movie to life, all we want is to share that movie with our fellow humans. And festivals encourage interaction between the filmmakers and audiences with Q&A’s, after-parities, filmmaker panels, and long conversations in the hallways.
Our experience sharing Guacamole Yesterdays with audiences has honestly been life-changing. People are connecting with this film in such personal ways. To go from writing the script by myself in my pajamas to talking to someone about how the film moved them deeply and sharing personal stories from their lives, it’s a dream come true.
We are so grateful to the directors, programmers, and volunteers at Rome International Film Festival, South Georgia Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Peaberry Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival, Macon Film Festival, Indie Street Film Festival, Georgia Film Festival, Footcandle Film Festival, and Gig Harbor Film Festival for having us out and treating us like kings and queens. Can’t wait to be back!
The Crushing Rejection
This is where most filmmaker blog posts would end. After all, the wins are a lot more fun than the losses. But because of that it can often feel like every other filmmaker is knocking it out of the park while you’re sitting there with a pile of rejections. The truth is that every successful filmmaker leaves a long string of failures in their wake.
With that in mind, I thought I’d share the data on what festivals we entered and which ones we did (or did not) get into with the hope that it helps other filmmakers feel a little less alone.
With Guacamole Yesterdays we entered about 40 festivals across the course of a year-long festival run and got into 11 of them. That’s about a 27% success rate, and honestly, I’m pretty thrilled with that figure! Our first film, This World Alone, did even worse with roughly 18%.
By the way, if you’re looking for film festivals to enter, this list is a great place to start! I love all of these festivals and would enter all of them again. I don’t envy the incredibly difficult decisions festival programmers have to make. There are an infinite number of reasons (unrelated to the quality of your film) why a movie doesn’t get chosen. It could be they already have a similar movie, it could be they need to fit in a film from a friend or alumni, it could be they want a more diverse line-up or want to reward local filmmakers or films that tackle specific subject matter or add more films with stars in them, the list goes on.
Yes, each rejection is still painful, but maybe a tiny bit less painful each time around. Some of these fests even sent us feedback from screeners who loved the film but just couldn’t find a spot for it.
I’d love to hear from the filmmakers out there what your percentages are (and share your favorite fests)! The more we can share this stuff transparently, the more we can learn and grow together and create a community of empathy and mutual support.
Takeaways for non-filmmakers (and I guess filmmakers too):
Know what you want (what you really really want). Whatever your big dream is, make sure you ask yourself why you’re doing it. Generally, “money,” “fame,” or “wouldn’t it be cool” isn’t enough motivation for a long journey. Frodo would’ve given up at the edge of the Shire for “wouldn’t it be cool.” Think about what you value most in life. How is this dream serving those values? Most things in life are hard. If you don’t have a really good “why” behind what you’re doing, it’s very likely that dream will beat you up and spit you out.
Embrace failure as part of the process. If you are failing at a particular dream, it doesn’t mean you aren’t meant to do this thing, it just means that you are doing something brave and challenging and meaningful. Brave, challenging, meaningful things are not easy. If they were, everyone would be doing it. Wear your failure as a badge of honor. When most people are sitting at home doomscrolling (hard to fail at that), YOU ARE DOING THE THING!
Learn to be choosy with your swings. We entered 60 festivals with This World Alone, many of them were major festivals we had no chance of getting into (*ahem, Sundance*). We were essentially throwing money in the trash and setting ourselves up for failure. With Guac, we did our research, we asked fellow filmmakers for advice, we revisited festivals we previously attended, in other words, we set ourselves up to succeed. Sundance Film Festival gets over 14,000 film submissions every year, only accepts 200 of them, and the majority of those are reserved for films with big movie stars or existing connections. Entering Sundance is like swinging when the pitcher throws it to first base. Whatever your “Sundance” is, don’t enter Sundance.
Whatever your dream is… keep moving forward. ✌️
– Hudson
Guacamole Yesterdays is the new grounded sci-fi feature film from the creators of This World Alone. The film follows a heartbroken woman who turns to an experimental technology that allows her to revisit and manipulate her memories to navigate her pain. Struggling to find a balance between her current reality and the joys of her past, she must decide if she’s willing to confront the memories that hurt the most.