Create Your Film Festival Strategy at NYFA
In the eyes of the international film industry, film festivals have long been the place to discover up-and-coming filmmakers and fresh talent in all the film crafts. At film festivals, new and emerging filmmakers not only get to experience their work with new audiences, they also can network among peers and industry professionals, learning from the very best in filmmaking.
The importance of understanding the festival circuit and its entry requirements is why New York Film Academy established the Film Festival Department.
The Department supports matriculated students and alums of NYFA’s long-term programs in order to:
- Determine if the film is ready to compete in the film festival world
- Develop a submissions strategy and list of festivals to submit to and attend
- Save money on entry fees
- Create effective festival deliverables (such as EPKs, trailers, and social media assets)
- Avoid the low-value film festivals, scams, and fake awards that prey on young filmmakers and waste their time and money.
Students and alums who have worked with the Film Festival Department have been selected by festivals such as Sundance, the American Pavilion at Cannes, BronzeLens, and the BFI London Film Festival. Films they made at NYFA have won, been nominated, or shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Film Awards, the Student Academy Awards, the Directors Guild Student Awards, and the College Television Awards.
How to Get Started
Please note: The completion of all the below steps is required to receive support from the NYFA Film Festival Department. Support is available to students and alumni of our long-term programs only.
We encourage all current students and recent alumni to watch the Film Festival Orientation at any time during their program. Due to high demand, however, personal consultations and the Advanced Film Festival Workshop are only offered to students and recent alumni in long-term programs with films made in NYFA courses. Thesis and intermediate films are automatically eligible for personal consultations. Students with first and second-semester films are required to procure a referral from their directing teacher and department chair.
Ready to develop a strategy for your film festival submissions? Follow these steps:
1. Sign up for the Film Festival Orientation.
The Orientation gets us all on the same page, providing you with an overview of how the festival world works, tips for developing a festival strategy and saving money on submission fees, information about the deliverables you’ll need once you get into festivals, and more. The orientation is available as a recording that you can watch on demand.
Click here to sign up for the recording.
2. Watch the Orientation and take notes.
Record your responses in the Post-Orientation form. You’ll get a follow-up email with a link to register your film with the Department.
3. Schedule your Personal Strategy Session.
You’ll fill out a Festival Strategy Questionnaire, then together we will identify what is unique about you and your film and determine the criteria for your film festival strategy. We’ll design a submission plan and build a spreadsheet you can use to do your research and make your festival list. Follow-up consultations help you refine your festival list, create a budget, and set goals.
4. Join the Advanced Film Festival Workshop.
Building a successful film festival run requires so much more than one strategy session. It takes time, research, patience, and resilience. Good news: this peer support group for students and recent alumni is a place where you can get ongoing support through the challenges. We workshop press kits, trailers, loglines, director’s statements, and prep filmmakers for their Q&As — everything you need to level up and be festival-ready!
For the best possible outcome for your film, it is crucial to go through all of the above steps. We look forward to working with you!
Meet Cricket Rumley, Head of the Film Festival Department at NYFA
Crickett Rumley received her MFA in Film at Columbia University and is the founder and senior director of the Film Festival Department at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. With diversity, equity, and inclusion at the center of her work, she develops educational programs and festival strategies for a diverse student body. She has guided filmmakers to official selections at festivals ranging from Sundance to Bronzelens and to nomination and shortlisting for the BAFTA Student Film Awards, the Student Academy Awards, and the College Television Awards.
A recent addition to the Film Festival Alliance board, Crickett regularly collaborates with a number of festivals. She is the Panels Director for Tallgrass in Wichita, Kansas, serves as a juror for the Forum on Life, Culture, and Society’s International Short Film Competition, and has hosted the Winter Film Awards International Film Festival’s Education Day on the NYFA campus in New York.
For more information on Crickett’s festival philosophy, please watch her Q&A The Road To Sundance: How Two NYFA Alums Crafted the Festival Run of Their Dreams.
Produced at New York Film Academy
Did you know that it is a time-honored and respected tradition for student filmmakers to place their school’s logo at the end of their film? Every year “Produced at New York Film Academy” is seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers on screens at festivals and awards around the world, demonstrating the profound impact that our students and alumni are having on the global film scene with their stories and their talents. We congratulate our filmmakers, their casts and crews, and celebrate their achievements!
Current NYFA students and recent alumni can reach out to their Post-production Department for access to the logos.