“at film festival secrets, chris holland provides Dead-on, thoughtful advice from a seasoned pro."
-Lynne Hansen
writer/director of Chomp
-Lynne Hansen
writer/director of Chomp
Chris Holland, author of Film Festival Secrets & 20-year veteran of film festivals, journalism, marketing, & distribution
"Chris's comments on my film were spot on and complete, his suggestions not only make perfect sense, but are, just as importantly, do-able. What I needed most at this point was an informed and objective viewpoint, and I got it. And on top of objective, Chris managed to be most encouraging, too."
- Chris Parker
Noir Prefers the Shadows
"Chris Holland really knows his stuff. He's a professional – he knows film, he knows marketing, he knows festivals . . . and he's also a really nice guy."
- Kristjan Knigge
The Right Juice, Second Honeymoon
"Totally impressed! . . . So helpful having the benefit of Chris's knowledge of the festival world. Has saved me lots of time and undoubtedly lots of money otherwise spent applying to the wrong festivals."
- Jody Vernon
The Painted Mara
If you’re serious about distributing your film, about it reaching audiences beyond your living room, it’s in your best interest to advocate for a film publicist in your line budget.
There’s plenty to get excited about when you’re headed to a film festival, and there are plenty of ways to ensure you’ve checked every box on the Festival Marketing Musts checklist in this article. Covering these bases is the best way to get local audiences interested in your film and keep them in the loop for its future success, too.
Wherever you are in the production or release of your film, you should already be marketing it. Build your audience now so when you announce that first screening, they’re all clamoring to buy tickets. After all, making a film is only half the battle. The other half is finding people who want to see it.
![]() | The Better Film Festival Submissions Toolkit has a very simple purpose: to help you improve the way you submit your work to film festivals.
Divided into 7 core tasks with a discussion of each task, the 16-page Toolkit is designed for quick reading and gives you concrete, actionable tasks to make your film submissions package better. Best of all, you'll get the insight you need to better understand what programmers look for and how to submit with confidence. |