Now available! Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers, a new book by festival veteran Chris Holland. Every year thousands of filmmakers like you unleash their newly completed movies upon the film festival circuit. Whether you're a first-timer with a comedy short or a seasoned veteran with a documentary feature, you all face the same set of problems. You all ask the same questions. You all want the pleasure of seeing your film play before a festival audience and gain the recognition it deserves.

This is your book.

There are three ways to read the book: the print edition, the downloadable PDF, or online. You can also download the first two chapters as a PDF for free.

Film Festival Secrets will help you:

  • • Select the right festival for your film
  • Prepare your festival screener
  • Save money on festival fees
  • Create marketing collateral
  • Craft a screening sell-out plan

- and more!

"Chris Holland's advice on navigating the film festival circuit is invaluable." - Brian Udovich, co-producer of The Wackness and All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

"As a film festival programmer who has also been a filmmaker, I can honestly say that this book succeeds where so many others have failed in terms of describing the realities of the festival circuit." - John Merriman, Austin Film Festival Programmer

“Going into the game forewarned can help you create a better plan of attack and make decisions that are best for you and your film. ‘Film Festival Secrets’ can steer you on the right path. I highly recommend this book.” - Dan Masucci, Fountainhead Pictures

Ready for a copy of your very own? Buy it direct from the publisher or buy it on Amazon. The electronic version is available as a PDF for $10.

More praise for Film Festival Secrets:

 

"Phenomenal! Film Festival Secrets asks and answers all the right questions. The most comprehensive, knowledgeable, and informative guide to the festival circuit to date." - Adam Roffman, Program Director, Independent Film Festival of Boston

"Chris offers valuable insight, practical advice, and unguarded feedback from a collective braintrust of festival insiders." - From the foreword by Gabriel Wardell, Executive Director, Atlanta Film Festival

"I'd like to buy the world a Coke. I'd also like to buy every filmmaker who submits to Sundance and not Slamdance a copy of Film Festival Secrets." - Drea Clark, Executive Director, Slamdance Film Festival

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.

Download it for free.