Super-8mm Festival Philosophy versus 35mm Festival Philosophy...

[Alex]

I've noticed that the high end 35mm, 16mm film festivals, and the high digital festivals, give the filmmakers additional time to send in a "final" version of their film even though they have already submitted a VHS video.

You can be accepted to a high-end film festival from your VHS entry, and then deliver a final, perfected version of your film on the format of choice before it is screened.

Perhaps it's in the interest of the film festival, and in the interest of the filmmaker, to show the best possible version of every film represented in the film festival.

Especially when you factor in that Movie Critics will give their "honest" opinon when they review a festival's films. It appears that the high end film festivals don't mind at all if the final version is better than the one that got the filmmaker into the festival.

And then there is Super-8 [img]confused.gif[/img] .

Sometimes Super-8 filmmakers are not afforded the same "luxury" as the 35mm & 16mm film festivals when it comes to submitting the "final version" for exhbiting purposes.

Can someone explain why it's OK for the "Big" film festivals to accept "final" versions of films after their submission deadline, but it seems that in Super-8, it that is done, it might be percieved as "cheating" or something that would be viewed as a negative?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 01, 2003 03:21 PM: Message edited by: Super-8mm in the DigitalAge ]</font>

[nahie]

A lot of it probably has to do with economics. Folks who shoot on 16 and 35 are usually looking for distributors, people who shoot on S8 are mostly doing it for fun. I know, a generalization, but that seems to be the way it is. So people with a lot of money invested in their 35mm film want to show the best version.

Also it seems you don't see many feature length S8 movies at festivals. I think a lot of festivals allow re-edits because at the time of submission, a lot of 16 & 35 feature films aren't even completed. Because of the lag in submission and showings, films can be completed and then shown, even if only a rough-cut is shown to the selection teams. Kinda crummy to screen rough-cuts to decide, but a lot of festivals have a hard enough time drawing submissions because the are a once-a-year deal.

[Alex]

That is an excellent explanation. The Super-8 Film and Digital Video Festival had an excellent compromise.

They pre-judge all the entries, and if you are a finalist, you can re-submit a finalized version. The judging is already over, so the real beneficiary of the improved version is the festival itself and those who attend.

I'm still kicking myself that the version that I submitted for judging was not as good as the final version that was screened.

It's a very long, technical story as to why, but at least the audience got to see the version I was happiest with.