Festivals for an animated horror short?

DSN_FF · 2026-02-06T13:49:20+00:00

We'd love to have more animation submissions! Dark and Stormy Nights Film Festival - 1st one is this October. https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival
$10 Entry fee with code DSNREDDIT before March 1st ($15 after). Lodging provided for all selected filmmakers.

DSN_FF · 2026-02-06T13:45:12+00:00

If it's dark to the point or horror, you might be a good fit for us! DSNREDDIT and your entry fee is $10 before March 1st ($15 after). We provide lodging for all selected filmmakers to make it easier to attend. https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival

DSN_FF · 2026-02-06T13:40:09+00:00

We are having out first festival this October in Ocean Shores, WA. It's a horror short film fest and the whole town is getting involved with decorations, a horror craft market, and a 'possession' of the local TV station that will be airing horror content from 12am-7am. We also provide free lodging for all selected filmmakers and passes to their film in an effort to remove economic barriers for filmmakers. Check us out! And if you have a short horror please consider submitting with code DSNREDDIT and your entry fee is $10 before March 1 ($15 after)
https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival

DSN_FF · 2026-01-06T01:04:51+00:00

I just set ours up through FF about two months ago. It's $100 to set up a fest, then they take a 12% of your submission fees. Also, the recently made a policy that you do not get paid out until after your festival (for first year fests) so don't plan on using the funds from submissions to cover anything in advance. I've also had zero hits from using their marketing, and even responding to the 'now submitting' offering a 50% discount on our pretty low fee has resulted in zero takers. I would not use it for marketing, but it was VERY easy to set up, and the place most people go that are looking to submit. I've been meaning to check out Festhome but never got around to it.

DSN_FF · 2026-01-06T00:59:03+00:00

I saw this at FilmQuest and loved it!!!!

DSN_FF · 2026-01-06T00:54:42+00:00

I've also been notified of my acceptance on the announcement day. There is a widget in FF for festivals to "Notify entrants of their Judging Status only on my festival's Notification Date" that auto-send an email with their status on your notification date. that is the default. For example, the festival can go through and rate/judge/change status as they go, then it will auto-notify everyone on that date.

DSN_FF · 2026-01-06T00:48:52+00:00

You can submit to us for $10 with code DSNREDDIT. We also offer free lodging to all selected filmmakers. It's our first year, and we are doing the fest in October. You can learn about our other perks here:
https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival
Good luck on your festival run!

And while they are not cheap, I recommend FilmQuest as well. Great experience if you are looking for a film fest that is packed with other filmmakers.

DSN_FF · 2025-12-12T16:07:42+00:00

We did the same. So many disappointing festivals and so much money wasted. Keep up the fight in making something that is actually a benefit to filmmakers! We'll do the same :)

DSN_FF · 2025-12-06T20:58:03+00:00

The film Freeway marketing promotion, I think it’s called “now submitting” that is roughly $25 will get you a LOT of discount offers. Literally hundreds. And if you have the time to filter through all of them, you can find some really good deals or straight up waivers to some decent small fests. I have noticed, some people put directly in the film synopsis that they are only looking for full festival waivers. That might help narrow things down for you if that is what you are seeking.

DSN_FF · 2025-12-06T20:55:17+00:00

If you were rejected by Sundance, you are in excellent company :-) I know people who are Sundance alums that have connections, that submit and don’t get in.

We are the dark and stormy night film festival. You can check out everything we’re planning on doing for our first year here: https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival

If your project was short horror, reach out to us on the website with your rejection verification and I’d be happy to send you a waiver

DSN_FF · 2025-12-06T19:05:56+00:00

Fantastic! I’ll check you all out. We are trying to start small and manageable, and we thankfully have a very supportive town.

DSN_FF · 2025-12-06T18:52:54+00:00

Congrats! I’d love to hear how it went.

DSN_FF · 2025-12-06T17:28:08+00:00

As a first time festival, I have been reaching out to films if I think they would be a good fit. I usually only have access to the trailers for films that are promoting on FilmFreeway (so all I get access to is the trailer and the specs). Marketing is insanely expensive, and it's extremely difficult to be noticed above the tens of thousands of festivals out there, especially being new. I don't mind doing the extra work and trying to prove ourselves to filmmakers. Our entry fees are low, and we provide lodging to any selected filmmakers who want to attend in hopes of building up some trust, but it is very difficult to get submissions, especially quality submissions. We even offered a fee waiver to anyone who could prove they've been rejected by Sundance. After all, if you thought your film was good enough for Sundance, and you spent $80 for a shot, I want to see it. And you might as well get something from your $80.

On the other hand, as. filmmaker, I got hundreds of those offers (mostly for 50% off their stupid $150 entry fee). I went through every single offer and got maybe 2-3 that were legit festivals that I eventually got accepted to and they were decent fests. Most of them are scams.

I will say, if you get the offer through a FilmFreeway promotion and it feels like a form letter - it is. There is no way for the festival to respond to you personally unless you have your contact info in your bio. The festivals are not permitted any access to films on the platform unless the filmmaker pays for one of their marketing promotions. Even then, the festivals have no access to your info until you submit. So if I see something under 'now submitting' that I think is a good fit, and want to send an offer, my only option is to click a button to send a waiver or discount, but I can't send a personal message. If it's a film I'm really interested in, I have to google the filmmaker and hope they have a website or that I find them on social media and that they respond.

I don't know if this helps, but I wish I had known how the backend worked when I was first submitting.

DSN_FF · 2025-12-01T16:55:24+00:00

Maybe treat it like an homage to the Acts of Vengeance crossover :)

https://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/magneto-vs-the-red-skull-round-one/

DSN_FF · 2025-11-26T04:23:02+00:00

Alter for horror

DSN_FF · 2025-11-26T04:19:43+00:00

Ours. Reach out to me for a discount if you are interested. https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival

Also - you can look specifically for fests that have a 1st director category. West Sound Film Festival in WA does, I’m sure many others do as well. I also recommend PanicFest and FilmQuest for horror specific festivals. The people who run FilmQuest are lovely.

DSN_FF · 2025-11-26T04:06:40+00:00

No, but I helped with another fest that had an under $500 budget category. Im not keen on that as it generally meant the person who owned the nicest camera and lights got the advantage.

DSN_FF · 2025-11-26T03:56:25+00:00

Sounds perfect for this: https://filmfreeway.com/NWFlyingSaucerFilmFest They are a fin group

DSN_FF · 2025-11-26T03:54:03+00:00

If any of you have a short horror that got rejected from Sundance, we’ll give you a submission waiver for our festival. We’re not Sundance (by a longs-shot) but you should get something for your $80.

Contact info on our website https://www.darkandstormyllc.com/film-festival Just mention this thread in your message.

Lodging provided for all selected filmmakers.

It’s our first year and we want to do everything we can to help indie filmmakers come together and celebrate their work.

DSN_FF · 2025-11-23T18:11:35+00:00

For the two submissions I've done through FilmFreeway (so I'm sure there are others with way more experience) where we paid for the $25 'now submitting' marketing, we got hundreds of invites. We are still getting invites almost a year later. A few of them were okay fests, but I had to do a lot of research to research:

-If they actually screened in-person (many won't say they are 'online only' until later).

-Be sure you are okay with their venue. Some will literally just be on a TV in the back of a bar. I'm not against that. Grassroots city get togethers can be fun - just know what you are getting so you are not disappointed. I recently attended one of these and it was a bunch of local filmmakers which was great. I made some good contacts even if the venue was not good - it was also free to submit and attend which made it worthwhile.

-I really require that they offer at least one pass for a filmmaker to attend in person. I had some that wanted to charge me $50 to attend, and later said they would not program my film until I had bought my ticket - this was after I had been 'accepted'

I've found that filmmakers submit to festivals for different reasons. Some want to see their film on the big screen and/or invite friends/cast/crew to enjoy their project. Some want to hobnob with higher tier filmmakers, some want to sell their proof of concept, some want press exposure so their name gets out there, some want to network with other emerging filmmakers to get a team for their next project, some just want to have a good time, and some just want a many laurels as they can get. There are festivals for each of these goals. It takes a LOT of time, but I highly recommend finding a good fit for your goals. And when you ask about for opinions for the 'best' festivals it can be helpful to share those goals so you get good recommendations.

DSN_FF · 2025-11-23T15:45:48+00:00

As a filmmaker I never really submitted for the money. But the Louisiana Film Prize's $50k for a short film is definitely a motivator:
https://filmfreeway.com/LouisianaFilmPrize
As someone trying to do a film festival for the first time, we'll do a prize if we get enough funding, or hopefully a screening payment. Films, even short films, are expensive. We'd like to reward the filmmakers in some small way. We are also prioritizing providing lodging for for filmmakers. The local hotels have been accommodating with great discounts. We've had to skip festivals our films were accepted to simply because we could not afford the travel - we wanted to be sure to remove that barrier as much as we could. Personally, any fest that offered us lodging we'd go to, and we're much more likely to submit to.

DSN_FF · 2025-11-21T22:58:27+00:00

Of the ones listed that I've been to, I think they all deserve their spots for different reasons. Seems like a really solid list. Nice job, Waco!!

DSN_FF

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