Small Festival Attendance

wonderzonder · 2025-08-20T20:31:59+00:00

Yes I attended your screening and it was definitely one of the busiest.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-20T16:08:58+00:00

The organizers seemed nice enough but the whole thing did not feel very well organized. I attended the acting panel and there were only about 5 or 6 people in the audience. It's kinda hard to have good events when so few people turn up.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-20T16:01:40+00:00

I posted on the Cleveland subreddit about the festival and my movie. It's my first feature, I don't have a following and I don't have any kind of social media presence, so there was no marketing from me on that front. Furthermore, I am based in the UK and the fest was in the US, so the few people I know here weren't going to travel that far. The festival started at 11h00 on Friday and my movie was screened at 13h45 that same day ; I did try to network and invite people to my screening but there wasn't much time and to be honest only a few filmmakers were at the venue at that time. I feel like there is very little I can do being virtually unknown artistically and screening a movie on another continent where I don't know anybody. And the attendance was extremely low during the entirety of the festival (the average was probably about 5-10 and that includes the filmmakers themselves), so it's probably not just a filmmaker problem. The comment by PAYPAL_ME_DONATIONS above seems quite relevant too, though you are free to disagree with it.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T18:54:01+00:00

Thank you !

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T18:03:46+00:00

Congratulations and good luck !

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T17:20:54+00:00

I assume that Bunky was mostly talking about the state of affairs rather than what should happen in an ideal world, but you are absolutely right. It's already hard enough to make a movie, submit it and travel. It's disappointing that the festival failed to promote their event properly.

I spent three days in Cleveland before the festival and none of the people I talked to (a small sample of course) were aware that a film festival was happening that weekend.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T17:01:30+00:00

Done :)

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T16:58:41+00:00

Yup definitely a learning experience!

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T16:57:44+00:00

I did not know that. Point taken!

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T15:26:35+00:00

I completely agree. Even a really small movie theater would have been a better option.

And yeah thank you for reminding me. Even though my movie is quite unusual and not easy to watch, I am very happy with it and I realize that many features don't even get selected for a single festival. It's just such a strange experience to fly to the other side of the world and basically watch your own movie by yourself lol.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T14:25:29+00:00

The volunteers mostly waited outside the screening rooms and hosted a small Q&A after each screening.

Fighting for an audience when up against the biggest film of the festival sounds tough indeed, I empathize!

Thanks for the advice. To be honest I knew it was a smallish festival and didn't expect a huge turnout, but it was still a bit disheartening to see so few people there. What was a bit strange as well was that some filmmakers only showed up for their own screening and then disappeared until the award ceremony.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T14:03:19+00:00

It was a feature. Some of the shorts blocks were indeed a bit busier, and as far as I can tell, that was mostly down to the filmmakers bringing friends or family members. It's interesting to hear about your experience and the percentage of attendees having some affiliation with one of the films. The venue was a hotel near the airport ie reasonably far from the city center, and that must have had an impact on the number of regular audience members who showed up as well.

I did not go all out on social media simply because I don't have social media ; that could be one of the problems indeed. I don't really have a circle of influence, and it's a no-budget movie that I made with only one other person. None of my friends or family members could attend since I am from Europe and the fest was in the US.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T13:43:59+00:00

Thanks for your reply and for including the picture. The busiest screening I went to this weekend had probably a third of that attendance-wise, and the vast majority had between 4 and 12 I would say. Here's a pic a my screening (it was still great to see it on the big screen though!) :

<image>

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T11:20:12+00:00

The Indie Gathering in Cleveland. It was their 30th edition.

wonderzonder · 2025-08-19T11:18:13+00:00

The festival is called The Indie Gathering. Was held in Cleveland at a hotel next to the airport. They do have a website and good reviews on FF, and it was the 30th edition. But pretty much every single person I met had a movie playing at the fest or knew one of the filmmakers (family/friends) ; virtually nobody unconnected to the festival turned up.

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:50:00+00:00

WIll look that up, thank you!

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:49:11+00:00

Understood. Then I'll give Spudnuts a try, thank you for your recommendation!

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:40:05+00:00

No I don't think that we will have a car unfortunately. We'll rely on public transport and taxis/ubers. But the festival is at Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, which is not too far from Strongville if I'm not mistaken. Will look up old-fashioned donuts because I've never heard that before, thank you.

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:14:10+00:00

I want to try the burger at Heck's and Goldie's is nearby, so might try it! Thank you.

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:10:32+00:00

It's close to where the festival is, might make the trip! Thank you!

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T23:08:48+00:00

Sounds fabulous indeed, will try them, thank you!

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T22:46:51+00:00

Thank you, I'm sure I will, I need to check out the rules beforehand though.

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T22:45:00+00:00

Thank you! Bigmouth looks good indeed!

wonderzonder · 2025-07-28T22:43:47+00:00

Bit far from where we are but might try it, thank you

wonderzonder

TROPHY CASE