When it’s finally time to premiere a project at a festival, filmmakers might believe that the hard work is over.
“I know many directors that think…everything will come together magically,” says writer-director Maryam Keshavarz, whose feature films (including “The Persian Version” and “Circumstance”) have premiered at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals. “But you’re up against a lot of other films at the same time. You have to get people into your film.”
For independent producer and festival programmer Drea Clark, it’s paramount that filmmakers treat their world premiere as a “currency that has to be spent in the best way possible,” she says. “You have to get the most out of the press and sales possibilities and attention. You need to have a premiere plan.”
This is how filmmakers can make their big premieres as successful as possible.
Pre-premiere preparation
Often, filmmakers will be working on their movies up until the final hours before their project screens. That was the case for Keshavarz and her comedy “The Persian Version”; she admits that she and her team were color-correcting and subtitling the film “right down to the last minute” before it premiered at Sundance in 2023.
By that point, she’d already been speaking to journalists about “The Persian Version,” as she knew that many outlets were sending fewer people to cover the festival that year. “We showed the unfinished film to a select number of journalists before the festival started. I was doing interviews with the press before I got there,” she shares.
For Keshavarz, it’s essential that filmmakers pick the right PR and sales partners. She advises young filmmakers to “leave a part of their budget for that, because it’s an important investment. You don’t want to make the world’s best film and no one sees it.”
South by Southwest’s senior film and TV programmer Peter Hall suggests filmmakers get the word out about their project any way they can. Not only should they go to other screenings and events to promote it, but they can also take more creative approaches. “That could be hanging up posters on the street or handing out postcards,” Hall says. “We had a midnight horror film called ‘Bitch Ass’ a couple of years ago that hired a guy to dress up as the killer and play games against people, like he does in the film. Then, if they managed to beat him, they got a ticket to the film. It drove so much attention to the film.”
Filmmakers can’t just “roll in there and think that the work is already done,” says Keshavarz. “The most important aspect of making your film is the premiere, because you only get that once. It’s the one time to position the film to the press and introduce it to sales people.”
Check in with your festival to see if they have orientation events available. “We give the filmmakers a lot of information ahead of time and make ourselves available for all of their questions,” says Hall about SXSW. “We give them weekly emails leading up to the festival, which then become daily emails. These are packed with all of the information for their own films—start times, how a step-and-repeat works, how a red carpet works, how to opt your film into the screening library, how to get a publicist, etc.—as well as information about how to do other things at the festival—how the badge system works, how express passes work, how the conference works. We also hold in-person orientations in Austin, NYC, and L.A., as well as a virtual one for anyone who can’t attend those.”
Be your film’s best advocate
Of course, in order to get patrons and industry folks interested, filmmakers need to be able to speak about their project clearly and passionately. Before arriving at the festival, an elevator pitch and logline should be perfected; Hall says, “Definitely have talking points about the film in [your] head.”
When it comes to promoting their work, Keshavarz says that many filmmakers are already “predisposed to being very clear about why they’re making their projects, because they’ve had to do it every step of the way—from getting financing to convincing people to work below their rates.” She believes these points translate all the way through to the premiere.
But while a director might know exactly how they want to describe their film, Keshavarz says it’s crucial that “everyone on the team understands how to position and sell the film.” The cast and crew might have different stories and approaches for how to talk about it, but they need to be on the same page regarding its tone, message, and selling points, she adds, as they’re all helping to “give attention to something that no one’s ever seen before.”
What to expect at the premiere
No matter how big a film is, Hall says that directors “are always nervous in the lead-up to the premiere.” But no festival wants you to fail. In the case of SXSW, there is a tech-check about an hour before each premiere, where filmmakers can watch their movie in a theater and make any last-minute adjustments to the sound.
After everyone is seated for the screening, a representative from SXSW will introduce the film and invite the director onstage to speak briefly. “Sometimes this might just be, ‘I have nothing to say. I hope you like the film.’ Other times they’ll give a preamble,” Hall explains. “Then at the end, we’ll do a Q&A, which usually takes 15 minutes.”
He compares the premiere itself to a wedding day, as it usually “goes by really fast and you’re not necessarily going to remember every step of the process.” Filmmakers sometimes take their seats and watch the film alongside the audience, but Hall has also seen anxiety-ridden directors go for a drink at the bar before returning later for the Q&A.
Ultimately, filmmakers need to keep an open mind and be willing “to go with the flow,” Hall says. “That will make it a much better experience. Don’t stress out about it going perfectly. Everyone has different expectations going in. As long as you’re willing to ride it out, then you’re going to have a good time.”
