PITCHING MY FILMS AT A DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL - WHAT I LEARNED
Attending Forum RIDM in Montreal to meet with distributors, funders and broadcasters
Last week, I attended RIDM in Montreal for the face-to-face meetings and to pitch my two projects. For those who don’t know, the face-to-face meetings bring together distributors, broadcasters, funders and film festivals from around the world to meet new producers and directors and learn about their projects in 15-minute speed-dating style meetings. A few of the representatives that were there included Nat Geo, CBC, Locarno Film Festival and Hot Docs, along with dozens of other industry folks and around 100 filmmakers.

Going in, I was taking this mostly as a learning experience (you can read about my expectations in this article here), but I was also hoping to make some connections that could help me make progress on funding my films.
The Forum (for filmmakers who weren’t part of the DocLab) lasted three days and included far more than face-to-face meetings. It included seminars, small roundtable meetings with industry representatives, and evening happy hours, including a final evening karaoke session during which I sang a searing (and likely terrible) rendition of What’s Going On by 4 Non-Blondes.
So what did I learn?
How to get into top-tier festivals? Be at these events
This was probably one of the most interesting takeaways I learned from attending RIDM.
There’s a common refrain from independent filmmakers on how difficult it is to get into top-tier film festivals. It seems to be an “insider” game, where it’s impossible to get in if you’re not connected to the festival in some way.
While there likely is some truth to that, especially in the case of festivals like Sundance, there is a way to get your film and name in front of festivals before you apply, and that’s to attend these events.
At RIDM, there were representatives from 23 festivals, doc labs and markets, including Berlinale Talents, Hot Docs, Locarno Film Festival, and Visions du Reel, all available for meetings with filmmakers and to watch the pitch sessions.
But beyond that, I learned something new. I had a brief chat with the programmer at Hot Docs, and she mentioned that they – and I assume a lot of other top-tier festivals – track films from very early in development for inclusion in their festivals once they’re complete, whether in 2 years or 5 years.
Now, think about how much more likely your film is to get into a top-tier festival if you put yourself out there at the earliest stage in your film, and programmers are aware of it, and then they continue to hear about it on a somewhat regular basis over the next 3 years, then you submit to the festival, rather than just put in a blind submission once you’ve finished the film.
This was a bit mind-blowing to me, and I’ll keep this in mind for my current and future films.
Another tip that can help you get into festivals – Sales agents and distributors have relationships with festival programmers who can help you with submissions and get you entry waivers for several festivals. Making a deal with a sales agent or distributor can save you thousands of dollars in festival submission fees and, maybe, help you have a better chance of getting in.
Now, it seems the best sales agents (and distributors) only take on between 4-8 films a year, so they can put their best efforts into your film, so it is highly competitive to get a sales agent. Every sales agent or distributor has a different process, but it seems like sales agents like to come on around the rough-cut stage, so keep that in mind once you’re in post-production.
My last film, #MoCrazyStrong, succeeded in getting into some upper-mid-tier festivals, such as Big Sky, MountainFilm, and Whistler Film Festival with cold submissions, but I will be changing my approach for future films.
Do your research on who you're meeting with
Know what they’re looking for, and make sure your project aligns with their interests. Not every distributor, production company, or streamer/broadcaster will be a good fit for your project.
As I had two projects I was working on, I also had to pick which project I would pitch to whom. For some distributors who might be a good fit for both my projects, I asked them which they may be more interested in.
Practice your pitch!
If you’re going to meet with people to discuss your project, make sure you’ve practiced explaining your film succinctly. I find it difficult to be brief, especially when I have yet to practice. I needed to ensure I dialled in the main premise of my films quickly.
15 minutes is not a lot of time, especially when you start with general introductions. The first part of the 15-minute meetings typically was spent learning about the person on the other side of the table – their role, how they work with filmmakers, what they’re looking for, a little bit of personal intros, etc. That left 5 minutes to discuss the film and share a quick teaser. Then, 5 minutes for questions or feedback from the person you’re meeting with.
Also, use your informal chats with other filmmakers to “practice” your pitch. If you can distill the essence of your film into two sentences (your logline, essentially), you can practice talking about your film when you meet other filmmakers.
A quick tip within the tip – the meeting room is quite loud, as everyone is in the same space. If your laptop doesn’t have good speakers (like mine), bring headphones for your presentation. I forgot, and the dialogue in my teasers was unintelligible.
I couldn’t design/print out postcards as leave-behinds before my meetings, but I did print out my decks for something to look at. I saw a few eyes open wide across the table from me as I brought it out, as I’m pretty sure few other filmmakers had something physical to look at.
International Co-pros are the way of the present and future
A lot of discussion at the festival revolved around international co-productions. A panel looking at the International Co-production between Ukraine, France and Canada for the film Intercepted was a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how they put together the film and the challenges they faced with financing the film, in particular, including Ukraine as a co-production company when, following the outbreak of the war, all the film funding that was previously available got re-directed to the war effort, making it extremely challenging to find the 10% minimum Ukraine funding to make it a Ukrainian film.
I’m looking to learn more about international co-productions this year, as my current film, Los Sotoleros, intends to be an international co-production.
Watch the pitch sessions
You can learn a lot about what makes a successful pitch by attending the live pitch sessions. I attended 3 sessions, including one for rough cuts and two for films in development. The most successful pitches were the ones where the filmmaker could articulate their connection to the story and why they were the ones to tell it. (PS – want help in articulating your connection to your film? Check out my course, Finding Yourself as a Documentary Filmmaker). Not all of these films were told through a personal lens, either. But their pitches demonstrated their very strong connection to the story.
Concluding thoughts
The most touching moment of the festival for me, a director and producer duo from Cuba was pitching their film about the bond their rural community in Cuba has with film and cinema, and why, even when daily life is so difficult in the country, telling stories is still so important. The only problem? They didn’t have a cinema camera to shoot the film. I wanted to give them my camera right there (although my camera was in Mexico)! So I was happy to see that on the last day of the festival, they were packing up a Canon C300 that they received during the festival so they could make their film.
Now that I have this experience under my belt, I feel more prepared for the next time I have the opportunity to attend a similar market (hopefully Hot Docs in the Spring!)