Rectify, The Addict and Ordinary Angels all received a warm reception at STIFF. Rectify was given the award for best dialog which was fun and unexpected.
For my first festival experience is was good but I do question the value of paying to submit my film so it may or may not be shown to a small number of people. (For the record STIFF entry was free for local filmmakers.) With the current state of technology and new media distribution I think the importance of traditional film festivals is lessening. This is especially true for short films. The reality of making a short film is that at best it is a calling card for future projects, otherwise it’s just an good practice. Feature films still have a chance of benifiting from “doing the festival circuit” but I think there is much more oportunity for short films online. That said, I think I will limit the number of festivals I submit Rectify to the ones that I have a posiblity of attending. Spending $40 or $50 to send my film accross the county so a few dozen people, that I will never meet, can see it doesn’t seem to make much sense for this paticular project.
