Festival Strategy Kit

🎯 Shape your film for festivals from the first idea, not after picture lock.

🔍 See only the festivals that programme your kind of film, from fiction and documentary to animation, genre and experimental.

💷 Plan your spend before you submit anywhere, and learn how to ask for fee waivers.

🏆 Protect your premiere by submitting in the right order.

📅 Keep every deadline, fee and result in one place.

• Four step festival positioning method

• Audience map and comparable films worksheets

• Festival research card and logline rewrite worksheet

• Production promo checklist and opening scene check

• Festival scoring system and submission waves planner

• Premiere rules explained

• Budget planner and fee waiver email template

• Red flags checklist for fee collecting festivals

• What to do when you get selected

• Notion tracker with 170+ festivals and 6 views

• Printable tracker

The Festival Strategy Kit is for directors and producers making short films or features in fiction, documentary or animation. It's most useful while you're developing or shooting your film, but it works just as well if your film is finished and you're ready to submit. It's the same process we use at Cinora on our own films, including our feature documentary Thrawn.

After you buy, you'll get the PDF guide straight away. The first page links to your Notion tracker. Create a free Notion account, click Duplicate, and it's yours to use on every film you make. Deadlines and fees aren't included because they change every year. The tracker has a place for each one, and the guide shows you where to find them.

The tracker is hosted on Notion, a free to use online software. The guide walks you through setting up a free account.

The Festival Strategy Kit belongs to Cinora. You can use it on as many of your own films as you like, but you can't share the guide or the tracker without permission. Unauthorised sharing may break copyright law and could lead to fines or legal action. Buying your own copy supports independent creators and helps us keep making tools for filmmakers.