I want this documentary to bring recognition to Mustapha's work and to Sefrou itself as praise should go to the creatives in this community. For me, this has always been a learning process so I'd like to get feedback on the final piece and how I could look to create further work that has a distinct meaning. If possible, I'd like people to feel inspired after watching this documentary after hearing the story of a man who aspires to show the world his work and work with other artists globally. In order to get this out there, I will like to send the documentary out to a number of festivals that I feel will offer valuable feedback and if accepted, provide a position where it can be viewed on a larger scale. Previously, I have used Film Freeway to help source relevant festivals that would be suited to the style and theme of my documentary. It works well as you can upload production documents, trailers, stills etc... and send all of the material to the relevant festivals in one lot.
I firmly believe that 'Mustapha the Weaver' has the chance to be a success as a short documentary and some of the festivals I have researched into are the 'London Lift-Off Film Festival' as it helps filmmakers who are just starting up such as myself. The services provided are really useful and would help with future projects if this piece was to be accepted. Another important one I'll definitely be submitting to is in the Factual Category via the 'Royal Television Society' awards. I was fortunate enough to have a documentary I edited get nominated, so for my own project to be included would be a dream come true. Some others include the 'Wimbledon International Short Film Festival' and the 'Edmonton International Film Festival' as they have good categories for documentary and would serve as a global stage, ensuring people would get to hear about Mustapha, his work and of Sefrou.
There will likely be more festivals that I would like to submit to, I have set aside money in the budget for this. Majority of these festivals have an asking cost of between $10-$50. I will look more in depth into other suitable ones that can fit within my budget during the post production stage. The 4 above are more like definite festivals that stood out to me through personal experience and have also been highly recommended to me by other people in the industry. This point is far away but always exciting and I look forward to the point where I can begin distributing it and getting Mustapha's story out there for people to see.
Bibliography:
EIFF. (2017) Edmonton International Film Festival. [Online] Available from: http://www.edmontonfilmfest.com [Accessed: January 10th 2017]
London Lift-Off Film Festival. (2017) Lift-Off Film Festival Global Network. [Online] Available from: http://www.lift-off-festivals.com/global-film-festivals/london-lift-off-film-festival [Accessed: January 10th 2017]
RTS. (2017) Royal Television Society Awards. [Online] Available from: https://www.rts.org.uk [Accessed: January 10th 2017]
Wimbledon Shorts. (2007) Wilmbledon International Short Film Festival. [Online] Available from: http://wimbledonshorts.com [Accessed: January 10th 2017]