Premiere it, win rooms, build a reputation.
Submit to festivals, premiere in front of an audience, and use the run to build press, laurels, and relationships. Still the default first move for most shorts and low-budget features.
Shorts, first features, documentaries, anything without a buyer attached yet.
Submission fees add up fast and premiere status is a real currency — a quiet local screening can disqualify you from a festival you actually wanted.
Premiere status is the thing you spend once
Most top festivals want a world, international, national, or regional premiere. Plan the run in tiers: apply to the festivals that demand a premiere first, and hold everything else until you hear back.
Deadlines cost money
Earlybird, regular, late, and extended deadlines are the same festival at three or four different prices. Building the calendar early is the single cheapest thing you can do.
Fit beats prestige
A film that belongs at a specific festival — regional ties, subject alignment, a programmer who champions that kind of work — beats a scattershot list of famous names you'll never get into.
Budget the whole run, not just the fees
Submissions are maybe half of it. Poster and key art, a press kit, trailer, screeners, travel, and a print for the premiere all belong in the number.