The world of cinema has remained always alluring and entertaining. Art films can be considered the mirror of the society and keep on providing us a shocking reality check from time to time. Films, especially world cinemas are also great way to know about people from other cultures, other nations with different social set ups and so on. Initially it was difficult for an individual film maker to submit his or her film to be screened in any film festival. These days, due to the technology any filmmaker can submit his or her dream project on some particular websites. According to the top most film submission sites survey some of the great websites are Filmfestivallife.com, Filmfreeway.com and Withoutabox.com. Here is a comparative analysis between these three websites which can help the individual filmmakers to know better the positive and negative sides of each of these websites and to judge which one is the best suited for them.

First let me present with a general introduction about these three websites one by one.

• Filmfestivallife.com: Review

Filmfestivallife or FFL refers to the online forum for the film community which aims at discovering, reaching and discussing several developing film festivals around the world. It was founded in 2008 by German filmmaker Luca Zamai and Berlin filmmaker Nadine Baethke with the aim to make it a little bit easier for the film makers. The official partners are Doclisboa International Film Festival, Filmfest Dresden Film Festival, Ozu Film Festival and so on.

In order to submit your film first you need to register with the website. Then it will generate a unique user name and password.

According to the press release of the website it has launched a brand new technologically advanced tool, The Filmfestivallife Submitter. This is the one most important part which distinguishes this website. This feature includes very easy to use admin dashboards, Selection committee control, HD quality screening rooms, Fees management and many other exciting features. According to Zamai, “this model aims to inspire the overdue growth and expansion of digital distribution and communication.”

The next step is to complete your public profile. You can search what are the festivals associated with it and select your preferences accordingly. You can connect with your contacts also and share your work with them.

• The steps to submit your films are:
  • You have to add films to your profile
  • Upload the films along with credits
  • Click the green button to submit
• Some of the most popular and important festivals to submit your films through this website are AFI DOCS Film Festival from USA, Phoenix Comicon Film Festival, Sci-fi-London and so on. If you search for the film festivals, you can see the name of the festivals along with their rating, popularity and deadline.
• To make it easier, submission to this particular website is absolutely free for the film makers however if you want to submit your film to any festival you have to pay a small amount. In general, for short film they charge 2.99 for medium length film, 4.49 € and for long ones, 5.99 €. You can alter these charges by activating FFL Pro and FFL Unlimited. For example if you have a free account, you will need to pay 2.99 €. In case you want to opt for unlimited submissions, you will need to pay 5 €. Then there are quarterly, yearly plan too, which you can choose according to your preferences.
• You can contact them through mail id provided on their websites. They have different quick links too for different purposes which are frankly very helpful and not at all confusing. You can personally message the members too.

• Withoutabox.com: Review

Withoutabox was founded in 2000, January by David Strauss, Joe Neulight and Charles Neulight with the aim to enable the independent filmmakers to distribute their films on their own.

This website can cause a little bit disappointment and confusion after the neat presentation of Filmfestivallife. After registration it will generate a user name and password. The home part contains several types of festivals, festivals which are just announced, the ones with today’s deadline, the ones with call for entries and so on.

• Then there are several of the festivals along with their locations, festival dates, fees range and deadlines.
• There is the option of submission. After you click the button, you are supposed to mark the genre of your film from the list of categories provided.
• You can contact them through the mail id provided.

Don’t Miss to read: Filmfreeway VS Withoutabox- experience project review

FilmFreeway.com Review

Filmfreeway was founded by Zachary  Jones in 2014. Here also you have to register in order to get the unique password and user name.

Like Filmfestivallife, here also you have to choose the categories along with some other details related to the film.

• Some of the important festivals around them are Philadelphia Independent Short Film Festivals, Eric Film and Festival and so on.
• There will be a list of types of festivals to which your work can be submitted.
• There will be a list of category too like animation, short, music video and so on.
• Along with the name of the festivals, you can also check out the deadlines, entry fees too.

What Are The Main Differences:

I have discussed the main features of the three websites; now let’s have a look at the certain differences which can help you in choosing the best for you.

• The submission procedure in Filmfestivallife is clearly described on the website. Submission is also free for the filmmakers and they offer exciting plans for the submission to several film festivals. You can also get a clear layout of the upcoming festivals along with the deadlines, dates and so on. One drawback, however, is that the associating festivals are little less in number than others. And the other problem is since the submission for the website is free of cost, this creates a confusion between the costs of submission to different film festivals.

• The problem with Withoutabox.com is that its popularity is being decreased enormously. According to many social media sites and pages clients are not at all happy with their services. Even though this 12 years old site is still used by almost 400,000 filmmakers, their service, technology are very backdated and problematic. Moreover they charge an insane amount of money ranging from $500 to $3000 for any festival to be sited. Many had complained also that they unlawfully, not to mention, unnecessarily withdraw money from the filmmakers. Their customer service is also quite disappointing. According to a review the other websites like Filmfreeway or Filmfestivallife are better options than Withoutabox due to use of immense modern technology.

• After Withoutabox, Filmfreeway can be regarded as a cakewalk. The submission for Filmfreeway is much easier, explained nicely on the left sidebar, unlike the Withoutabox.com. The customer service is also very quick and professional. Clients can contact the festivals directly; can go for multiple submissions and so on.

Here are the deals about three important websites. Now you can pay each of these a visit and submit to any one of them according to your own choice and preferences.

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