First time sending a film to festivals

Hey r/filmfestival

My Fiancee Shahaf (female, 25) and I (Eyal, male, 25) just finished our first short film and we’re mapping out our festival strategy. Would really appreciate experienced perspectives as we finalize our approach.

About the film - “החול” (The Sand):

It’s a 25-minute piece that sits somewhere between experimental and narrative cinema.

Synopsis: In a crumbling reality, under a never-ending war, poor Elisha tries to live his little life, seeking for a resort from loneliness .

What makes it visually distinctive: We literally built an entire house on the beach and coated everything - furniture, walls, bed, floors - in sand. Every surface. The production design was borderline obsessive but we think it creates something genuinely unique on screen. Shot on ARRI Alexa with a full professional crew.

The film uses music by Ravel (Introduction and Allegro), Elvis Presley (the “laughing version” of Are You Lonesome Tonight), and Charles Mingus. All rights cleared. Hebrew dialogue with English subtitles.

We directed, produced, and did all production design ourselves. Budget was 30,000$ entirely from my savings working as a firefighter. No grants, no film fund support no "blood money". Final cut, color, sound mix, and DCP all complete by October 30th.

Our situation:

We’re Israeli. We need to address this directly - we strongly oppose our government’s actions and the war in Gaza. But we’re aware there’s a cultural boycott situation and we’re trying to understand the practical implications for getting our film seen.

What we’re figuring out:

1. Festival strategy - We were initially thinking Berlinale as a first target, but honestly we don’t have a clear distribution plan yet. Should we be thinking A-list first (Venice, Berlin, Sundance) and working down? Or is that unrealistic for a debut experimental work? What’s the smart approach?

2. The Israel factor - What’s the reality at major festivals right now? We want our film judged on its merits, not rejected before anyone watches it. Should we address our political position in submission materials or is that counterproductive?

3. Experimental vs narrative positioning - The film has a clear protagonist, story arc, and emotional journey, but it’s definitely stylistically experimental. Which festivals actually program work like this? Should we emphasize one aspect over the other in our submissions?

4. 25-minute runtime - Is this a problem length? We’ve heard it can be awkward - too long for shorts programs, obviously not a feature. Should we consider cutting a festival-specific 15-minute version?

5. Campaign structure - Do you submit to multiple A-list festivals at once or wait for responses sequentially? How important is premiere status? What’s realistic timeline-wise for hearing back?

6. Honest assessment - For first-time filmmakers with no film school background, no industry connections, and an experimental film dealing with heavy themes - what are we actually looking at here? We want to be ambitious but also realistic.

What we think works:

• Professional production quality throughout
• Genuinely original visual concept and execution
• Strong craft in cinematography, sound, production design
• Tackles mental health themes in a non-exploitative way

What we’re uncertain about:

• Whether the slow pacing will work for festival programmers
• If the current political climate makes this impossible
• Whether we’re structuring our approach correctly

This film represents years of work and everything we have financially and emotionally. We want to give it the best possible shot. Not looking for encouragement - looking for practical, honest advice from people who actually know how this works.

What should we be thinking about? What are we missing? Where are we being naive?

Thanks for any input.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​