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Cover Letter for Film Festival

Welcome to our article on writing a cover letter for a film festival application. A cover letter is an important document that accompanies your film submission and provides an opportunity to showcase your passion, skills, and qualifications. In this article, we will discuss the key elements of a cover letter and provide you with some examples to help you craft your own compelling letter.

Whether you are a filmmaker looking to submit your work to a prestigious festival or a student filmmaker seeking exposure for your project, a well-written cover letter can make a significant difference in the success of your application. It is your chance to grab the attention of the festival selection committee and make a strong case for why your film deserves to be included in the program. So, let's dive into the specifics of writing an effective cover letter for a film festival application.

Letter Example 1: Filmmaker with Previous Festival Experience

Letter example 2: student filmmaker seeking exposure, suggestions for writing a cover letter for a film festival, conclusions, q: what should i include in my cover letter for a film festival, q: how long should my cover letter be, q: should i address the cover letter to a specific person, q: how should i format my cover letter, examples of cover letters for film festival.

Dear [Festival Name],

I am writing to submit my short film, [Film Title], for consideration for the [Year] [Festival Name]. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share my work with your esteemed festival and be a part of the vibrant film community that you have cultivated over the years.

[Briefly introduce your film, highlighting its unique qualities and what sets it apart from others in its genre or category. Mention any awards or recognition it has received, if applicable.]

I believe that [Film Title] would be a perfect fit for your festival because [explain why your film aligns with the festival's programming themes, target audience, or mission].

Thank you for considering [Film Title] for inclusion in the [Festival Name] program. I would be honored to have the opportunity to showcase my work at your festival and contribute to the rich tapestry of films that you present each year.

[Your Name]

I am writing to submit my short film, [Film Title], for consideration for the [Year] [Festival Name]. As a student filmmaker, I am eager to have the opportunity to showcase my work at your esteemed festival and gain exposure for my creative vision.

[Briefly introduce your film, highlighting its themes, artistic approach, and any challenges you overcame during the production process.]

I believe that [Film Title] would be a valuable addition to your festival because [explain how your film offers a fresh perspective, addresses important social issues, or showcases innovative storytelling techniques].

Thank you for considering [Film Title] for inclusion in the [Festival Name] program. I am excited about the possibility of sharing my work with a wider audience and being a part of the inspiring film community that your festival fosters.

Best regards,

Personalize your letter: Address it to the specific festival contact or selection committee if possible.
Keep it concise: Aim for a one-page letter that highlights the most important aspects of your film and your qualifications.
Show your passion: Convey your enthusiasm for your film and the festival, and explain why you believe they are a perfect match.
Highlight your qualifications: Mention any relevant experience, awards, or recognition that demonstrate your talent and dedication as a filmmaker.
Be professional: Use a formal tone and proofread your letter for grammar and spelling errors before submitting it.

A well-crafted cover letter can significantly increase your chances of getting your film accepted into a film festival. By following the suggestions and using the examples provided in this article, you can create a compelling cover letter that effectively showcases your film and your passion for filmmaking. Remember to tailor your letter to each specific festival and make it personal and engaging. Good luck with your film festival applications!

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

A: Your cover letter should include a brief introduction of yourself and your film, highlighting its unique qualities and why it would be a good fit for the festival. You can also mention any relevant experience, awards, or recognition that demonstrate your talent and dedication as a filmmaker.

A: Aim for a one-page cover letter that concisely presents the most important information about your film and your qualifications. Keep it focused and engaging.

A: Whenever possible, address your cover letter to a specific festival contact or selection committee. It shows that you have done your research and adds a personal touch to your application.

A: Use a professional and formal format for your cover letter. Include a salutation, body paragraphs, and a closing with your name and contact information. Proofread for grammar and spelling errors before submitting.

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How To Write & Pitch Your Cover Letter to Film Festivals

Following on from the previous coverage of our short DOGS CHASING CARS here on FinalBoss, I have decided to include my film festival cover letter example as well. The cover letter was used as a calling card when submitting to film festivals. As a writer, every single email, text and letter that you send should count, and showcase you as the fantastic writer that you are – and in the ever ravenous world that is the festival circuit, you need as much help as you can get.

I wanted this film festival cover letter to be both an advertisement (for the film) and an honest piece that showed what I had been through to get it made. I wanted the cover letter to reflect the film; in its rawness, it’s no bullshit take and its honesty.

That balance between genuine (the feelings behind the film) and artificial (the film and the marketing that follows) is always tricky to find, but as a filmmaker it’s a line that you really do need to toe and get used to.

Dogs Chasing Cars short film Jon Holmes poster

So enjoy, study and plagiarise as fully to your heart’s content. I hope this film festival cover letter example helps your project get off the ground as it did mine!

With two and a half years in the making, Dogs Chasing Cars has been a long journey.

Whilst in a moment of truly deep depression, I decided that I would simply “talk” and record my exact thoughts there and then in an attempt to capture it all within that moment – everything I felt, everything that hurt, all of it, every damned little detail.

Fast-forward the clock to now and I am in an OK place, happy even – and only with that hindsight (and my brilliant and varied team) could we make this short; something that we shot in an aim of harmonising all of those people who struggle with mental health and depression.

An intensely personal piece for me, but packaged for the viewer in a way that is both accessible and; more importantly, frank and honest. Selfishly, I feel like we have achieved that within our seven-minute long film and we hope that you will too in accepting it in to your film festival.

Hope to hear from you,

Finally, “Dogs” is doing rather well (a result of this cover letter perhaps and no other aspect whatsoever…?) and you can catch a showing of the film at Global Health Film Festival on Friday 6th of December. Tickets are on sale now . Hopefully see you there! Otherwise, you can catch the trailer right here.

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Why You Shouldn’t Care About Getting Rejected From Film Festivals (and Some Tips on How to Get Accepted)

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Noam Kroll is an award winning Los Angeles based filmmaker and founder of the boutique post-production company Creative Rebellion. In his latest guest post for Indiewire, he writes about why getting accepted into a film festival is no longer essential for getting your independent film out into the world. Check out Kroll’s blog here , and Creative Rebellion here . One of the worst feelings for filmmakers is the disappointment that surrounds the opening of a dreaded rejection letter from a film festival. Many of us feel that festivals are the key to our success and growth as filmmakers so naturally, when we don’t get accepted, it can be a tough pill to swallow. This year, I was fortunate enough to have been brought on board as the short film programmer for an excellent festival in Los Angeles (DFFLA ), and sending out my share of rejection notices really put things in perspective for me. Below I’ll share my two cents on why getting rejected from a festival often has nothing to do with the quality of your work, and what you can do to improve your chances.

I’ve directed many short films and have been lucky enough to have them screen at a number of festivals where, occasionally, they have even won awards. But I’ve also had many of those same films rejected from other film festivals as well, and I can certainly relate to the disappointment of not getting in. That said, it really wasn’t until this year when I started working as a festival programmer that I truly understood the submission process including the massive amount of films that come in, and the extremely hard decisions that need to be made in order to take hundreds (or thousands) of films and cherry pick a few dozen of them to fill out various programming blocks.

READ MORE: 10 Things Filmmakers Want Festivals to Know

Most filmmakers incorrectly assume that if their film was rejected, it was a direct result of their film itself not being strong enough. This could not be further from the truth. Yes, there are certainly films that get rejected because the production value is low, the script isn’t great, the acting is poor, etc. But generally these types of films are from filmmakers that are just starting out and haven’t yet honed their craft. They simply need more time to develop before their films are at the level that they will be accepted to film festivals. You may very well be at the point where the quality and substance of your films is quite strong and you’ve spent enough time developing your craft to know that your work is festival-worthy, which is why it is so frustrating when you don’t get in.

Festivals will always send out a rejection letter telling you that “there were so many great films this year” and that “hard decisions had to be made.” Having now programmed for a festival, I know just how true these statements are. There were some incredibly powerful and moving films that I screened for this year’s festival that couldn’t make the cut for various reasons – none of which had anything to do with the overall quality of the work. So at the end of the day, applying to festivals really comes down to a numbers game. If you submit to enough relevant festivals, you will start to get in. Even award-winning films don’t get into most festivals that they apply to, so don’t be discouraged or take it personally if the majority of festivals reject your work – it’s just how it goes. But remember that all it takes is one great festival to give you an acceptance letter and it will make the journey worth it.

READ MORE: 10 Things Even Film Festival Wants Filmmakers to Know

READ MORE: Tips for Getting Into Sundance and Other Festivals

The good news is that while it’s exciting getting accepted into a film festival, festivals are no longer the only route to success for independent films. Today, being selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick is considered to be as prestigious or exciting as getting into a major film festival, and many careers have taken off after distributing work online. That said, festivals are still very much a part of the equation, and should always be considered when formulating your film’s marketing strategy. If you can have a successful festival run, it will only fuel all of your other efforts (including an online push), and it will help immensely in getting it on the radar of more traditionally oriented industry professionals (like agents, managers and distributors), who will likely place a premium on those festival laurels.

Get out there and make the absolute best film that you can make. When it’s just right, submit it to as many targeted festivals as you can (knowing that you will only get into a few, no matter how great your film is), and then leverage your success to appeal to more festivals as the year goes on.

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A Fantastic Film Festival Cover Letter Example

Jobs at film festivals may sound pretty attractive for novice event planners, movie buffs, or recent Arts graduates. The best part — many organizers hire for both full-time and part-time positions.

At any rate, this can be a great experience with some really neat perks such as:

Meeting interesting people in the film industry
The chance to watch the latest releases
Good pay — often union scale.
Tips and free meals.

The challenge, however, is that film festival jobs are temporary and tend to be filled quickly. You have to get ahead of the game! Start with setting up alerts for local festival announcements and scan their websites for jobs. Once you see a new opening, don’t wait too long for applying! Or the job may be gone.

To act quickly on emerging opportunities, be sure to have an up-to-date resume at hand, plus a compelling cover letter. In this post, we share some amazing tips for writing that cover letter and a top-notch film festival cover letter sample.

Make Your Availability Clear

The hardest part of staffing an event is ensuring that everyone scheduled to work shows up on time and can handle the assigned part-time shifts .

Show that you are a reliable and well-organized person at the beginning of your cover letter. It’s easy to do. Just state:

Your availability during the festival — the more shifts you can work the better.
Whether you will have transportation available and have a valid driver’s license.
The day and time you will arrive for the festival.

Show That You Understand The Compensation Structure

This is important. Film festival organizers are easily frustrated by workers who demand payment for their work on a shift-by-shift basis. Or otherwise do not pay attention to the information they receive regarding payment for the event.

Don’t be that person. Instead, quickly acknowledge that you agree with the proposed payment terms:

“I understand that I will be paid via PayPal after the closing of the event on March 31st. I have included my PayPal email address in my attached resume as instructed.”

Share Any Relevant Qualifications

Do you have some mechanical skills ? Can you perform handiwork? Or perhaps you’ve earned your food-service sanitation certification? Can you run a cable or set up AV equipment? Do you have experience working at other large events as an event coordinator ?

Film managers need people with a wide range of hard skills. So be sure to prioritize the right ones in your cover letter. Doing so will increase your chances of getting the gig and might result in an increase in pay!

Not sure which skills are in-demand? Do two things:

First, re-read the original job ad and highlight all the keywords in the requirements section.
Next, check cover letter examples in related niches to pick some extra ideas.

Be Enthusiastic, But Don’t Gush

In most cases, film festival organizers really do want to work with people who love movies. If you are a particular fan of the genre being featured, that’s even better. On the other hand, they need people who will focus on getting their work done quickly and properly, not someone who sees the event as an opportunity to meet a celebrity or pitch their own film ideas.

Show that you have a passion for the job, but also care about the organizers’ agenda. Here’s a brief example:

“Since, high school, I have been a fan of Korean anime. I look forward to watching some great movies when I’m not scheduled to work. I’m particularly excited to see the new movie from Rising Sun Studios.”

Film Festival Cover Letter Sample in .docx Format

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Film Festival Cover Letter Example – Text Format

Dear Kwame Parker,

My name is Taylor Ninja, and I am writing to you to apply for the position of assistant at the upcoming St. Louis area Student Film Festival. I have read the job listing carefully, understand that I need to be available for at least two 8 hour shifts and that I will be paid in cash at the end of the event on April 21st.

Currently, I am a full-time student at West County Community College studying Events Planning and Hospitality. In addition to that, I work at Martin Events in the following areas:

Event setup and teardown
Directing guests
Foodservice
AV equipment setup and testing

I have experience working at both indoor and outdoor events. In 2020, I have obtained my food service worker’s certification and I have a Class A CDL license.

The student film festival is an event that I have been lucky to attend regularly. I’m very excited at the opportunity to play a small role in ensuring that everyone attending or screening a film here has a great experience. I believe my experience as an events worker, and my love of independent films make me a great candidate for this position.

My availability is flexible and I am happy to work more than the two mandatory shifts. If needed, I can arrive as early as 24 hours prior to the event but must leave the morning following the event. Please contact me if you are interested in scheduling an interview.

Taylor Ninja

Final Tip: Keep It Short and Simple

Remember that you aren’t applying for a lifelong career. But pitching for a good that could be a stepping stone to many more other career paths. Hence, stick to the most pertinent information. Get to the point fast. Then close the deal. Your brevity will be more appreciated than a lengthy, fawning cover letter.

Other Cover Letter Samples

Sample cover letter for working at a dispensary, medical device sales cover letter example, a persuasive public defender cover letter example, a detailed business analyst cover letter example with writing tips.

A huge collection of cover letters created by a ninja team of writers and career advisors. Learn how to write, style and file cover letters that employers actually enjoy reading.

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Submitting Your Project to the Sundance Film Festival

Submissions to the 2025 Sundance Film Festival are now open. You may click the button below to begin the application process. For answers to the most commonly asked questions about submitting projects to the Festival, download our FAQ document , and please read the Rules & Regulations thoroughly before you begin the process. The deadline dates and submission fees for 2025 Festival consideration are listed below.

2025 Sundance Film Festival

Deadlines & entry fees, feature films, short films, episodic content (60 minutes or less), episodic content (over 60 minutes).

Rules & Regulations >

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The Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization that provides a wide variety of programs and initiatives for independent artists and storytellers working in film and digital media. Fees from Festival submissions help us keep the process as rigorous and democratic as possible and to further support the independent creative community. For more information about the Sundance Institute’s other programs, please visit our apply page .

Submission Categories

Each year, we select a slate of feature films, short films, episodic projects, and New Frontier exhibition and performance projects to play within each of our Festival programs. Before you begin your submission, please read carefully the eligibility requirements for each category below and select the one that best suits your project:

U.S. Narrative Feature Films

Any narrative or non-scripted work of fiction originating from within the United States with a running time of 50 minutes or more. In order to qualify as a U.S. Narrative Feature Film, the submitted project must be either scripted or improvisational fiction, or a fictionalization of actual events, and at least half of the project’s financing must originate from within the United States. Only films retaining world premiere status are eligible for open submission to this category. Completed films that have been or will have been exhibited theatrically or otherwise made available to the general public, either for free or for purchase, prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible to submit to this category. This includes, but is not limited to, public theatrical exhibition (festival or otherwise), television broadcast, home video, or any digital or online platform.

U.S. Documentary Feature Films

Any nonfiction film originating from within the United States with a running time of 50 minutes or more. If your documentary contains re-enactments or other fictionalized depictions of actual events, you may submit it to this category, but we will ultimately decide which of our Festival programs is best suited for your project, if accepted. In order to qualify as a U.S. Documentary Feature Film, at least half of the submitted project’s financing must originate from within the United States. Only films retaining world premiere status are eligible for open submission to this category. Completed films that have been or will have been exhibited theatrically or otherwise made available to the general public, either for free or for purchase, prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible to submit to this category. This includes, but is not limited to, public theatrical exhibition (festival or otherwise), television broadcast, home video, or any digital or online platform.

International Narrative Feature Films

Any narrative or non-scripted work of fiction originating from outside of the United States with a running time of 50 minutes or more. In order to qualify as an International Narrative Feature Film, the submitted project must be either scripted or improvisational fiction, or a fictionalization of actual events, and at least half of the project’s financing must originate from outside of the United States. Only films retaining international premiere status are eligible for open submission to this category. Completed films that have been or will have been exhibited theatrically (festival or otherwise) outside of the film’s country or countries of origin prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible for open submission to this category. Films that have been or will have been made available to the general public in a non-theatrical form, either for free or for purchase, prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible to submit to this category. This includes, but is not limited to, television broadcast, home video, or any digital or online platform in any country or countries.

International Documentary Feature Films

Any nonfiction film originating from outside of the United States with a running time of 50 minutes or more. If your documentary contains re-enactments or other fictionalized depictions of actual events, you may submit it to this category, but we will ultimately decide which of our Festival programs is best suited for your project, if accepted. In order to qualify as an International Documentary Feature Film, at least half of the submitted project’s financing must originate from outside of the United States. Only films retaining international premiere status are eligible for open submission to this category. Completed films that have been or will have been exhibited theatrically (festival or otherwise) outside of the film’s country or countries of origin prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible for open submission to this category. Films that have been or will have been made available to the general public in a non-theatrical form, either for free or for purchase, prior to February 3, 2025 are not eligible to submit to this category. This includes, but is not limited to, television broadcast, home video, or any digital or online platform in any country or countries.

U.S. Short Films

Any film or video project originating from within the United States with a running time of less than 50 minutes, including credits. This includes scripted or improvisational fiction, nonfiction or documentary, experimental film or video, animation, music video, or any other short-form film or video project. In order to qualify as a U.S. Short Film, at least half of the submitted project’s financing must originate from within the United States. Short films have no premiere requirements or prior screening restrictions that impact Festival eligibility and may have been screened at any number of festivals or other public theatrical exhibitions, broadcast or streamed on television or the Internet, and/or released via any home video or other public distribution platform anywhere in the world.

International Short Films

Any film or video project originating from outside of the United States with a running time of less than 50 minutes, including credits. This includes scripted or improvisational fiction, nonfiction or documentary, experimental film or video, animation, music video, or any other short-form film or video project. In order to qualify as an International Short Film, at least half of the submitted project’s financing must originate from outside of the United States. Short films have no premiere requirements or prior screening restrictions that impact Festival eligibility and may have been screened at any number of festivals or other public theatrical exhibitions, broadcast or streamed on television or the Internet, and/or released via any home video or other public distribution platform anywhere in the world.

Any live-action, documentary/nonfiction, or animation project presented in or intended to be presented in a multi-episode format, with a total running time of 60 minutes or less. This includes pilots, pilot presentations, multi-episode series, web series, docu-series, or any other film or video project created to unfold over multiple episodes. Projects submitted to this category may consist of single or multiple episodes, but the total running time must not exceed 60 minutes in length. Submitted projects may originate from anywhere in the world, but multi-episode submissions must be delivered digitally as one single and continuous video file or link, not to exceed 10GB in size. Should you choose to submit single or multiple episodes of your project to this category and further episodes will eventually become available, we will only consider submitted episodes with a total running time of 60 minutes or less. Projects originating from within the United States are not eligible to submit to this category if the submitted content has been or will be made available in its entirety to the general public via any public theatrical exhibition or any broadcast, home video, or digital/online platform prior to February 3, 2025. Projects originating from outside of the United States remain eligible if any or all of the submitted content has been released only within the project’s country or countries of origin or not released at all. If some but not all of the episodes have been exhibited theatrically or made available via any other public platform, you may only submit episodes that have not been exhibited theatrically or otherwise released to the public. For example, if the first season of your series is available online, you may only submit episodes from a subsequent season that have not been released to the public in any form.

Any live-action, documentary/nonfiction, or animation project presented in or intended to be presented in a multi-episode format, with a total running time that exceeds 60 minutes. This includes pilots, multi-episode series, web series, docu-series or any other film or video project created to unfold over multiple episodes. Submitted projects may consist of single or multiple episodes, and there are no restrictions regarding the total running time of episodes submitted. Projects submitted to this category may originate from anywhere in the world, but multi-episode submissions must be delivered digitally as one single and continuous video file or link, not to exceed 10GB in size. Projects originating from within the United States are not eligible to submit to this category if the submitted content has been or will be made available in its entirety to the general public via any public theatrical exhibition or any broadcast, home video, or digital/online platform prior to February 3, 2025. Projects originating from outside of the United States remain eligible if any or all of the submitted content has been released only within the project’s country or countries of origin or not released at all. If some but not all of the episodes have been exhibited theatrically or made available via any other public platform, you may only submit episodes that have not been exhibited theatrically or otherwise released to the public. For example, if the first season of your series is available online, you may only submit episodes from a subsequent season that have not been released to the public in any form.

International Submissions

Celebrating independence, creativity, and risk taking, the Sundance Film Festival plays a vital role in discovery of new films and new voices from around the world. The World Cinema competitions are specifically dedicated to identifying emerging international talent and connecting them with audiences and industry in the United States.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The World Cinema Dramatic Competition showcases a selection of new films from emerging filmmakers. Submitted films must be World Premieres or International Premieres (films that have not screened outside their country of origin) and must have a running time of 50 minutes or more. Accepted films are eligible for jury prizes and an audience award. Among the films premiering in competition since the first edition in 2005: Animal Kingdom, The Maid, Once, Mermaid, Megane, An Education, Madeinusa, Son of Babylon, Drained, Bronson, 13 Tzameti, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, Little Red Flowers and Happy, Happy .

World Cinema Documentary Competition

The World Cinema Documentary Competition showcases a selection of new films from visionary documentary filmmakers around the world. Submitted films must be World Premieres or International Premieres (films that have not screened outside their country of origin) and must have a running time of 50 minutes or more. Accepted films are eligible for jury prizes and an audience award. Among the award-winning films premiering in competition since the first edition in 2005: Man on Wire, Up the Yangtze, Grizzly Man, Senna, Manufactured Landscapes, Searching for Sugar Man, Bus 174 , Black Power Mixtape, 5 Broken Cameras and Afghan Star .

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உலகம் முழுவதிலும் இருந்து புதிய திரைப்படங்களையும் புதிய குரல்களையும் கண்டெடுப்பதே சன் டேன்ஸ் உலகத் திரைப்பட போட்டியின் நோக்கம்

சுதந்திரத்தையும், துணிகரமான புதிய முயற்சிகளையும், புதிய படைப்புகளையும், கண்டுபிடித்துக் கொண்டாடி பல நாடுகளில் உள்ள கலை ஆற்றலை மக்களிடம் கொண்டு சேர்ப்பது சன் டேன்ஸ் திரைப்பட விழாவின் முக்கிய பங்காகிறது.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition என்னும் போட்டி புதிய சினிமா படைப்பாளிகளின் படங்களை முன்னிறுத்துகிறது. அனுப்பப்பட்ட திரைப்படங்கள் எந்த நாட்டில் தயாரிக்கப் பட்டதோ அந்த நாட்டைத் தவிர வேறு எந்த நாட்டிலும் திரையிடப் படாமல் இருந்திருக்க வேண்டும். முதல் முறை வெளி நாடுகளில் திரையிடுவனவாக இருக்க வேண்டும். படம் ஓடும் நேரம் 50நிமிடங்கள் அல்லது அதற்கு மேலாக இருக்க வேண்டும். போட்டியில் பங்கு பெற எடுத்துக் கொண்ட படங்களுக்கு jury prizes and an audience award இரண்டும் கிடைக்க வாய்ப்புள்ளது. இந்தப் போட்டி தொடங்கியது 2005ஆம் ஆண்டு. அது முதல் இந்தப் போட்டியில் கலந்து கொண்டப் படங்கள் : Animal Kingdom, The Maid, Once, Mermaid, Megane, An Education, Madeinusa, Son of Babylon, Drained, Bronson, 13 Tzameti, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, Liar’s Dice, Peepli Live and Happy, Happy

World Cinema Documentary Competition என்னும் போட்டி தொலைநோக்குப் பார்வையுடன் இயக்கிய படங்களை முன்னிறுத்துகிறது.அனுப்பப்படும் திரைப்படங்கள் எந்த நாட்டில் தயாரிக்கப் பட்டதோ அந்த நாட்டைத் தவிர வேறு எந்த நாட்டிலும் திரையிடப் படாமல் இருந்திருக்க வேண்டும். முதல் முறை வெளி நாடுகளில் திரையிடுவனவாக இருக்க வேண்டும். படம் ஓடும் நேரம் 50நிமிடங்கள் அல்லது அதற்கு மேலாக இருக்க வேண்டும். போட்டியில் பங்கு பெற எடுத்துக் கொண்ட படங்களுக்கு jury prizes and an audience award இரண்டும் கிடைக்க வாய்ப்புள்ளது. இந்தப் போட்டி தொடங்கியது 2005ஆம் ஆண்டு. அது முதல் இந்தப் போட்டியில் கலந்து கொண்டப் படங்கள் : Man on Wire, Up the Yangtze, Grizzly Man, Senna, Manufactured Landscapes, Searching for Sugar Man, Bus 174, Black Power Mixtape, The Bengali Detective, 5 Broken Cameras and Afghan Star.

இந்தப் போட்டியுடன் கூட இங்கு சமர்ப்பிக்கப் படும் திரைப் படங்கள் வேறு பல தலைப்புகளிலும் பரிசீலிக்கப் படும் அவை :Park City at Midnight (பொதுவான ஜானர்), New Frontier (புதிய முயற்சிகள்) and Premieres (உலகத் தரம் வாய்ந்த தயாரிப்பாளர்கள்/இயக்குனர்களின் உலகத்தில் முதன் முறையாகத் திரையிடப்படும் வாய்ப்பு.). இத்தனைக் காலமாக சிறப்பு வாய்ந்த படைப்புகளான இவை Bloody Sunday, Whale Rider, Cronos, Motorcycle Diaries, Carne, Dead/Alive, Goodbye Lenin, Calvary, Cube, Zidane, Open Hearts, Haute Tension, Intacto, Shine, Time Crimes, Away from Her, Four Weddings and a Funeral, March of the Penguins and Run, Lola, Run இந்த விழாவில் இருந்து வெளிவந்திருக்கிறது.

வேறு திரைப்பட விழாக்களில் திரையிடப்பட்ட திரைப்படங்களை நாங்கள் spotlight categoryக்கு ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதில்லை.

எந்தத் துரையின் கீழ் படத்தை அனுப்புகிறோம் என்று சொல்லத் தேவை இல்லை. படம் கதையை சொல்லும் படமா (International Narrative Feature (INF) ) அல்லது டாகுமெண்டரியா (International Documentary Feature (IDF). ) என்று குறிப்பிட்டால் போதும்.

படத்தை சப்மிட் செய்ய இந்த லிங்கை பாலோ செய்யவும்.

Svetovej filmovej súťaže , ktoré usporadúva Sundance , majú za cieľ objaviť nové filmy a nové hlasy z celého sveta .

Filmový festival Sundance si cení nezávislosti , kreativity a odvahy riskovať . Preto zohráva nezastupiteľnú úlohu v objavovaní začínajúcich medzinárodných talentov a ich prepájanie s publikom i profesionálov v Spojených štátoch .

Svetová súťaž hraného filmu uvádza výber nových snímok začínajúcich filmových tvorcov . Prihlásené filmy musia byť uvedené vo svetovej alebo medzinárodnej premiére ( jedná sa teda o filmy, ktoré doteraz neboli uvedené mimo krajiny svojho vzniku ) a premietacie čas musí byť aspoň 50 minút . Prijaté snímky usilujú o ceny poroty a divákov . Medzi filmy , ktoré mali premiéru v rámci súťaže , patrí od roku 2005 , kedy prvýkrát začala : Kráľovstvo zverstiev , Slúžka , Once , Morská víla , Okuliare , Škola života , Madeinusa , Syn Babylonu , O Cheiro do Ralo , Bronson , Ruská ruleta , Horská hliadka , Štyri slnka a Happy , Happy .

Svetová súťaž dokumentárneho filmu uvádza výber nových snímok nadaných dokumentaristov z celého sveta . Prihlásené filmy musia byť uvedené vo svetovej alebo medzinárodnej premiére ( jedná sa teda o filmy, ktoré doteraz neboli uvedené mimo krajiny svojho vzniku ) a premietacie čas musí byť aspoň 50 minút . Prijaté snímky usilujú o ceny poroty a divákov . Medzi filmy , ktoré mali premiéru v rámci súťaže , patrí od roku 2005 , kedy prvýkrát začala : Muž na lane , Up the Yangtze , Grizzly Man , Senna , Manufactured Landscapes , Pátranie po Sugar Manovi, Bus 174 , Black Power , Päť rozbitých kamier a Afghan Star .

Okrem hlavnej súťaže sú medzinárodné filmy posudzované v nasledujúcich sekciách : Park City at Midnight ( žánrové filmy ) , New Frontier ( experimentálne filmy ) a Premieres ( svetové premiéry renomovaných filmových tvorcov ) . Za uplynulé roky z festivalu vyšli diela svetového významu ako Krvavá nedeľa , Pán veľrýb , Stroj času , Motocyklové denníky , Carne , Dead / Alive , Good , bye Lenin ! , Calvary , Kocka , Zidane , portrét 21. storočia , Otvorená srdce , Noc s nabrúsenou britvou , Intacto , Žiara , Time Crimes , Ďaleko od nej , Štyri svadby a jeden pohreb , Putovanie tučniakov a Lola beží o život .

Neprijímame verejné prihlášky do kategórie Spotlight ( filmy , ktoré boli premietané na inom medzinárodnom festivale ) .

Nie je nutné hlásiť sa do určitej sekcie . Len uveďte , či sa jedná o film hraný , tj International Narrative Feature , skratka INF , alebo dokumentárny , tj International Documentary Feature , skratka IDF .

Na podanie prihlášky použite tento link.

As Competições Mundiais de Cinema em Sundance se dedicam a descoberta de novos filmes e novas vozes ao redor do mundo.

Celebrando a independência, a criatividade e a tomada de riscos, o Festival de Filmes de Sundance desempenha um papel vital ao identificar talentos internacionais emergentes e os conecta com audiências e a industria dos Estados Unidos.

A Competição Dramática Mundial de Cinema mostra uma seleção de filmes novos de cineastas emergentes. Filmes submetidos deverão ser Estreias Mundiais ou Estreias Internacionais (filmes que não estrearam fora do seu país de origem) e deverão ter uma duração de 50 minutos ou mais. Filmes aceitos são elegíveis para prêmios do júri e o prêmio popular. Entre os filmes estreados na competição desde a primeira edição em 2005: Animal Kingdom, The Maid, Once, Mermaid, Megane, An Education, Madeinusa, Son of Babylon, Drained, Bronson, 13 Tzameti, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, Restoration e Happy, Happy.

A Competição Documentário Mundial de Cinema mostra uma seleção de filmes novos de cineastas visionários de documentários ao redor do mundo. Filmes submetidos deverão ser Estreias Mundiais ou Estreias Internacionais (filmes que não estrearam fora do seu pais de origem) e que deverão ter uma duração de 50 minutos ou mais. Filmes aceitos são elegíveis para prêmios do júri e o prêmio popular. Entre os filmes estréiados na competição desde a primeria edição em 2005: Man on Wire, Up the Yangtze, Grizzly Man, Senna, Manufactured Landscapes, Searching for Sugar Man, Bus 174, Black Power Mixtape, 5 Broken Cameras e Afghan Star.

Além da Competição, filmes internacionais são considerados para as seguintes seções: Park City a Meia-noite (filmes de gêneros), Nova Fronteira (filmes experimentais) e Estreias (Estreias Mundiais de cineastas estabelecidos). Através dos anos, trabalhos internacionais aclamados como: Bloody Sunday, Whale Rider, Cronos, Motorcycle Diaries, Carne, Dead/Alive, Goodbye Lenin, Calvary, Cube, Zidane, Open Hearts, Haute Tension, Intacto, Shine, Time Crimes, Away from Her, Four Weddings and a Funeral, March of the Penguins e Run, Lola, Run surgiram a partir do festival.

Não são aceitos submissões abertas para a categoria Spotlight (filmes já estreados em outros festivais internacionais).

Não é necessário inscrever-se para uma seção específica. Somente indique se o filme é um Feature Narrativa internacional (INF) ou Feature Documentário Internacional (IDF).

Para submeter um filme siga o link

In den beiden World Cinema Reihen präsentiert Sundance seine Neuentdeckungen: außergewöhnliche Filme von bislang unbekannten Ausnahmetalenten aus aller Welt.

Das Interesse und Engagement des Sundance Film Festivals gilt Indie-Filmemachern, Querdenkern und Kreativen mit Mut zum Risiko. Seine Aufgabe besteht unter anderem darin die Aufmerksamkeit der US-amerikanischen Filmbranche und des US-amerikanischen Publikums auf diese internationalen Filmemacher zu lenken.

Die World Cinema Dramatic Competition ist ein Showcase für Nachwuchsregisseure. Teilnahmeberechtigt sind Weltpremieren und internationale Premieren (Filme, die außerhalb ihres Ursprungslandes noch nicht gezeigt wurden) und eine Länge von mindestens 50 Minuten haben. Die Filme dieser Reihe gehen für den Jury- und den Zuschauer-Preis ins Rennen. Zu den Filmen, die in dieser Reihe ihre Premiere gefeiert haben gehören: Animal Kingdom, The Maid, Once, Mermaid, Megane, An Education, Madeinusa, Son of Babylon, Drained, Bronson, 13 Tzameti, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, Feuchtgebiete und Happy, Happy.

Die World Cinema Documentary Competition ist ein Showcase für bisher unbekannte Dokumentarfilmemacher aus aller Welt. Teilnahmeberechtigt sind Weltpremieren und internationale Premieren (Filme, die außerhalb ihres Ursprungslandes noch nicht gezeigt wurden) und eine Länge von mindestens 50 Minuten haben. Die Filme dieser Reihe gehen für den Jury- und den Zuschauer-Preis ins Rennen. Zu den Filmen, die in dieser Reihe ihre Premiere gefeiert haben gehören: Man on Wire, Up the Yangtze, Grizzly Man, Senna, Manufactured Landscapes, Searching for Sugar Man, Bus 174 , Black Power Mixtape, 5 Broken Cameras und Afghan Star.

Internationale Filme werden, außer in den World Cinema Competitions, auch in den folgenden Reihen gezeigt: Park City at Midnight (Genre-Film), New Frontier (experimenteller Film) und Premieres (Weltpremieren von renommierten, internationalen Filmemachern). In diesen Reihen wurden über die Jahre Filme wie Bloody Sunday, Whale Rider, Cronos, Motorcycle Diaries, Carne, Dead/Alive, Good bye, Lenin!, Calvary, Cube, Zidane, Open Hearts, Haute Tension, Intacto, Shine, Time Crimes, Away from Her, Four Weddings and a Funeral, March of the Penguins und Lola, Rennt gezeigt.

Einreichungen für die Spotlight Reihe sind nicht möglich. (Spotlight Filme werden von uns bei anderen renommierten, internationalen Festivals gesichtet und eingeladen).

Filme müssen nicht für eine bestimmte Reihe eingereicht werden. Anzugeben ist nur, ob es sich um einen internationalen, abendfüllenden Spielfilm (International Narrative Feature – INF) oder einen internationalen, abendfüllenden Dokumentarfilm (International Documentary Feature – IDF) handelt.

Zur Online Einreichung

Le Festival du Film de Sundance – Les Concours du Cinema Mondial

Les Concours du Cinema Mondial de Sundance sont dédiés à la découverte de nouveaux films et de nouvelles voix a travers le monde.

Célébrant l’indépendance, la créativité et la prise de risque, le Festival du Film de Sundance joue un rôle essentiel dans l’identification des talents internationaux émergents, et dans leur mise en relation avec les publics et avec l’industrie cinématographique Américaine.

Le Concours Mondial du Cinema de Fiction présente une sélection de nouveaux films faits par des cinéastes émergents. Les films présentés sont obligatoirement des premières mondiales ou bien des premières internationales (des films qui n’ont pas été visionnés en dehors de leur pays d’origine) et doivent être d’une durée minimum de 50 minutes. Les films acceptés seront éligibles aux Prix du Jury et au Prix du Public. Parmi les films ayant eu leur première en compétition de Sundance depuis la première édition en 2005 : Animal Kingdom, The Maid, Once, Mermaid, Megane, An Education, Madeinusa, Son of Babylon, Drained, Bronson, 13 Tzameti, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol, et Happy, Happy.

Le Concours Mondial du Cinéma Documentaire présente une sélection de films nouveaux faits par des cinéastes internationaux et visionnaires specialises dans le documentaire. Les films présentés sont obligatoirement des premières mondiales ou bien des premières internationales (des films qui n’ont pas été visionnés en dehors de leur pays d’origine) et doivent être d’une durée minimale de 50 minutes. Les films acceptés seront éligibles aux Prix du Jury et au Prix du Public. Parmi les films ayant eu leur première en compétition de Sundance depuis la première édition en 2005 : : Man on Wire, Up the Yangtze, Grizzly Man, Senna, Manufactured Landscapes, Searching for Sugar Man, Bus 174,Black Power Mixtape, 5 Broken Cameras et Afghan Star.

En plus de la Compétition, les films internationaux sont aussi considérés pour les sections suivantes du Festival: Park City at Midnight (films de genre), New Frontier (films expérimentaux) et Premières (premières mondiales de cinéastes établis). Au cours des années, des œuvres internationales acclamés comme : Bloody Sunday, Whale Rider, Cronos, Motorcycle Diaries, Carne, Dead/Alive, Goodbye Lenin, Calvary, Cube, Zidane, Open Hearts, Haute Tension, Intacto, Shine, Time Crimes, Away from Her, Four Weddings and a Funeral, March of the Penguins et Run, Lola, Run, ont fait parti des selections du festival.

Nous n’acceptons pas les candidatures ouvertes (candidatures spontanées et sans recommandation spéciale) pour la catégorie Spotlight (films qui ont étés visionnés à d’autre festivals internationaux).

Il n’est pas nécessaire de soumettre votre film à une section particulière. Veuillez juste indiquer si le film est un long-métrage narratif international (INF) ou bien un long-métrage documentaire international (IDF).

Pour soumettre un film veuillez suivre ce lien.

תחרויות “קולנוע עולמי” בסאנדנס מוקדשות לאיתור סרטים חדשים וקולות חדשניים מכל רחבי העולם.

פסטיבל סאנדנס, אשר שם לו לדגל ערכי יסוד כעצמאות, יצירתיות ולקיחת-סיכונים, הוא בעל תפקיד חשוב במציאת כישרונות עולים בזירה הבינלאומית, ובקישורם עם קהל צופים ואנשי תעשיית הקולנוע בארצות-הברית.

תחרות הקולנוע העולמי העלילתי מציגה מבחר של סרטים חדשים אשר נוצרו על-ידי קולנוענים מבטיחים בתחילת דרכם. הסרטים המוגשים למסגרת חייבים להיות במעמד בכורה עולמית או בכורה בינלאומית (סרטים אשר לא הוקרנו מחוץ לארץ מוצאם), ואורכם חייב להיות 50 דקות ומעלה. הסרטים המתקבלים לתחרות יתמודדו על מספר פרסים אשר יוענקו על ידי חבר שופטים, כמו גם על פרס חביב הקהל. בין הסרטים אשר הוקרנו בבכורה במסגרת זו, מאז השקתה בשנת 2005, ניתן למצוא את: “ממלכת החיות”, “המשרתת”, “פעם אחת”, Mermaid , Megane , “לחנך את ג’ני”, Madeinusa , Son of Babylon , “מרוקן”, “ברונסון”, “13 זאמטי”, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol , “אדמה משוגעת”, “בוקר טוב אדון פידלמן” ו”האפי האפי”.

תחרות הקולנוע העולמי הדוקומנטארי מציגה מבחר של סרטים חדשים מאת יוצרים דוקומנטאריים בעלי חזון מרחבי העולם. הסרטים המוגשים למסגרת חייבים להיות במעמד בכורה עולמית או בכורה בינלאומית (סרטים אשר לא הוקרנו מחוץ לארץ מוצאם), ואורכם חייב להיות 50 דקות ומעלה. הסרטים המתקבלים לתחרות יתמודדו על מספר פרסים אשר יוענקו על ידי חבר שופטים, כמו גם על פרס חביב הקהל. בין הסרטים הזוכים אשר הוקרנו בבכורה במסגרת זו, מאז השקתה בשנת 2005, ניתן למצוא את: “איש על חבל”, “במעלה היאנג-צה”, “איש הגריזלי”, “סנה”, “נופים מתועשים”, “מחפשים את שוגרמן”, “קו 174 “, “מיקסטייפ”, “חמש מצלמות שבורות” ו”כוכב נולד אפגניסטן”.

בנוסף לתחרויות, סרטים בינלאומיים עשויים להיכלל גם במסגרות הבאות: פארק סיטי בחצות (סרטי ז’אנר), ניו פרונטייר (סרטים אקספרימנטאליים) ו פרמיירות (בכורות עולמיות של במאים מוכרים). במהלך השנים, סרטים בינלאומיים אשר זכו להכרה נרחבת, כגון “בלאדי סאנדיי”, “לרכב על הלוויתן”, “קרונוס”, “דרום אמריקה באופנוע”, Carne , “מוות קליני”, “להתראות לנין”, Calvary , “קיוב”, Zidane , “אהבות פתוחות”, “מתח גבוה”, “ללא דופי”, “ניצוצות”, “פשעים בזמן”, “הרחק ממנה”, “ארבע חתונות ולוויה”, “משפחת הקיסרים” ו” Run לולה Run “, נודעו ברחבי העולם לאחר הקרנתם בפסטיבל.

אנו איננו מקבלים הגשות עבור מסגרת ה ספוט-לייט (סרטים אשר הוקרנו בעבר בפסטיבלים בינלאומיים אחרים).

אין זה הכרחי להגיש לאחת המסגרות באופן ספציפי, אלא רק לציין האם הסרט הוא בינלאומי נרטיבי ( INF ), או בינלאומי דוקומנטארי ( IDF ).

להגשת סרט, אנא פתח/י את הקישור הבא.

مهرجان صندانس للأفلام – مسابقات السينما العالمية

تُعتبر مسابقات صندانس للسينما العالمية مُخصصة لاكتشاف أفلام وأصوات جديدة من شتى أنحاء العالم. احتفالاً بالاستقلال والابداع والمخاطرة، يلعب صندانس دوراً حيوياً في اكتشاف المواهب الناشئة وخلق روابط لها مع الجماهير ومجتمع صانعي الافلام في أمريكا.

تعرض مسابقة السينما الدرامية العالمية مجموعة مختارة من الافلام الجديدة لصُنّاع أفلام ناشئين. يجب ان تكون الافلام المُقدمة قد لم يسبق لها أن عُرضت دولياً أوعالمياً (أي لم يسبق لها أن عُرضت خارج بلادهم الاصلية). كما يجب ان تكون مدة الافلام خمسين دقيقة أو أكثر. هذه الافلام المقبولة مؤهلة للحصول على جوائز لجنة التحكيم وجائزة الجمهور. من الافلام التي عُرضت لأول مرة ضمن المسابقة منذ نسختها الاولى عام 2005: Animal Kingdom , The Maid , Once , Mermaid , Megane , An Education , Madeinusa , Son of Babylon , Drained , Bronson , 13 Tzameti , Kekexili: Mountain Patrol , و Happy, Happy .

أما مسابقة السينما الوثائقية العالمية ، فهي تقدم مجموعة مختارة من الأفلام الوثائقية الجديدة لصانعي افلام من ذوي الرؤية. يجب ان تكون الافلام المُقدمة قد لم يسبق لها أن عُرضت دولياً أوعالمياً (أي لم يسبق لها أن عُرضت خارج بلادهم الاصلية) كما يجب ان تكون مدة الافلام خمسين دقيقة أو أكثر. هذه الافلام المقبولة مؤهلة للحصول على جوائز لجنة التحكيم وجائزة الجمهور. من الافلام الحائزة على جوائز والتي عُرضت لأول مرة ضمن المسابقة منذ نسختها الاولى عام 2005: Man on Wire , Up the Yangtze , Grizzly Man , Senna , Manufactured Landscapes , Searching for Sugar Man , Bus 174 , Black Power Mixtape , 5 Broken Cameras , و Afghan Star .

بالاضافة الى المسابقة، تندرج الافلام العالمية تحت هذه الفئات: بارك سيتي عند منتصف الليل (نوع الفيلم)، حدود جديدة ( الافلام التجريبية)، العرض الأول (الافلام التي تُعرض للمرة الاولى لصانعي افلام مهمين). عبر السنوات، برزت افلام عديدة من المهرجان مثل: Bloody Sunday , Whale Rider , Cronos , Motorcycle Diaries , Carne , Dead/Alive , Goodbye Lenin , Calvary , Cube , Zidane , Open Hearts , Haute Tension , Intacto , Shine , Time Crimes , Away from Her , Four Weddings and a Funeral , March of the Penguins , Run Lola Run .

لا نقبل الطلبات المفتوحة لفئة تحت الضوء (أفلام من مهرجانات دولية أخرى).

ليس من الضروري أن يتم التقديم لفئة معينة، أشر فقط اذا كان الفيلم روائي طويل دولي أو وثائقي طويل دولي.

لتقديم فيلمك، الرجاء الضغط على الرابط التالي

Endowment Support

Dwight Anderson Ariel Investments, LLC Lin Arison Susan Cronyn Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Jake Eberts The Charles Engelhard Foundation Entertainment Industry Foundation Jeanne Donovan Fisher

Ford Foundation Mellody Hobson Cindy and Alan Horn Karen Lauder LisaBeth Foundation Occidental Petroleum Corporation Geoffrey K. Sands Target Corporation Steve Tisch Foundation Walter L. Weisman

Going to Cannes! Navigating the 3 Days at Cannes Film Festival Application

Lucy Amelia Palmer

Discovering Cannes Film Festival was free lit up my life. I spent twenty years thinking it cost thousands, only to learn I could get in with the help of my passion for cinema and less than 500 words explaining it. Two weeks ago, I got a confirmation letter saying I’d been selected to attend. This was almost completely thanks to advice I’d found on the internet, as the application (in typically French fashion) is difficult to navigate without help. This article is an attempt to cover things I’ve learned in the process which might help someone in the future.

While the festival is free, like any holiday, money plays a role — accommodation and flights are expensive at the best of times, let alone during the city’s biggest week of the year. A lot of the people who apply are pursuing careers in film and/or have worked hard to afford £1000 flights, £500 accommodation, and £400 ball-gowns. This is one way to experience the festival but it’s not the only way.

Application

I applied for the Three Days at Cannes scheme which is aimed at under-28s and allows them to experience the festival for… uh… three days. However, there is an equivalent process for ‘Cinephiles’ who fit into an older age bracket and wish to attend for the entire week. The application opened in early March and closed in late April, so pay attention during these times. It involved writing a letter of motivation where you outline why you’re applying for the festival which is submitted as a PDF and a passport scan. The cinephile application also requires you submit proof you’re a member of a film club or society.

The letter can be a bit confusing as no one knows exactly what the board is looking for, but for reference, my letter was under a page long. The first two paragraphs were about why I loved film with reference to specific favourites, the third was on the role it played in my life, and the fourth were more specific points on how I’d been involved in cinema societies. It was undeniably cringe-worthy, but it was also honest, and if you don’t genuinely love film you might find it hard to think of things to write about. Below is an excerpt from the letter. I know I mentioned this literally one sentence ago, but I’m sorry for how pretentious it is.

Film hasn’t just been there in the best moments of my life, it’s directly responsible for them. The movie nights, heated discussions, midnight showings and Lord of the Rings marathons have brought a happiness clearer and sharper than any other I’ve experienced. I have fallen in love with film’s capacity to be at once uniquely personal and overwhelmingly collective. There’s nothing like feeling the pain or laughter of a hundred people invested in the same story, each feeling the highs and lows in a way that’s unique to their own life. I can only imagine what it’s like to experience that energy while surrounded by people who love cinema as much as I do.

I mean, there’s always a chance I got lucky. I spent 25% of my letter talking about Celine Sciamma’s Bande de Filles and a week later, her new film was announced as part of this year’s line-up. On the other hand, to be completely honest, part of the reason I chose Bande de Filles out of the millions of films which have influenced my life was because of it was featured on the Director’s Fortnight. You don’t have to list the Palme d’Or winners (in fact, that would be a very bad idea) but think about which films you want to write about and don’t just talk about the first one that comes into your head.

Also, it’s worth noting Shrek was selected in 2001.

I got a pre-selection email about a week and a half after submitting the letter, but this time-frame definitely varies up to at least a few weeks. The email (in French for everyone) says you need to fill out a questionnaire stating you’ve sorted accommodation and transport. After you’ve filled this in, you should receive confirmation a few days later.

I’m planning to take a coach from Paris to Nice, which comes in at £18 each way. While overnight coaches (especially 15-hour ones) are not for everyone and you shouldn’t do anything you feel uncomfortable with, it’s worth looking into as a relatively easy way to cut the cost of travel. I’d also recommend looking at transport arriving on the day before you need to check in as the price difference can be more than an extra night of accommodation, especially if you’re flying. Nice is the main airport most people fly to, but it doesn’t hurt to check Marseille, Turin and even Geneva to see if you can get lucky with a flight-train combination.

In terms of accommodation, it’s a lot easier to find somewhere if you know other people you can share with. The Facebook group can be a way to make contact with others if you don’t know anyone else attending. AirBnB is undoubtedly the most popular means of finding accommodation and it will generally come in at around £50 a night, but there are also hotels in same kind of price range. If you come late, there will always be accommodation available in Nice, although it’s worth remembering the last train leaves Cannes at about midnight.

What To Wear

The basic rule is that during the day you can wear pretty much anything within reason (no swim-suits, for example) but that the dress code for the evenings is much stricter. Men are expected to wear suits with a bow tie and women formal dresses, preferably with heels, although this is reportedly not a necessity. Dress shopping on a budget is always a challenge but remember charity shops exist, and it’s unlikely anyone will notice if you reuse that dress from your aunt’s wedding last year.

Last Thoughts

For anyone interested in film, attending Cannes is a once in a life-time experience. I’ve managed to keep my expenses under £300 which is far from free but is also pretty great for any holiday in the south of France, let alone to attend one of the most famous festivals in the world. I hope this has been helpful in some way to anyone hoping to attend, but if you have any questions please let me know. See you on the other side!

EDIT: This is kicking off so I thought I’d add that I survived and it was amazing! I wrote up my experiences here: https://lucyameliapalmer.weebly.com/blog/three-days-in-cannes-2019 and they’re very subjective, but I had a lot of misconceptions on what it would be like.

Written by Lucy Amelia Palmer

French Literature and Film student in Paris. Fan of flawed masterpieces and the Paddington franchise.

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Oct. 24 - 31, 2024

Top 10 Tips for Submitting Your Film to a Film Festival

07/10/2013 News

Top 10 Tips for Submitting Your Film to a Film Festival (unrelated to whether or not your film is actually good)

The Film Competition deadline is July 15 th , and instead of wasting one of my ten pieces of advice on something so easy, I’ll just explain: that’s a POSTMARK ON OR BEFORE deadline. You can send a film from Antarctica where it takes 4 weeks to arrive, as long as it’s postmarked in Antarctica on July 15 th (we’d love more submissions from Antartica!). If you have a film ready to go, click here to submit today!

Films come into our office in all manner of packaging and processing. Of course, the best films always rise to the top. But there are always more films that we want to play than we have space to play. By now, it’s probably too late to do much to change the quality of the film you are submitting, but you can affect the overall impression your film makes when it arrives. I’ve put together a list of easy fixes or warnings to keep in mind when you send your film to a festival. Some of these suggestions are obvious, but in many cases, they may actually be counterintuitive. Despite this being written for Austin Film Festival’s final deadline, a majority of these hints are just as true for other festivals – always check with the festival’s website (especially their FAQ). Here are some simple tips for getting your film out the door.

1) Set up your DVD to first play your film. There is nothing more tiresome than a ‘splash’ screen announcing your film title on a cartoon marquee or giving the viewer the choice between watching the trailer or the film. You would rather have us watch your film than your trailer. Don’t even distract us by having to click PLAY on a menu screen to start the film. All DVD burning software should have the option of making the actual film file, the DVD’s first play. If you’d like to include a trailer or cast list, you can always have the disk set-up to go to the menu after the film finishes.

2) Don’t waste money or packaging space (and thus increased postage) on sending a lot of additional material with your film. Most festivals will not have time to read your past reviews, director’s statement, bios of your gaffer etc. If they’ve asked for it specifically then sure, but most of the time, all that paperwork will be tossed aside. If you are entering through Withoutabox, that information is included automatically anyway in your online press kit for a festival to look if they so choose.

3) Do, however, send a cover letter. There is a chance that no one will read this of course, but this is your one chance to let someone know something about your film that isn’t obvious without watching it (or even after). Sub-thoughts about the cover letter:

It should be short. Think one paragraph, 4-6 lines total (not sentences). The length of the letter is inversely proportional to the chance it will be read (i.e. long letters hurt my eyes.)
Do address someone by name (do your research, find an actual person at the festival to send the letter to – even if the package is opened by an intern, they may think you know that person. Certainly it looks better than ‘Dear Film Festival Programmer.’)
If you are a festival alumni – put that in there. Seriously. You would not believe the number of people who forget to alert a festival to the fact that they’ve already screened there.
If you are local to the festival, let us know. Every festival wants filmmakers to come and present their films, and if you are more likely to do so, they want to know it. Some festivals have specific programming sections for local or state films, and may even receive grant money based on how many of those films they program. Of course, don’t lie. Also, only include your local status if you actually live there. Also, no extra points are given if your key grip is local.
If your film was shot locally, include that information. This can be in connection with the above, but not always.
If your film would be a World Premiere, put that in there. Some festivals care about that sort of thing. Sometimes it matters more for features than shorts.
If your film played a Major Festival, put that in. Major festivals are things like Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Toronto, Berlin, Hotdocs, Cleveland, San Francisco, and, well, Austin Film Festival.
That’s it. You shouldn’t have to explain why/how you came up with the idea, or what it all means, we should realize the message of your film from watching it.

4) Please don’t send the Programming Team an overload of emails. A majority of the questions we receive have very simple answers that can be found on the FAQ on our website. Questions like ‘when is your final deadline’ have answers posted several places on our website, on Withoutabox and on several other websites. Looking at our FAQ will save you some time.

5) I know that there is a temptation to email every other festival every time your film gets accepted somewhere – don’t do it. Unless your film was a potential World Premiere and now is not, letting us know might not help you. Every festival wants to discover new talent and be an important stop on a filmmaker/film’s journey. Major festivals might not be interested in your film if it has already played a number of small ones.

6) Choose your World Premiere carefully. It may not be in your best interest to play the first festival that accepts you. You only get to World Premiere once. If you get an offer from one festival but would really rather play another (and later) festival, contact the festival you want to play. The worst thing they can tell you is they are not ready to make decisions. If anything, it might make them watch your film faster and make a quicker decision. When your film plays a large festival, it can lead to invitations (and even waivers) from other festivals.

7) Don’t distract the viewer with over-whelming watermarks. You want a screener/judge to get lost in your film, not constantly be reminded that it is ‘Property of.’ If you feel you have to use a watermark, make it small and in the bottom corner and only come up for thirty seconds every ten minutes. Anything longer might make you seem like an overly paranoid filmmaker.

8) If you are sending a “work-in-progress,” let the viewer know. It may have been in your cover letter, but often those are separated from the film before the screener/judge receives it. Put it on a title card right at the open of the film, let the viewer know what work is left to be done.

9) Don’t use fiber-filled envelopes. They are messy and get all over the office. They are impossible to open and may even end up all over your DVD.

10) Finally, send a DVD if at all possible. Even better, if the festival will take it, send a Blu Ray (we don’t take Blu Ray… this year… stay tuned). Withoutabox and Vimeo and all sorts of video sharing sites have made it very easy for filmmakers to mass-enter film festivals, but consider the quality of the file you upload to these sites. Is it really capturing your film the way you want it to be seen? More importantly, a film that is available online can really be watched two ways, by a person sitting at a desk at a computer monitor, or by a person with a lap top (or tablet) on their lap. Again, is that how you want your film viewed? If you send a DVD or Blu Ray, it might be watched on 52” TV, sitting on a couch with a bowl of popcorn.

If you have already sent your film to us or another festival and broke some of these guidelines, don’t worry about it. Remember, the main thing is your film should be good. These other tips merely help a programmer to be rooting for you before the film even starts – because we all want every film to be the greatest film we’ve gotten that year. We all want to play your film. We want to be the ones to discover a brave new talent that will come back to the festival year after year with new projects and build an audience.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Winona Ryder, Willem Dafoe, Michael Keaton, Monica Bellucci, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, and Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid,... Read all After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife. After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

Alfred Gough
Miles Millar
Seth Grahame-Smith
Michael Keaton
Winona Ryder
Catherine O'Hara
310 User reviews
175 Critic reviews
62 Metascore
1 win & 2 nominations

Top cast 48

Beetlejuice

Lydia Deetz

Delia Deetz

Astrid Deetz

Wolf Jackson

Bob-Shrinker

Father Damien

Jane Butterfield

Littler Jane
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

What's It Like on a Tim Burton Set?

Did you know

Trivia Tim Burton has said that this film would only be made if Michael Keaton would return to reprise his role. Keaton said in March of 2014 that this is the only sequel he's interested in doing.
Goofs The film makes a reference to "French physicist" Maria Sklodowska-Curie; she is, in fact, one of the most famous Polish scientists in history, often considered second only to Copernicus.

Beetlejuice : The juice is loose!

Crazy credits The Warner Brothers logo is black and white.
Connections Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Michael Keaton/Connor O'Malley (2024)

User reviews 309

Sep 3, 2024
When was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice released? Powered by Alexa
September 6, 2024 (United States)
United States
Official Site
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 A.D.
East Corinth, Vermont, USA (Winter River, CT)
Plan B Entertainment
The Geffen Company
Tim Burton Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$100,000,000 (estimated)
$110,000,000
Sep 8, 2024
$145,400,000

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 45 minutes

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The Winona Nobody Knows: Revisiting Winona Ryder’s 1999 Girl, Interrupted Cover Story

Image may contain Person Sitting Clothing Footwear High Heel Shoe Furniture Adult Chair and Armchair

“The Winona Nobody Knows,” by Jonathan Van Meter, was originally published in the October 1999 issue of Vogue.

For more of the best from Vogue’ s archive, sign up for our Nostalgia newsletter here .

When I arrive at Winona Ryder’s house in Beverly Hills, she has been awake for only ten minutes. I’m guessing that all the makeup—raccoon eyes, pale foundation, pink lipstick—is from the night before. It’s noon on a Monday in August, a beautiful Los Angeles day. She’s wearing a red-and-white Who T-shirt (the kids are alright), and a turquoise A-line skirt cut off several inches below the knee. Her short, unwashed hair, flecked with blonde tips, is pushed up with a black hairband. On her right wrist are a rubber band and a beaded leather bracelet. Her elegant diamond-and-gold earrings look like they belong to a much dressier outfit. In a word—a word she probably hates— adorable . More Winona clichés: She is tiny, doll-like, luminescent; those brown and huge eyes, impossibly far apart.

Have I mentioned she's adorable? Clutching a cup of tea, Winona heads outside to sit at a table under a big white umbrella on her red brick patio next to an inviting oval-shaped pool. “I live at this table,” she says, and it shows. There are piles of yellowing newspapers, an old candle with cigarette butts in it, a sketchbook, Time magazine, The Paris Review , a copy of Richard Ford’s Wildlife , and the book she's currently reading, An Underachiever’s Diary , by Benjamin Anastas. Over the next two days, I, too, will live at this table while Winona variously sips from a can of Coke and a little bottle of water, smokes my cigarettes, and chatters away about everything but Matt Damon, who is off-limits.

Modest by Hollywood standards, Winona’s house is of the typical two-story Spanish variety; she bought it last year for $2.5 million (“a steal”) from Rene Russo’s sister, who is also the ex-wife of Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist. There's a lot of rock-’n’-roll history in these walls—a selling point, and a fact that thrills her. “Neil Young’s Harvest was written here,” she says as only a person who lives and breathes music could. “That was one of my favorite albums.” Winona recently launched Roustabout Records, an independent label that her older brother, Jubal, and his best friend are running. She lives with her roommate of six years—Brett Brooks, a tall, handsome black man who’s a menswear buyer at Fred Segal—and her little brother, Uri, a 23-year-old actor/writer. “It’s my first real house,” she says. “I have a pool. I have gardeners. It’s an adult house. I definitely couldn’t live here alone.”

She stops suddenly; her eyes widen. “You want to go on a tour now?” she says as if suggesting that we open our Christmas presents a day early. And we’re off on an exhaustive walk through all ten rooms, complete with meticulous narration of each and every tchotchke—the provenance of every piece of art revealed, the story behind dozens of framed snapshots told. She uses the phrase “my prized possession” three times, referring to a W. Eugene Smith photograph of a little black boy climbing up a street sign, circa 1950; a snapshot of herself with her hero Tom Waits, taken at a concert a month ago; and a Sullivan’s Travels poster featuring Veronica Lake. Scattered about the house are memorabilia and artifacts from nearly every movie she's been in—proof, perhaps, that the unreal, out-of-time life she leads with an ever-changing cast of characters has actually happened. There, behind the bar, is a foot-high bronze statue from Alien: Resurrection ; just off the kitchen, on a shelf, a framed page of her narration from Heathers , signed by the director and editor. Next to it, a Polaroid of herself, Glenn Close, and Meryl Streep from The House of the Spirits . Upstairs in her messy bedroom (a mountain of beauty products, right next to the bed; many, many pairs of shoes) we find a snapshot that her mother took of Winona and Daniel Day-Lewis in full period costume on the set of The Age of Innocence . And, of course, there’s the requisite photo of Winona and Marty (Scorsese to you). “My show-off thing,” she says. Most endearingly, she has framed Arthur Miller’s bank deposit slip on which he wrote his home phone number during the filming of The Crucible . Under his number, he had written, “Call!” This gives her no end of joy.

There are other, more personal effects in her bedroom worth mentioning: A two-inch-by-two-inch framed picture of a three-day-old Winona. “My mom’s a Buddhist and I’m in this position that the Buddha is in, and she’s, like, ‘Noni, I know that you're special because of this…’ I’m like, ‘Mom, you probably positioned me like that.’ But this is what's really cool.” She takes the picture out of the frame and turns it over. “My dad was on the lam with Timothy Leary during this time and he showed this picture to him while they were in Switzerland skiing and that was when he asked him to be my godfather, and Tim wrote, ‘Love to the beautiful, newest Buddha girl from... ’—I think he meant to write ‘Godfather.’ They were probably really high.”

Also: A tiny hinged silver Tiffany frame that snaps open and shut like a locket. It was given to her by one of her dearest friends, the interior designer Kevin Haley, a one-time actor whom she's known since she was a baby. On one side of the frame is a picture of a teenage Winona slumped on a couch, dressed in black, wearing movie-star sunglasses, giving the camera the finger. On the other side is the page from The Catcher in the Rye where Holden Caulfield sees fuck you written on the wall. “I was in Paris promoting Mermaids ,” she says, “and I was a total insomniac and going nuts and having the worst time of my life, and Kevin took this picture and gave me this. I just treasure it. I take it with me wherever I go. It's a very adolescent me, but it reminds me of that time so much, and that book was like my bible.”

There’s one framed picture that's lying facedown on a shelf. She turns it over and panicky giggles issue forth. “That’s... that’s ... Matt!” It’s a picture of Damon, the boyfriend. “Trying not to talk about it,” she singsongs, putting the picture back, facedown. The final stop on our tour is a room that she says is—with air quotes—“the ‘office’ I never go into; this is the embarrassing room.” The source of her embarrassment is two framed Academy Award-nomination certificates—one for Best Supporting Actress in The Age of Innocence and one for Best Actress in Little Women —hanging on the wall. “Totally mortifying. Don’t look in that direction. Brett talked me into putting those up.” Embarrassment, you will come to see—usually about issues to do with fame—is a recurring motif in Winona Ryder’s life.

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JAZZ BABY Cream-colored tea dress, Chloé.

Some facts about Winona: She has never been on a late-night talk show (except for Charlie Rose). She has never been to a fashion show. She does not sign autographs (except for children) because she thinks it's just weird. She has taken a vow not to repeat negative gossip, though this remains a struggle (I caught her once telling me that she heard Britney Spears has breast implants). She has never heard a Britney Spears song. She does her own hair and makeup for premieres and award shows. She swore she would never get a tattoo but broke down two years ago after dreaming about one every night for six months. The result is dime-size and elegant and exists on the top of her left forearm. It’s a combination of the Indonesian symbol for compassion and the Tibetan symbol for enlightenment. She turns 28 this month and has had only three serious boyfriends thus far: Johnny Depp for four years, Dave Pirner of the band Soul Asylum for four years, and now Matt Damon. She is a natural blonde but dyes her hair dark brown.

Is Winona all grown-up? Yes and no. She clings to a kind of spacey, lazy, California teen-girl cadence, still uses words like totally and awesome and like and lame . She smokes each cigarette as if she were 13 and it were her very first one: awkwardly (in Woody Allen’s Celebrity , she was quite good as a sexual predator and, at long last, seemed like a grown woman—until she smoked a cigarette). A few times in conversation, as we were living on her patio that first day, I found myself wishing she would get to the point, answer my question, stop drifting away, be more articulate. Apparently she had read my mind, as the next day, out of nowhere, came “I’ve never been that good with interviews, and I know that I’ve probably been really inarticulate. I was reading this interview with Sharon Stone last night, and she’s just really great at it. And I was like, ‘Man, Jonathan’s gonna think I’m sooo lame.’ I wish I could talk like that. This is me, but I just wish I could be more... like... Sharon Stone!”

On the other hand, Winona is very obviously a woman in control of her career and, in some ways, always has been. “Right from the beginning she chose what appealed to her,” says Kevin Haley, who used to take Winona to her auditions before she could drive. “And she’s done that all along. She always had her own taste, and she sticks to it.” At 14, she did Heathers against the advice of everyone around her, and she was right. The recent landslide of dark teen dramas are in many ways the progeny of Heathers. She seems to have a knack for choosing offbeat or dark or literary material that exists just this side of mainstream, like Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Edward Scissorhands, Reality Bites , Little Women —classics, really. Even her big mistakes— Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Alien: Resurrection —are interestingly camp (though she continues to be mortified by both films).

After the long and demanding shoot of Alien: Resurrection in 1997, Ryder, exhausted, decided to take some time off. Her career went into a slump, and a few months turned into almost two years. '“The stuff I was being offered was like: The Rookie Cop!” she says, laughing. “And I was just, like, ‘I’m not The Rookie Cop. I can’t be The Rookie Cop.’ Or this whole craze of super violent independent movies that I thought were ridiculous. They were just excuses to show the most disgusting images and people shooting up, and I was just so repelled by them.” When she finally went back to work she made a film called Lost Souls , directed by Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer she had worked with on How to Make an American Quilt . “I wanted very much to work with Janusz, who’s a friend,” she says haltingly. I had heard through the buzz machine that she hates the film, won’t promote it. “I’ll just say that I haven’t seen it,” she says, batting her eyelashes.

This past winter, she began filming Girl, Interrupted , based on the best-selling memoir by Susanna Kaysen, the rights to which Columbia Pictures bought for producer Douglas Wick. Ryder had been attached to star from the beginning, but after her display of canny instinct on Little Women —she singlehandedly persuaded a reluctant Gillian Armstrong to direct and handpicked much of the young cast, including Claire Danes—Columbia made her an executive producer. “I don’t think I’m going to be some great producer,” she says. “My main reason for wanting to produce was to not let anyone fuck up the material—and there were a lot of people who wanted to make it something else.” After six years, several prospective directors, and many drafts of the script, Girl, Interrupted opens at long last in December, with Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg, and Vanessa Redgrave. “Her act as a producer was pulling together a great vehicle for herself because the world wasn’t doing it,” says James Mangold, the director and screenwriter, whose previous credits include Heavy and Cop Land .

Girl, Interrupted , published in 1993 to much critical acclaim, is an intense and surprising little book about 18-year-old Kaysen’s two years on the ward for teenage girls at McLean, a psychiatric hospital in New England, in the late ’60s. Kaysen’s prose is spare, elegant, and, at times, darkly funny. Through her eyes we meet a bizarre cast of characters—the doctors, nurses, and other girls on the ward. The book raises more questions than it answers—about what it means to be “crazy,” who is and who isn’t—and yet it manages, through Kaysen’s clearheaded and egoless insights, to be deeply satisfying.

“I read that book when I was 21 and freaked ,” says Ryder. “It was like, ‘Oh, my God, my whole life I’ve tried to say that and I’ve never been able to.” Ryder’s connection to the material came through her own unraveling at an early age. She started making movies when she was only 12. By 17, she was having “horrible” anxiety attacks. Over the next few years, things quietly got worse. “I was working constantly,” she says. “I didn’t take any time off. When I did, I was really stressed out. I went through my first breakup with a longterm boyfriend [Johnny Depp]. It was really difficult and weird and it was amplified because it was in the press. I really thought I was losing my mind. I became a terrible insomniac. I lived on airplanes and in hotels. I didn’t really have a home.”

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JAZZ BABY Mad about music, the acclaimed actress has just launched a record company.

One morning she woke up and felt “too sensitive to be living in the world” and checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. “I stayed only a week because no one was talking to me,” she says. “They basically were just trying to medicate me. I was like, ‘No, I need to address my life right now; it’s a mess.’ It was a very dramatic move, and my friends really made fun of me. But I needed help.” Ryder started seeing a therapist she met at the hospital, and eventually her life evened out. “Right as I was coming out of it,” she says, “I read the book. I realized that what happened to me is not unusual. I had the money and the time and a lot of people don’t. Part of what the book says is ‘Everyone’s crazy; they just pretend to be OK so they can get by.’”

Ryder loved Heavy , and when she met Mangold a couple of years ago, she knew she had finally found her director. “It was really obvious that he was the perfect person and he really got it,” she says. “Other writers and directors over the years were way too verbal and cerebral about the whole thing. You either get it or you don’t. It’s like a weird secret handshake.”

Despite some early hesitation, Mangold decided to take the project on because, he says, “directors are opportunists. We look for people and moments that are about to blossom. And what I couldn’t get past was that I had the feeling that Winona was someone who was really ready to reach someplace. There are tremendous parallels between Winona’s experience and Susanna Kaysen’s. I love when I find actors who are ready to address larger issues about themselves and their choices in the material. She operates very much from the gut. She’s very free that way. And she gets the architecture of film on a profound level.”

“I’m very proud of my performance,” says Ryder. “I just trusted Jim so much. This is the first time, aside from working with Martin Scorsese, that I really let everything go. I was incredibly raw. I delivered myself on a platter to him. There’s stuff that I did in this movie that I’ve never done before. I did a scene where I’m in bed with [a guy] and I’m naked, and I was the most comfortable. I did a couple of scenes in a bathtub, naked.” She pauses. “And it’s certainly not a beauty-shot movie for me.”

“She’s phenomenal in it,” says Mangold. “She reaches farther than she’s reached in other pictures. But she also carries with her the strength we know and love. Some people have criticized her for playing young women too often, and here she plays a younger woman, but grows this girl up in a way we’ve never seen. After we passed some point of trust or friendship, she was very clear with me that she expected me to push her past what she thought was her bullshit. She gave me a note on the first day of production reminding me that she really expected that I would not be satisfied with just her big brown eyes. It was not only the actress speaking but also someone who’s been shepherding this movie for six years.”

Other Winona facts: She was born in Winona, Minnesota. She’s Jewish. Ryder is a stage name. Her real last name is Tomchin, but half the family goes by Horowitz because of a snafu at Ellis Island. Don’t ask. It’s complicated. She has an unnatural fear of being separated from her family, which she believes comes from having lost relatives in the death camps. She is obsessed with World War II. Ethel Horowitz, her 99-year-old Russian-immigrant grandmother, lives in Brooklyn and enjoys a friendship with Daniel Day-Lewis. The flapper pictures on these pages are a tribute to her. Dave Pirner, her ex, is her best friend. She still loves Johnny. She gets asked about her “falling out” with Gwyneth Paltrow every day. It’s not as dramatic as you think, but it’s complicated. Don’t ask. Most of her friends are gay. When she was 12 years old, she was beaten up and called “faggot” by a group of kids who thought she was a boy. When she got home from school with a bloody bandage on her head, she went into the bathroom, lit one of her father’s cigarettes, and did a Jimmy Cagney imitation in the mirror. She was discovered by a casting director at Salmagundi (“very Lana Turner”). She has a substantial collection of vintage Hollywood costumes, including Russ Tamblyn’s jacket from West Side Story , Leslie Caron’s dress from An American in Paris , Claudette Colbert’s gown from It Happened One Night , Olivia de Havilland’s blouse from Gone With the Wind , and Sandra Dee’s bikini from the Tammy movies. She has worn a much-altered Ava Gardner dress to three different Hollywood events, for which she has caught some grief from the press.

One evening, Winona, Brett, and I pile into Winona’s brand-new black Mercedes and drive to the Beverly Center on La Cienega to see The Thomas Crown Affair . She’s wearing a dark-denim jacket over a blue hoodie, black chinos, black T-shirt, DKNY sandals. When we arrive in the parking lot, she pulls a funny little black hat over her head. As we escalate through the mall, she avoids making eye contact with shoppers. Earlier in the day, I asked her about fame, how she experiences it. “I am as famous as I ever will be,” she said. “I will never get more famous than I am. Everyone knows me, but it’s more mellow because I was never in a big overnight-success movie. I appreciate that. I’m not a big target. I’m rarely in the tabloids. It’s not a huge intrusion in my life. It is annoying to get followed and photographed when you’re not prepared, like in airports. More than anything, it’s just... embarrassing!”

Back at the mall, we find our seats in the theater and wait for the movie to start. When not working, Ryder goes to the movies every single day. Or she and Brett rent movies, open a bottle of Champagne, and make a night of it. “I’m at the point where I’ve seen every movie in the video store,” she says, “and I’m not kidding. I can’t find a movie that I haven’t seen—except the really cheesy ’80s teen movies.” The American Film Institute sent Ryder its 100 Greatest Movies collection on video as a gift. “I was so excited because I missed the special.” Pause for effect. “ I'd seen every movie in it! That’s 100 movies, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When I was growing up, my mom kept me home from school to watch movies. Kept me home . Like, I would want to go school. I remember trying to explain to my teachers: Ί saw Imitation of Life , and it’s this incredible story!’ And they were like, You missed school .”

In conversation, Winona refers to movies constantly. Clearly they were an unusually important and formative part of her childhood. Now that she’s an adult, movies are her job, her lifeblood. And if she has been criticized, as she says, “for playing one too many brown-eyed waif girls,” who can blame her? That’s what the movies—that’s what we—wanted her to be. But perhaps playing a teenager well past her teens slowed her progress in real life, because she has seemed, for so long, to exist in some strange lacuna between girl and woman. In a few weeks, she will fly to New York to begin work on Autumn in New York , directed by Joan Chen. Richard Gere plays a New York restaurateur/playboy who falls in love with Winona—the much younger woman—who has only a year to live. “It’s a love story with a lot of humor,” says Winona. “Very moving.”

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PLAYING DRESS-UP Winona, a history buff, collects vintage Hollywood costumes (including gowns worn by Leslie Caron and Claudette Colbert). Here she wears an iridescent sequined dress by Chanel. Bracelets by Fred Leighton.

One afternoon, we sit in her living room in front of a gigantic television watching dailies from Girl, Interrupted . As she runs through take after take of a spooky, emotional scene, her face filling up the entire screen, she says, “I learned a lot about my face on this movie. My eyes are kind of big, and I can express more than I want to. I do that in real life.” She turns to me, makes her I eyes huge, and cracks up laughing. “See what I mean?”

Girl, Interrupted begins and ends with a cab ride. “When you look into Winona’s eyes in the beginning and end of this film,” says Mangold, “going to and from the hospital, there’s such a tremendous difference in this woman. Indescribable and lyrical and powerful in terms of the girl you’re seeing arriving, and the woman you're seeing entering the world.” Ryder can no longer play the little girl with the big brown eyes. And if, as James Mangold says, she “grows this girl up” in the movie, perhaps Winona, too, has finally grown up.