Saturday, July 5th, 2025

What Happens After You Submit Your Film?

You’ve uploaded your film, filled in the form, paid the submission fee, and hit send. Now what?

For most filmmakers, the submission process is a bit of a black box – especially for festivals that don’t offer personal feedback. But knowing what happens behind the scenes can help you manage your expectations, reduce your anxiety, and understand how to strengthen your submissions in future.

At Norwich Film Festival, we believe in transparency. So here’s a breakdown of what typically happens after your film enters the system – and why it takes as long as it does.

1. Your Film Is Logged and Tagged

Once your film is submitted through FilmFreeway, it’s automatically assigned a reference number and added to our programming database. We don’t just hit play right away. First, our team checks the submission page to ensure all the required information is present: runtime, synopsis, production year, category, screening format, and other key data. We also confirm that the video file plays properly and meets technical specifications.

Beyond this, we extract and organise specific metadata for internal review. We log details like country of origin, director age and gender, whether it’s a first-time film or part of a more seasoned filmmaker’s portfolio. This information helps us understand the shape and diversity of our festival programme. It also allows us to identify potential gaps — for example, if we’re seeing fewer films from certain regions, demographics, or genres — and think proactively about how to address them.

Some of this data also supports future funding applications and impact reports. It helps us evidence the reach of our festival, the types of stories we platform, and the voices we amplify. It’s admin, yes — but it’s the kind that can shape a festival’s values in practice.

We also use this data to keep ourselves accountable. Analysing the diversity of submissions — and comparing it with the films we ultimately programme — helps us reflect on unconscious bias, assess representation across categories, and improve future outreach. For example, if we notice low submission numbers from LGBTQ+ filmmakers or underrepresentation from certain regions, demographics, or genres, we can look at ways to encourage those voices — through targeted marketing, partnerships, or curated strands. Data helps us ask better questions, not just about what we’re selecting, but why.

2. Review Assignments Begin

Our team of pre-selectors – a mix of programmers, filmmakers, industry professionals, and regular film lovers with no production background – are then assigned a batch of films to watch. At NFF, we aim for each film to be viewed by at least three or four reviewers, and always by at least one member of our core executive team. These reviewers come from a range of backgrounds, age groups, identities, and viewing habits. Some love bold experimental work, others lean towards traditional narratives. Some have years of experience working in film, while others simply bring a fresh, audience-first perspective. This variety isn’t accidental – we believe our screening committee should reflect the diversity of our cinema-going audience and help us avoid narrow definitions of quality or appeal.

Each reviewer watches between 20 and 150 short films over a four to five month period. To help ensure fairness and consistency across the board, we provide reviewers with clear guidelines and a standardised scoring rubric focused on storytelling, originality, technical craft, and emotional impact. We also regularly check in with our screening panel to answer questions, align on expectations, and flag potential inconsistencies. This oversight helps ensure that all films are being evaluated against the same set of standards, regardless of who’s reviewing them. They assess each film on a variety of criteria: storytelling, originality, performance, cinematography, pacing, tone, sound, and how well the film achieves what it sets out to do. They also submit internal notes and scores – which are reviewed by other programmers – but these comments are never shared with filmmakers. This helps us avoid bias, encourage different viewpoints, and make sure films get a fair and consistent appraisal from multiple angles.

3. Internal Debates (and Defenders)

After initial reviews, films with strong consensus – either positive or negative – are sorted accordingly. The middle ground is where things get interesting. Films that divide opinion are discussed in programming meetings. This is where advocates step in.

At NFF, our executive programming team holds review meetings every four to six weeks throughout the submission period. In these meetings, we look at the scores and notes left by our volunteer screeners, and start discussing the most recent batch of films. If there’s division on a particular title, we often flag it for additional review – sometimes by a different group of screeners or a member of the core team – in order to see if a clearer consensus can be reached.

At this stage, we also begin to compile a longlist of films that might make the final programme. This list can grow to several hundred titles, and serves as a working draft that helps us start thinking about programming ideas, themes, and the shape of the festival overall. It’s not a shortlist or a ranking – it’s a flexible, evolving pool of strong contenders.

These meetings are also where programmers champion films they feel strongly about. Everyone is encouraged to make a case for the titles that have stuck with them. Sometimes these are big audience-pleasers, and sometimes they’re quieter films that provoke strong emotional or intellectual responses. Maybe it’s rough around the edges but says something powerful. Maybe it’s a tone piece that lingers. Maybe it’s a risk. These are the kinds of internal discussions that shape a festival’s personality – and they’re why no algorithm can replace human curation.

4. Curation, Not Ranking

It’s tempting to think of festival selection as a merit-based scorecard. But it’s not that simple. Programming a festival is like curating an exhibition – we’re not just looking for “the best” films. We’re looking for variety, balance, and conversation between films.

Much of this work happens after submissions close, once we have the full pool of eligible films. From that point, our programming team begins shaping the longlist into an actual programme. We begin by looking at our key strands – such as British short film, International, Comedy, Animation, Documentary, and LGBTQ+ – as well as recurring audience favourites like genre nights or family-friendly screenings. These award categories and themed strands are a helpful starting point.

But the rest is entirely shaped by what comes through the door. If one of our programmers wants to put on a sci-fi strand, but we didn’t receive any sci-fi films worth screening, then we pivot. On the flip side, sometimes a surprising theme emerges naturally – like a year where multiple films all tackle the same topic in vastly different ways. We love when that kind of accidental curation takes place.

Still, too much of a good thing can pose a challenge. Ten excellent films about losing your job and rediscovering yourself might each be worthy on their own, but programming them all would lead to repetition. In those cases, we have to whittle them down – looking at which ones land most effectively, offer something distinct, or bring a new perspective.

We also curate a few “pick n mix” screenings each year, called The Mix Tape (Volume 1, 2, or 3), which feature a wide blend of genres and tones. These screenings often include comedies, horrors, documentaries, and other standout shorts that may not fit into a themed strand but reflect something important about the festival’s overall tone and identity. These sessions are a great way to bring together an eclectic mix of stories and styles that don’t quite fit into a themed strand, but deserve an audience nonetheless, where we simply showcase brilliant films regardless of theme. It’s a great way to give space to work that doesn’t fit neatly into a category, and to let audiences sample the broad range of stories and styles we’ve selected.

5. The Hardest Part: Saying No

We reject far more great films than we’d like to. It’s a numbers game. When we say “Unfortunately…” in our email, we mean it. Some films don’t land with the team, some don’t fit the programme, and some just get edged out by others.

It’s never personal. And it doesn’t mean your film wasn’t good enough. Often, it means your film was in a highly competitive category or was just one good film among many.

Sometimes it’s even more painful when we have to say no to a filmmaker we’ve screened before. We don’t like to show favouritism, so every submission is assessed on its own merits, year by year. Just because we’ve worked with someone in the past doesn’t guarantee future inclusion – we always try to keep the playing field level.

Length can also be a deciding factor. Our screenings typically last 90 minutes, so a 25-minute short takes up almost a third of that time. That film has to be exceptional to justify its place. Conversely, a brilliant 4-minute short can slot almost anywhere and help us bridge gaps in a line-up. Timing matters, both in narrative pacing and in programming strategy.

Sometimes we get a flood of excellent films exploring the same theme. We’ve had years where multiple entries tackle issues like grief, identity, or starting over after redundancy. We can’t programme every version of the same story, no matter how strong they are. In these situations, we’re forced to make tough calls based on nuance: tone, structure, originality, or emotional resonance.

And yes – it’s always difficult. Every “no” is a decision we take seriously. But remember: a brilliant film that doesn’t get selected one year might have made the cut the year before or the year after. Festival selection often comes down to timing, fit, and flow. Even an outstanding film can be edged out if it overlaps with others in theme, tone, or length. A different year, a different line-up, and that same film might have shone. It’s a reminder that the programming process is fluid, subjective, and always evolving — and that your work may still resonate deeply, even if this isn’t the moment it makes it to screen. That doesn’t diminish your work. It simply means the story you’ve told will find its audience another way, or at another time.

6. Final Selections and Notifications

Once the line-up is locked, all filmmakers are notified at the same time. While many receive the difficult news that they weren’t selected this time (a word we much prefer to “rejected”), others receive the message they’d been hoping for: their film is officially part of the Norwich Film Festival.

At that point, we welcome them into the NFF community for that year. We request as many marketing materials as possible – stills, trailers, posters, bios, and more – so we can promote their work across our platforms. We’ll post information on our website, showcase stills and clips on social media, feature films in our guides and printed programmes, and include them in our season trailers. If we can, we also conduct interviews with filmmakers to further boost their exposure.

But this only works when filmmakers are contactable and engaged. Sadly, we’ve had cases where a filmmaker has been selected and then gone completely silent – not replying to emails, not sending screening copies, and missing out on months of valuable promotion. If you’ve spent time and money making your film, make sure you’re available to the festivals that want to celebrate and share your work. We want to champion you – but we can’t do it without you.

Final Thoughts

Submitting to festivals can be daunting – especially when you don’t know what’s happening on the other side. But understanding the process can help take some of the sting out of rejection and reframe how you approach your next submission.

At NFF, we’re not just looking for perfection. We’re looking for perspective, voice, and connection. But we also know how long and complex the selection process can be – which is why it’s so important to research where you’re submitting. Finding the right fit for your film is much more valuable than casting a wide net. Take time to research festivals that align with your film’s tone, values, and goals. Look at past programmes, mission statements, and the types of stories they champion. Tailoring your submissions not only saves money but increases your chances of connecting with an audience that’s primed to appreciate your work. Take time to read about each festival’s values, past programming, and submission categories. Tailor your submissions wisely.

By the time this blog is posted, our submissions for the year will have closed. Filmmakers will receive their notifications in August – and while not everyone will make the final selection, every film submitted will have been watched, discussed, and considered with care.

So keep making work. Keep submitting. And remember that selection isn’t the only marker of success.

Want more programming insights? Browse our latest blogs at norwichfilmfestival.co.uk/blog.

And if you found this helpful, share it with another filmmaker. The better informed we all are, the stronger the work gets.

See you on the circuit.

Submissions to NFF2025 are currently closed.

Posted in: Advice