A Pre-Submission Checklist: Twelve Things to Check Before You Press Send

Read the rules twice. Every festival publishes its own eligibility rules: runtime limits, completion dates, premiere requirements, language and subtitle expectations. Read them once to understand and once with a pen, ticking each line against your film. If a rule is unclear, email the festival and keep the reply.

Watch your final export, start to finish. Not the timeline, the actual file you are uploading. Look for black frames at the ends, audio that drifts out of sync, stray text, and a missing credit. Do it on a different screen than the one you edited on.

Check your sound on cheap speakers. Many jurors watch on a laptop. If dialogue disappears on small speakers, fix the mix before you submit, not after. Name your files sensibly. Use a plain pattern such as film-title_poster.jpg and film-title_stills_01.jpg. Avoid spaces and odd characters, and never leave a file called final_FINAL_v7.

Match your details everywhere. Title spelling, runtime, director name, country, and year should be identical in the form, on the poster, and in the credits. Mismatches look careless and make programmers wonder what else was missed.

Test your screener link. If you are sharing a private link, open it in a private browser window while logged out. Check the password, the expiry date, and whether downloads are allowed or blocked.

Confirm credits and permissions. Make sure every person listed agreed to be listed, and that you have written permission for any music, artwork, locations and people who appear on screen. If something is uncertain, ask a professional.

Save a submission record. Keep a simple spreadsheet of where you submitted, when, which version, and the deadline for hearing back. Future you will be grateful. Finish with a short break. Come back the next morning, run the list one more time, and then submit with confidence.