How We Select Films
Our selections team consists of 7 individuals who all work within the film industry in varying positions.
On submission
Our selections committee is made up of 7 individuals who have an active part in the film industry. It consists of filmmakers, producers, film journalists, actors, cinematographers and people educated to a high level in film.
Once your film has been submitted the selections committee will watch your film and provide feedback to help in the selection of films for the festival.
We do not have pre-selectors, the person that see's your film votes on 16 different categories to create a score. If the overall score is high enough, it will be selected.
Selection
We select your film in the fairest way possible. This is through comparative statistics!
We guarentee you that your film will be watched by at least 6 of the selections team before a decision is made on whether it will be screened as part of the festival.
Unlike many festivals we have a freedom to extend days or screens, so if your film reaches above a certain pass mark, we will screen it. For example, in 2023 the pass mark out of 10 was 6.8.
The only deviation for this is when there is a substantail similarity in film theming. For example in 2020 we had 34 short films on dementia submitted and in 2021 we had 78 films that centred around lockdown. Many scored highly, but as we also have the job of bringing people to see your film, we need to ensure diversity of content for our audience.
Our selections team are paid to select via the submission fee you paid when you submit your film.
Accepted Or Declined?
If we decline to show your film, you can request feedback from us as to why, You'll then be provided comments from the selections team.
*WARNING* this will be uncensored data. It is entirely possible that you may not like the feedback you receive, which is why we leave feedback as an optional requast.
If your film is accepted, Congratulations! We have a really large number of submissions in comparrison to what we can screen. We will email you to let you know. The film will be scheduled into a programme. Tickets will then go on sale.
As a successful submittor, you will receive two Full Festival passes to allocate however you wish. Unfortunately additional tickets or passes will need to be purchased. Any requests will be refused as per our agreement with the cinema, who support us in exchange of ticket sales.
Judging
The Romford Film Festival asks previous award winners of the festival to act as judges. The decide who wins the awards.
The films are given to judges by the allocator, who ensures that there is no known conflict of interest in judging the film. Obviously there is an element of trust here (after all we cannot know who everyone knows). That said, historically if a Judge realises their is a connection, they have always abstained from voting. We ensure the film nominations are mixed so judges do not vote on the same films. This is to gain alternative perspectives on each film. We also ensure that judges do not converse on nominated and selected films. By keeping the list of films assigned to judges secret we get transparency in viewpoints.
The judging decision is made largely statistically, there are 13 points of scoring for judges, which differs from the points selectors made.
Once the selections in each judging category are made discussion takes place to decide the winner.
From 2024 onwards there will be different sets of awards based on experience/budget/skill.
IMPORTANT: Not every film selected will be nominated for an award. While ideally people want to win awards, its not possible to award everyone. But please remember to accept selection as a huge win - because if your film is accepted at the very least 1000 others were not.
Awards are given on the final day of the festival, and all full festival pass holders and named nominees are invited to the event.
We PaY oUR sElectors and judges
During the festival, the team you meet will all have volunteered their time on different tasks; however we do pay our selectors and judges for the time they are watching your film. This payment comes from your submission fee. Our fees vary between £8 to £35 depending on how close we are to the festival date. The earlier you submit the less you pay.
We pay our film watching team to ensure a duty of care is executed over your film. When you ask people to select or judge for free the results are very mixed. Paying for this service means retaining quality 'judges' and a more in depth feedback on each film watched. Although volunteers can have great enthusiasm, they do not always feel a responsibility for watching all submissions.
Even at the highest rate of festival submission cost (increased because time is getting short and we need to ensure people see your film) a submitter to either Romford Film Festival or Romford Horror Festival gets incredible value for money in comparison to the quality and size of the festival to others.
We never charge filmmakers whose films we have screened Twice!
We are a Not-For Profit Festival
Romford Film Festival has not been created to make money. We were created as an organisation genuinely interested in helping filmmakers. Our income and expenditure is transparent:
* Submissions fees pay a contirbution to marketing, selections committee and judging fees.
* Ticket sales go directly to the cinema, in exchange we get freedom of the venue.
* Merchandise & refreshment sales at The Projectionist Bar are made primarily to finance themselves (to add a more social experience to the event) and also helps us invest in equiptment and growing the event year on year.
* We have two great headline sponsors who provide people and venue support. We also ask companies to fund awards and our programme, as these are some of our biggest expenses.
* We do not currently apply for funding from big organisations such as BFI etc, however we do support small programmes that help local people get into watching film and film making.
Unless you are a filmmaker who has previously screened at Romford, all requests for waivers are refused. Each waiver given reduces the festivals ability to grow as we are indebted to your film being watched by the paid judges and selections team.
Want to submit your film?
Click the link below to submit your film to Romford Film Festival.