E117 - Demystifying Film Festivals with London Short Film Festival’s Philip Ilson

In this episode of The Directors' Take podcast, your hosts Oz Arshad and Marcus Anthony Thomas are joined by Philip Ilson, the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the BAFTA and BIFA Qualifying London Short Film Festival. As a director looking to break into the industry, you need to get your film into reputable film festivals to platform your work and gain industry attention. The rejection and lack of feedback associated with this process can be disheartening to many, so we brought Philip on to help break down their decision-making process for you all. This conversation covers:

 

-What are film festivals?

-How he created LSFF.

-What makes a good short film?

-What is the ideal length for a short film?

-Is there unconscious bias in the selection process?

-Why don't film festivals provide feedback on the shorts submitted?

-What does the festival programming process look like?

-Do film festivals have an agenda?

-What does he think about the film festival pathway?

 

Philip co-founded LSFF with Kate Taylor in 2003 under its original moniker Halloween Short Film Festival, following ten years of running its predecessor The Halloween Society through its various guises as a film and club night.

Philip has previously programmed for BFI London Film Festival, East End Film Festival, Cork Film Festival, Branchage Festival, Latitude and Curzon Soho.

 

Nuggets of the week

 

Oz: The Making of Rocky vs Drago by Sylvester Stallone

Marcus: Arnold - Netflix TV Mini Series

Philip: Whatever happened to the C86 Kids?: An Indie Odyssey by Nige Tassell 

 

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

 

Socials

Instagram: @TheDirectorsTakePodcast

Twitter: @DirectorsTake

LSFF socials: https://shortfilms.org.uk/

 

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.