We love the Nickel Film Festival. Why? Not only is it a great festival at the far eastern tip of Canada, but they also send you money. Well they sent me money anyhow. Twice!
Gone Fishing played there last year and as part of the way Canadians do things (they go out of their way to send the creators of the work some Canadian dollars) I ended up with a cheque for a couple of hundred bucks. This was to pay us a share of the festival takings. Really rather nice I thought (in light of the several thousand pounds I had spent on application fees to other festivals where I saw nothing back).
And then just today I got a lovely letter and another checque from Nickel, for the roadshow where they screened the Best Of The Festival – so I ended up with another couple of hundred bucks! Sweet!
Now I know most festivals struggle financially, but Nickel DOES prove that even with short films, it is possible to make enough money to run a festival aswell as send a little something back to the film makers. A few other festivals have sent back similar small amounts of cash (all Canadian because of Government support I assume), but only Nickel has sent TWO!
So when you are considering which festivals to apply for on your next short film, remember Nickel, you could just come out of it ahead financially.
Onwards and upwards!
Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author
www.livingspirit.com
mail@livingspirit.com
Hey Chris,
Thanks for your great comments about the Nickel, we love to see great films coming our way so keep on spreading the news.
With regards to the screening fees, it’s true that we get government support to help us pay them and we are very thankful for that.
Meanwhile, we are still a small festival on a very limited budget BUT we feel its important to pay the creators of the work we show so we just spend less money on other things that we feel we can do without… it would be great to see that in many other festivals, wouldn’t it? Without independent filmmakers, festivals like us wouldn’t exist so it’s only fair to support those that “feed” us…
All the best,
Ruth Lawrence
Executive Director
Nickel Independent Film Festival