Film Festival Submission Materials Checklist

The Short Answer

Festival materials come in two waves. Before you submit, you need a working screener link, a password that will not change, English subtitles if the film is not in English, a synopsis, credits and a few stills. After you are accepted, the festival will ask for exhibition files, which usually means a DCP or a high quality file, caption or subtitle versions, trailers and publicity materials. Prepare the first wave now and know what the second wave will cost in time and money.

This post is the materials list. For the strategy of choosing festivals and building buzz, read film festival marketing strategy, and for the press side, our EPK production guide.

Wave One: Before You Submit

The screener

Festival rules we read on FilmFreeway pages agree on a few things:

• A password-protected Vimeo link is the most commonly named option, and some festivals say it is the preferred one. If you use Vimeo, check the embed setting, because one festival notes the player will not show inside the submission platform otherwise.
• Downloadable file links such as Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer are refused by some festivals and allowed by others. Read each festival's rule.
• Keep the link and password alive through the whole festival cycle. Several festivals say a deleted screener or a changed password makes a submission incomplete, and some say fees are not refunded. If you change either, email the festival at once.
• Check the compressed version. One festival warns that subtitles can become indistinct once a site recompresses the video, so watch your own link end to end after upload.
• A screener is not the final master. Watermarked or timecode-burned screeners are normal for unreleased work. See watermarking and secure screeners.

Subtitles and language

Festivals commonly ask for English subtitles on any film with significant non-English dialogue. Tribeca's published rules from earlier years, for example, say non-English films must have English subtitles at the time of submission, and that a dialogue list is not accepted. Rules change each year, so read the current page.

Written and visual materials

Keep all of this in one folder, named so any collaborator can find it. A structure is in film project folder structure and naming.

Wave Two: After You Are Accepted

Each festival sends its own technical specifications, and they differ. Two real examples of how: Sundance's 2026 "What to Expect" document says English-language projects must deliver an open caption version of their DCP for in-person screenings, and non-English projects must deliver a version with standard English subtitles and one with English SDH subtitles. It also recommends an audio description track. Do not assume every festival asks for the same.

Plan for these items:

1. 1Exhibition format. Many festivals screen from a DCP. Some accept ProRes or other files for smaller venues, and some online festivals use their own platform. Wait for the festival's tech sheet before spending money on a DCP, but find out early how long a DCP takes and who can make it.
2. 2Frame rate and audio. DCP is typically 24 fps with 5.1 or stereo audio. If you shot at another frame rate, ask your post team how it will be conformed.
3. 3Captions and subtitles. Open caption versions, SDH and subtitles are separate files. See captions and subtitles for film and trailers.
4. 4Audio. Final mix, with a stereo version, and any dialogue list or cue sheet requested.
5. 5Publicity kit. Press stills with captions and credits, director photos, a bio and a trailer. Send them in the folder structure the festival asks for.
6. 6QC the exhibition file on a screen close to the venue's, not only on your laptop.
7. 7Delivery path. Festivals use secure upload links, hard drives or both. Ask who ships and who pays.

A Pre-Submission Checklist

• Screener link tested on a phone and in a private browser window
• Password written down in a shared document, not changed
• English subtitles included and checked after compression
• Credits spelled and ordered finally
• Synopses and statements proofread by someone else
• Stills named, credited and compressed to a sensible size
• Premiere status and prior screenings listed accurately
• Budget set aside for a DCP, caption versions and shipping if you are accepted

What Often Goes Wrong

• Submitting a work-in-progress cut and then changing the runtime after acceptance
• A screener that expires halfway through programming
• Subtitles that look fine in the editor and unreadable on the festival link
• Sending a deliverable to the festival with a different cut from the screener
• Forgetting that open captions and an SDH version are each a separate export and QC pass

Want a person to help?

Our post-production team can prepare festival exports, caption and SDH versions and exhibition files, and check them before they go out. See our post-production services, or contact us with the festivals you are targeting and your picture lock date.