What do you have to do to be able to show a film in a film festival?

Question

I am part of a group at my school, and we are having a film festival later this year. Is it legal to simply show the film? Or do we have to go through some legal process?

We may charge a small admission for this event, but that would only be to raise funds for our organization. If charging admission makes the process more complicated, we might just do away with that and sell concessions to make money.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

To charge for the film would be a danger area without permission from the film company which released the movie. They usually hold the rights. Contact them for WRITTEN permission and include that it's a fundraiser in the letter. My bet is that they'll deny use but it never hurts to try.

Answer 2

Contact the distributors for the film and they wil tell yo uwhat you need to do. It will vary film by film.

If you don't know who the distributor is, then contact the filmmaker to find out.

If there is no distributor, then the flimmaker is the person to contact.

I doubt if it will make any difference if you raise money by selling concessions or tickets. The distributors didn't just fall off the banana boat.

Source(s):

I am a film finance industry analyst.