I Didn’t Get Into Sundance…Now What?: A Guide to Festivals That Distributors Attend Beyond the ‘Big Five’

Say you’ve got a great indie film. But it didn’t get into Sundance. Or Cannes. Or Berlin. Or Venice. Or Toronto. Does that mean you should kiss your dreams of distribution goodbye?

Definitely not. Although getting into one of the ‘Big Five’ festivals is certainly a huge honor, there are many festivals around the globe where your film can catch a distributor’s eye.

I surveyed several independent film distributors, including Abramorama, Cohen Media Group, Dark Sky Films, XYZ Films, and Juno Films, about which festivals outside of Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and TIFF they find valuable for finding new films and talent.

The list is presented in alphabetical order for both U.S. and International festivals.

Please note: This list is not exhaustive of festivals that distributors attend; it is the opinion of the distributors who responded to my survey.

United States Festivals

AFI Fest (Los Angeles, CA)

fest.afi.com

October 22-26, 2025

An Academy Awards-qualifying festival for short films, AFI FEST showcases the best films from across the globe to captivated audiences in Los Angeles. With a diverse and innovative slate of programming, the festival presents a robust lineup of fiction and nonfiction features and shorts presented in established AFI FEST sections, along with panels and conversations featuring both master filmmakers and new cinematic voices.

Boston Underground Film Festival – (Boston, MA)

bostonunderground.org

March 19-23, 2025

For over 23 years, the Boston Underground Film Festival has been bringing the finest in vanguard filmmaking from all over the world to New England cinephiles. Offering cutting-edge films—and films with a cutting edge—BUFF celebrates unconventional stories, idiosyncratic voices, fever dreams, nightmarish visions, and all manner of cinematic forms, in service of an audience ravenous for an annual sensory bacchanalia from beyond the mainstream.

Brooklyn Horror – (Brooklyn, NY)

brooklynhorrorfest.com

October 16-25, 2025

Bringing the best of domestic and international genre cinema to New York City since 2016, the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is a premier East Coast genre festival. Brooklyn Horror not only provides the nightmare fuel that audiences expect, but also prides itself on challenging those expectations, spotlighting films that push the boundaries of what is normally deemed horror. Taking place in venues throughout the borough every October, BHFF compliments its ambitious features and shorts programming with exciting and unique live events, crafting a must-attend festival experience for industry members and film fans alike.

Chicago International Film Festival (Chicago, IL)

chicagofilmfestival.com

October 15-26, 2025

The Chicago International Film Festival is North America’s longest-running competitive film festival. Founded in 1964, the festival was created to provide an alternative to the commercial Hollywood movies that dominated the city’s theaters. Since then, the Festival has grown to become a world-renowned annual event.

Seeking out the best in international cinema, the Festival has discovered new talents and opened windows to a world of film previously or otherwise unavailable in Chicago. Over the years, the Festival has introduced creative new directors like Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Bertrand Tavernier, and Margarethe von Trotta, among many others, to Chicago. The Festival is also dedicated to showcasing films made by filmmakers from across the state of Illinois.

DC/DOX (Washington, DC)

dcdoxfest.com

June 12-15, 2025

A relative newcomer on the festival scene, DC/DOX, now in its 3^rd year, is dedicated to promoting documentary film as a leading art form, championing new voices and innovations in non-fiction storytelling, and using film as a catalyst to engage the most compelling issues of our day. Filmmakers from across the globe come together in June at DC/DOX to celebrate the best in contemporary documentary storytelling, both feature and short form. In addition to screenings, the Reality Check Forum at the festival offers an inspiring space for dialogue and collaboration through an engaging series of panels, workshops, masterclasses, and performances.

New York Film Festival (New York, NY)

filmlinc.org/about-us/new-york-film-festival

September 26—October 12, 2025

The New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. Since 1963, the New York Film Festival has brought new and important cinematic works from around the world to Lincoln Center. In addition to the Main Slate official selections, the festival includes Currents, Spotlight, Revivals, and Talks.

Overlook Film Festival (New Orleans, LA)

overlookfilmfest.com

April 3 – April 6, 2025

The Overlook Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of all things horror held in America’s most haunted city, New Orleans. Each spring, genre fans and cinephiles from the world over convene in the heart of the French Quarter, home to countless apparition sightings, voodoo legends, vampire curses, and even some lore related to its namesake, horror fiction’s most frightening creation.

The Overlook has been listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Best Genre Festivals in the world every year since its inception, and has been called “one of the world’s best festivals” by FANGORIA and “America’s most exciting new genre fest” by IndieWIRE.

Panic Fest (North Kansas City, MO)

panicfilmfest.com

March 27 - April 6, 2025

Voted one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by MovieMaker Magazine in 2024, as well as one of FilmFreeway’s Top 50 Best Genre Festivals, Panic Fest enters its 13th year as one of the top genre festivals in the world. Panic Fest’s approach is unique in crafting an inclusive community that brings filmmakers and general audiences together for the pure love of all things genre. The festival specializes in offering a diverse mix of emerging horror, thriller, and sci-fi filmmakers with veteran filmmakers, as well as special events, such as live podcasts.

Sidewalk Film Fest (Birmingham, Alabama)

sidewalkfest.com

August 18th – 24th, 2025

Consistently rated one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Coolest Film Festivals and Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, the Sidewalk Film Festival, now in its 27^th year, takes place in Downtown Birmingham’s Historic Theatre District, and offers screenings of more than 200 films, as well as filmmaker Q&As, panels, workshops, networking events, and parties.

South by Southwest – SXSW (Austin, TX)

sxsw.com

March 7-15, 2025

The SXSW Film & TV Festival is known for launching a high-caliber and diverse program of film, TV, and XR projects, and serving as a global gathering for smart, enthusiastic, influential audiences that drive conversation for months to come. Creatives of all stripes gather each March in Austin, Texas for the Film & TV Festival, as well as the SXSW Conference, Music, and Comedy Festivals, which all run concurrently and allow the opportunity to connect with a wide array of industry experts and influencers in pop culture.

Tribeca Film Festival (New York, NY)

tribecafilm.com

June 4-15, 2025

Founded in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment. Tribeca Enterprises, the multi-platform media and entertainment company that owns and operates the Tribeca Festival, also operates Tribeca Studios and production company m ss ng p eces. Tribeca Enterprises brings artists and audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and immersive. Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.

International Festivals

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

festival.idfa.nl/en

November 12-23, 2025

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, or IDFA, is the world’s largest documentary film festival, held annually in the Netherlands since 1988. Each November, the festival takes place over the period of 11 days, in more than 40 venues around Amsterdam, boasting an audience of approximately 300,000 documentary lovers. IDFA also welcomes a record number of documentary film professionals, as over 3,500 gather every year for the festival, from over 100 countries.

In addition to the festival, IDFA has developed several professional activities, contributing to the development of filmmakers and their films at all stages. At the co-financing and co-production market, IDFA Forum filmmakers and producers pitch their plans to financiers; at Docs for Sale, new documentaries are on offer to programmers and distributors; the IDFA Bertha Fund supports filmmakers and documentary projects in developing countries, and the IDFAcademy offers international training programs for up-and-coming documentary talents.

HOT DOCS Canada (Toronto, ON)

hotdocs.ca

April 24 to May 4, 2025

Each year, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival—North America's largest doc festival, conference, and market—presents cutting edge films from around the world. Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada, a national association of independent documentary filmmakers. In 1996, Hot Docs became a separately incorporated organization with a mandate to showcase and support the work of Canadian and international documentary filmmakers and to promote excellence in documentary production.

In addition to running the festival, Hot Docs is also a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating the art of documentary and creating production opportunities for documentary filmmakers. Year-round, Hot Docs supports the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs and a multi-million-dollar production fund portfolio, and also fosters education with its popular free program, Docs For Schools.