Echelon Studios International Film Festival director Jesse Randall knows how hard it can be to find a distribution deal for a movie without a lot of money and connections.

That’s why he and his team at Echelon Studios, a production, domestic distribution and foreign film sales licensing company, launched a new film festival this year dedicated towards helping filmmakers get out of development hell and get their movies in front of people who want to see them.

“Film distribution can be overwhelming for filmmakers without connections. Not everyone has the money to buy $500+ passes to attend the film markets or pay for travel expenses to attend them. Most independent filmmakers are notoriously on a budget, to say the least,” Randall told MovieMaker.

“This film festival would have been so beneficial to me as a filmmaker when I was starting out early in my career. It took my five projects doing the film festival route to get my first distribution deal. The purpose of this festival is to be an endgame for filmmakers who are ready to take their careers to the next level and reach wider audiences on prominent VOD platforms like Tubi, Amazon Prime, Plex TV, Cineverse, and much more,” he added.

“So often, years of work as a filmmaker can be left to rot in a film festival graveyard because filmmakers don’t always know how to find distribution, and we want to help filmmakers avoid that. Nobody dreams of developing and producing a film for years only for no one to ever see it.”

Put on in partnership with NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), the first annual Echelon Studios International Film Festival (ESIFF) took place virtually on Eventive from July 7th to the 14th, 2024, with in-person screenings and a reception taking place on July 13th before NFMLA’s July festival at the South Park Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

The idea for the new festival was first developed by Sandro Gohoho, the president of Echelon Studios. It was partly intended to be a pipeline for acquisitions for Echelon, while also helping independent filmmakers who don’t always have access to film markets or understand the complexities of the distribution process.

Randall, a queer filmmaker who focuses on dark comedies, is an alum of NFMLA himself, having had three short films play there — “The Safety Plan”, “Shadow Self”, and “Spare Change”. He wants to keep their partnership going in the future.

“I hope to continue working with NFMLA as long as they’ll have us. NFMLA helped me get my first distribution deal and I want to help up-and-coming filmmakers get their first distribution deal,” Randall says. “NFMLA does so much great work by partnering with the major studios and other film resources to help connect new filmmakers with opportunities to reach wider audiences with their work. I hope that Echelon Studios can be a lifeline for filmmakers who are starting their careers the same way NFMLA was for me.”

Submissions for the next edition of ESIFF will open on Nov. 1. Next year’s festival will take place in August 2025. 

See the 2024 winners of ESIFF below.

Also Read: Superhero Jesus and a Kaleidoscope Love Story Highlight NFMLA’s InFocus: Puglia Cinema Program

Echelon Studios International Film Festival (ESIFF) 2024 Winners

Best US Short: Get Away from director Michael Gabriele
Best US Feature: Roswell Delirium from director Richard Bakewell
Best International Short: Valley of Souls (Vão das Almas) from directors Edileuza Penha de Souza and Santiago Dellape
Best International Feature: The Founder Effect from director Justin MacGregor
Best Documentary: His Name is Ray from director Michael Del Monte

Best Series: Who’s Annie from director Sophia Peer
Best Trailer: Thirst Trap from director Chantal Massuh
Best Picture: Roswell Delirium from director Richard Bakewell

Main Image: A photo from the first annual ESIFF, courtesy of ESIFF.