AfroCine Popayan (Colombia)

25 Aug, 2024, No comments

I submitted my slowcumentary “I'm Martha, Colombian” to the International AfroCine Film Festival in Popayan, Colombia, which does not include a competition. I would be delighted if my three-hour documentary were to be shown there. Thematically, it fits into the program one hundred percent. It remains to be seen whether the organizers of this festival have more courage than the others. This film should definitely get a chance to be seen in Colombia. I should be informed by May 1, 2025 whether the film has been accepted. The event is scheduled to take place from May 19 to 30, 2025.

AfroCine Popayan (Colombia)

AfroCine Popayan (Colombia) at FilmFreeway

Registration SLAMDANCE

11 Aug, 2024, No comments

I have just registered "I'm Martha, Colombian". SLAMDANCE is an important independent film festival with a focus on directorial debuts. On December 19, 2024, I should know whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The event is scheduled to take place in and around Hollywood from February 20 to 26, 2025.

Slamdance Film Festival

Slamdance Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Ethnografilm Paris

4 Apr, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Ethnografilm Festival. I should be informed by February 15, 2025 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from April 17 to 20, 2025.

Ethnografilm Paris

Ethnografilm Paris at FilmFreeway

Black Owl Film Festival

4 Apr, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Black Owl Film Festival. I should be informed by July 14, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from July 30 to 31, 2024.

Black Owl Film Festival

Black Owl Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Registration Montreal (Canada)

29 Mar, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Festival international Présence autochtone ( The Montreal First Peoples’ Festival). I should be informed by July 1, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from August 6 to 15, 2024. The film may not be in the right place there. However, I am of the opinion that films about the descendants of indigenous peoples who have been displaced to other countries should definitely be shown at such a festival.

The Montreal First Peoples’ Festival

The Montreal First Peoples’ Festival at FilmFreeway

Registration CIFF 2024

22 Mar, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF). I should be informed by August 8, 2024 (my 61st birthday) whether my slow documentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from September 12 to 15, 2024. It is said to be one of the best documentary film festivals in the world.

Camden International Film Festival (CIFF)

Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) at FilmFreeway

Quibdó Africa Film Festival

17 Mar, 2024, No comments

I have submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to a third Colombian film festival. The Quibdó Africa Film Festival will take place from September 14 to 18, 2024 in Quibdó, the capital of the Colombian department of Chocó, where Martha was born. Since it was not possible to submit my film via FilmFreeway due to its length, I contacted the festival by e-mail and received an invitation to submit the film that same day. I wrote: "There is probably no other film festival in the world for which this film would be better suited. Martha is not only Afro-Colombian, she was also born in Chocó and lived in Quibdó for a long time. So I very much hope that you can make it possible to show this very special film at your very special festival in September 2024."

I should be informed by July 15, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted.

Quibdó Africa Film Festival

Quibdó Africa Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Stony Brook Film Festival

10 Mar, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Stony Brook Film Festival today. I should be notified by June 1, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from July 18 to 27, 2024.

Stony Brook Film Festival

Stony Brook Film Festival bei FilmFreeway

FICABC Baranquilla (Colombia)

8 Mar, 2024, No comments

I have submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to a second Colombian film festival. The Atlantic International Film Festival in Barranquilla will take place from June 27 to 30, 2024. I should be informed by June 20, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted.

Atlantic International Film Festival in Barranquilla (Colombia)

Atlantic International Film Festival in Barranquilla (Colombia) at FilmFreeway

Toronto, Copenhagen, Cork

2 Mar, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" today to the Toronto Independent Film Festival, the Annual Copenhagen Film Festival and the Cork International Film Festival.

Toronto Independent Film Festival

Annual Copenhagen Film Festival

Cork International Film Festival

Global Perspectives

1 Mar, 2024, No comments

I registered "I'm Martha, Colombian" today just in time for the 27th Film Days Global Perspectives. Would have liked to have done it next year, but the event only takes place every two years, this year from May 14 - 16, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main. It is one of the few occasions that a German subtitled version could be shown.

27th Film Days Global Perspectives

Registration Nòt Film Fest

25 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Nòt Film Fest, "The Sundance of Italy". I should be informed by July 5, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from September 6 to 11, 2024.

Nòt Film Fest

Nòt Film Fest at FilmFreeway

Registration Studio City Festival

25 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Studio City International Film Festival in Los Angeles. I should be informed by July 10, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from August 30 to September 5, 2024.

Studio City International Film Festival

Studio City International Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Steve Sturla, the festival director immediately responded to my submission and refunded my $49.50 submission fee with the following explanation:

Frank, I debited your entrance fee back to your account. We would never screen a 3-hour documentary, so it would not be right for our festival to keep your submission fee. Good luck with your film but I highly suggest that you think about doing a major edit on your film before submitting it again to a festival. I doubt if anyone will screen a documentary of that length and I would hate to see you spend a lot of money on submission fees unnecessarily.

Wish you all the best,

Steve Sturla
Festival Director

I replied to him like this on February 28, 2024:

Dear Steve Burla,

Thank you very much for your prompt message and response! For that alone, you deserve to keep the registration fee. Your response is the most honorable I've yet experienced from a film festival. For that reason alone I will recommend you everywhere.

Regarding the length of my film, you are certainly right and then again you are not. I could shorten the movie slightly, for example to 80 minutes. But that would be like sending Martha to the screen without legs. There have already been a few festivals that wanted to show my three-hour slow documentary. However, I hadn't allowed it because, crazy as I am, I still think I have a small chance at important festivals, some of which require world premieres. You think nobody would show a three-hour documentary? Why not? Three- or four-hour feature films are also shown. Do documentaries have to be fundamentally worse or more boring than feature films? I don't think so. The Berlinale showed a 14-hour documentary this year. Perhaps my slow documentary is not too long, but still too short? With this not entirely serious statement, I would like to take my leave with the utmost respect for you and your work. I will never forget your reply.

Kind regards from Frank Sputh

Manhattan Film Festival

25 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Manhattan Film Festival. I should be informed by May 7, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from June 13 to 23, 2024. MFF has been named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “Coolest Film Festivals in the World,” and “25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee,” and also "Top 100 Best Reviewed" on FilmFreeway!"

Manhattan Film Festival

Manhattan Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Cinemancia Medellín

13 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" for the first time to a Colombian film festival, which I didn't know before, but which makes an extremely good impression on me and doesn't charge any fees. Great! The fourth edition of the Cinemancia Metropolitano film festival will take place from September 5 to 14, 2024 in the 10 municipalities of the Aburrá Valley (Envigado, Medellín, Sabaneta, Bello, Caldas, La Estrella, Itagüí, Copacabana, Girardota and Barbosa) in the department of Antioquia. I should be informed by July 22, 2024 whether my slowcumentary will be shown. In 2023, there were 6132 participants, 80 films, 84 screenings, 10 municipalities and 30 cinemas! "Cinemancia is a festival that celebrates cinema and our desire to gather around images and sounds. We are committed to making this space - physical, sentimental, spiritual, fantastic - a place where movies really matter. A place where film is conceived and received as a connecting experience with the world. At Cinemancia, all emotions are experienced. We present a cinema that does not hide its wounds, a cinema that is always ready to take risks and make leaps without a net. We celebrate a space of daring, mystery and living matter. All screenings take place in cinemas, cultural venues, museums and theaters that are easily accessible to viewers who wish to travel and participate in the program."

Cinemancia Festival Metropolitano de Cine

Cinemancia Festival Metropolitano de Cine at FilmFreeway

GFQ 1-2024

7 Feb, 2024, No comments

"I'm Martha, Colombian" is one of nine new German documentaries presented in the current issue of German Films Quarterly.

I'M MARTHA, COLOMBIAN in GFQ 1-2024

German Films Quarterly 1-2024

Registration Sheffield DocFest

5 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" today to the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, the most important documentary film festival in the UK. I should be informed in April 2024 whether my slow documentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from June 12 to 17, 2024.

Sheffield DocFest

Registration SF DocFest

3 Feb, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival today.

"We screen the best documentaries from around the world at the Roxie Cinema, the oldest art house theater west of the Mississippi. Many of our titles end up with calendared runs at the Roxie later in the year. We get great press coverage in San Francisco, the second largest film market in the country, plus industry reviews. San Francisco is a very receptive town for documentaries and our fest has built a passionate following over the past 24 years."

I should be informed by May 7, 2024 whether my slowcumentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from May 30 to June 9, 2024.

San Francisco Documentary Film Festival at FilmFreeway

Press Coverage SF DocFest 2023

Registration LIFF Beirut

27 Jan, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Lebanese Independent Film Festival (LIFF) today. I should be informed by mid-August 2024 whether my slow documentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from September 18 to 22, 2024.

Lebanese Independent Film Festival (LIFF)

Lebanese Independent Film Festival (LIFF) at FilmFreeway

Registration Tribeca Festival

16 Jan, 2024, No comments

I submitted "I'm Martha, Colombian" to the Tribeca Festival New York. Robert de Niro was or is still one of the organizers? I should be informed by the end of April 2024 whether my slow documentary has been accepted. The festival is scheduled to take place from March 5 to June 16, 2024.

Tribeca Festival

Tribeca Festival at FilmFreeway