Setting up your Film Festival

Film Festival is its own module at /film-festival. Enable it in Settings -> Modules; it turns on Cinema at the same time, because your screeners and virtual screenings are delivered through it.

Start on the Dashboard. It shows a setup checklist built from your actual data, so it always reflects what is really configured. Work down it in order and every step deep-links to the panel that completes it.

Everything below is on the Settings tab, and it saves automatically as you type.

Festival identity:
- Festival name, edition (for example "12th Annual"), first and last day, and a tagline
- These appear on your public program, your passes, and every email a filmmaker gets

Submissions:
- Turn "Accepting submissions" on when your call for entries opens. While it is off, the Submit a Film block on your site says so instead of taking entries you are not accepting
- Add deadline tiers with a label, a closing date, and a fee. A film submitted on or before a tier date is charged that tier's fee at submission. Set a fee of zero for a free tier
- Define submission categories. Filmmakers choose one when they submit, and you can assign reviewers by category

Eligibility:
- Earliest completion year, maximum runtime, and whether a premiere is required
- These are checked when the filmmaker submits, so an ineligible film is turned away at the form rather than consuming a reviewer's time. Leave a rule blank to not enforce it

Judging rubric:
- Add the criteria your reviewers score against, each with a weight and a maximum
- Weights are relative. 3 / 2 / 1 is fine, nothing has to add up to 100
- Turn on Blind review to withhold the director, country, and filmmaker name from reviewers while they score

Awards and passes:
- Award categories are either jury or audience. Only audience awards are votable from your public site
- Pass types have a name, price, capacity (zero for unlimited), and a list of perks