Was Deauville Worth the Trip? What one international festival gave our independent film

Deciding where to submit your film, and what you are prepared to invest if it is selected, should be part of a thoughtful festival strategy.

Submission fees are only the beginning. If you attend, there may be flights, hotels, transportation, meals and time away from your next project. For an independent filmmaker, those costs matter. So, was taking our small film, Like Dandelion Dust, to a major international festival in France worth it?

For us, the answer was a resounding yes.

That is not simply because we came home with a prestigious award. Awards are never guaranteed, and they should not be the only measure of whether a festival is worthwhile. Deauville gave our film something equally valuable: the chance to be seen and judged outside the environment in which it was made.

It placed our small independent film on an international stage, and the audience understood the film we had actually made.

A Story We Hoped Would Travel

Like Dandelion Dust is a family drama adapted from Karen Kingsbury’s New York Times bestselling novel. The screenplay was written by my friend, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Stephen J. Rivele. It starred Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser and Kate Levering.

At the center of the story are two mothers: one who loved her son so much she had to give him up, and another who loved him so much she couldn't.

Although the film was made in the United States, its emotional questions were not uniquely American. Adoption, parenthood, love, sacrifice and the fear of losing a child cross borders and cultures. Taking the film to France was a chance to discover whether those emotions would travel.

They did.

At the end of the screening, the Deauville audience gave the film a ten-minute standing ovation.

I have been in many festival rooms over the course of my career, and a standing ovation is rare. Ten minutes is not a polite response. It is a room of people deciding, together, that a story has reached them.

Deauville later gave Like Dandelion Dust the Première Audience Award for Best Feature.

The award mattered. Festival recognition can help a film establish credibility, strengthen its marketing and attract distributors, audiences and future partners. It can also bring invitations to other film festivals, with the submission fees waived, because you are now a proven festival hit. It did for us. Like Dandelion Dust went on to win many more awards, and I will write about those festival experiences in future posts. But what has stayed with me most vividly is not the laurel. It is the feeling in that room.

It has happened to me only once since, with my documentary Breaking Their Silence: Women on the Frontline of the Poaching War. Both times it was completely unexpected, and both times it brought me to tears. In a moment like that, you think of every challenge you and your team overcame to bring the film to life, and you know it was worth it.

What the Festival Gave Me as a Filmmaker

Like Dandelion Dust was a challenging film to make, as many independent films are. There was never enough money, never enough time and rarely the luxury of making every choice exactly as we might have wished.

But everyone involved gave the film everything they had. We knew by the end of week two that we had something special.

That night in Deauville, all of that effort came together in front of an audience. The experience reconnected me to why I make films in the first place.

There is something profoundly moving about watching strangers respond to a story you helped bring to the screen. When many of them do not share your language or your cultural reference points, their response can feel even more powerful. It tells you that something at the heart of the film has travelled intact.

The Deauville audience was there for the film itself, not the stars or the marketing, and they were curious about everyone whose craft went into it.

Laurels matter. They are an industry signal that an audience responded to a film and that it may have a shelf life, and they help with marketing, sales and distribution. But sitting in that theatre reminded me why I make films: to place a human story in a darkened room and discover whether it is honest enough to reach someone I have never met.

Was It Worth the Expense?

Yes. But that does not mean every filmmaker should attend every festival that accepts their film, especially an international one when the budget is tight.

International festivals can be expensive, particularly if you have no friends to stay with. The money spent attending could go to post-production, or to marketing and P.R. costs, exclusive screenings and similar expenses that can come up after you lock picture. There are real trade-offs, especially for independent filmmakers working with limited resources. Before you decide, run the numbers with our free Festival Cost Calculator. Even so, had we not won, being a filmmaker at that festival would still have been an amazing experience, and a lifetime of memories.

Before committing to a festival, consider:

• Does this festival genuinely program films like mine?
• Is its audience likely to connect with my subject or genre?
• Will the filmmakers have meaningful opportunities to take part in press?
• Could attending help the film reach distributors, programmers, press or future partners?
• Could this be a networking opportunity to connect with peers and meet potential filmmaking partners, crew, financiers and film executives?
• Is there something valuable to gain even if the film does not win?
• Can the production reasonably afford the full cost of attending?

And budget for the trip before you submit, not after you are accepted. Our free Festival Cost Calculator will show you the full commitment in a few minutes.

For Like Dandelion Dust, Deauville offered more than the possibility of an award. It gave us a respected international platform and an audience willing to engage deeply with the film.

It also gave us a test that would have been hard to recreate at home: was this a specifically American story, or simply a human one?

Every culture understands the fierce and complicated love of a parent. Deauville was the first time I watched an audience so far from where we made the film recognize that love so completely. I still treasure the sound of a silent theatre engrossed in the screen, the few isolated sobs that could not be held back, and the collective sigh of relief as each dramatic moment paid off, as moving to me as the applause at the finale.

My advice is not to go everywhere. Few independent filmmakers can afford to, and not every festival will advance your film or career.

Go where your film has a genuine reason to be. Look for festivals whose programming, audiences and opportunities align with what you have made.

Deauville gave our film an award, international recognition and a beautiful moment with an audience. Personally, it gave me something every filmmaker occasionally needs: a reminder of why the difficult work is worth doing, and worth doing well.

That night in France, celebrating with my director and fellow producers, remains one of the reasons I love making films, and always will.

Kerry David · IMDb