12-15-2025, 09:36 AM
Slamdance jumped the gun and disappointed me on Sunday, rather than waiting until Wednesday.
"Slamdance" Wrote:Thank you for submitting 26-27726 Iron Crotch in the Breakout category to the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival. After careful review, I regret to inform you that your film was among those we weren’t able to find a place for in this year’s Breakout lineup.
We realize this is not what you wanted to hear from us, and as a festival run by filmmakers, we’ve all felt the sting of rejection with our own work. This year we received over nearly 10K submissions and can only program a little over 100 films. We take all of your submissions very seriously. Each entry is watched with care and is judged for what it is, and not who made it or who they know. Year after year, this process gets more and more difficult as the quantity of entries continues to rise.
You should be extremely proud of the work you did. As Henri Matisse said “creativity takes courage” and you deserve to pat yourself on the back for doing the work, making something special and putting yourself out there. Every single filmmaker has had their share of things not go their way. Please don't take this notice as evidence against your talent. Selecting a program out of such a great number of terrific, vital, and worthy films is not straightforward, and we'd like you to know our decisions are never perfect. Slamdance is one festival out of hundreds, each with its own mission and set of programmers. Many films we haven’t selected have had great success at other festivals and on other platforms. A film festival should never be the final arbiter on the value of your film or talent. We encourage you to persevere and continue on your path to becoming a groundbreaking filmmaker.
We hope you’ll share your work with us again in the future. Until then, please consider joining us for the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival, either in Los Angeles or virtually. Passes start at $50 and are available now.
Again, thank you for considering Slamdance and sharing your work with us. We wish you the best of luck on your filmmaking journey.
Sincerely, on behalf of the whole Slamdance Team,
Anna Lee Lawson
Festival Manager
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm