following a festival lineup from your couch
for cannes/sundance/tiff szn when you're not there and film twitter is lying to you
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1
mark the fest's actual start/end dates, not just the days everyone's posting
2
check if it has a public streaming arm (Sundance runs one some years, Cannes never has)
i waited for a Cannes stream that doesn't exist. wasted an afternoon refreshing
3
follow trade press (Variety, Screen Daily, IndieWire), not just film twitter
4
note press/industry screening times vs the actual public premiere
5
wait for the review embargo to lift before trusting an early reaction thread
cannes barely has embargoes so early reactions there are more reliable than sundance's
6
track acquisitions during the fest (deadline and thr both run live posts)
7
drop hype for anything with no distributor a week after the festival ends
i got attached to a title in 2024 that never got picked up. still haven't seen it
8
bookmark the official awards page instead of relying on a recap thread
9
confirm dub vs sub before committing, festival cuts are almost always subtitled only
10
set a 6-9 month release window expectation, not "coming next month"
11
pick one critic whose taste tracks yours and follow their whole lineup, skip the aggregate score
a 60 on some tracker means nothing when it's 12 critics averaging wildly different taste
12
check the title's home-country release date, it usually lands before the US one
13
ignore the walkout/booing headlines, they run every single year regardless of the film
14
save the trailer for after you've read zero spoiler-heavy reviews
rewatch tax doesn't apply if the trailer already told you the ending
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