So last month I started freaking out about missing major film festivals again next year. You know how it is – you blink and suddenly Cannes tickets are sold out, Venice hotels quadruple in price, and you’re stuck watching trailers on your couch. Not this time! I promised myself I’d plan 2025 properly.
The messy first attempt
First I just googled “2025 film festivals” like an absolute amateur. Big mistake! Got bombarded with outdated pages and sketchy blogs pushing paid listings. Spent three evenings cross-referencing release schedules that kept contradicting each other. One site said Sundance was January 20, another claimed February 2 – turned out both were wrong since organizers hadn’t even announced dates yet. Felt so stupid wasting time on ghost calendars.
Switching to official sources
Finally wised up and went straight to the festival orgs’ official accounts. Bookmarked Twitter pages for Berlin, TIFF, Busan – basically camped out there hitting refresh. Slowly, real 2025 dates started trickling in:
- Berlin: Feb 13-23
- Cannes: May 14-25 (leaked by French press)
- Venice: Late August/Early Sept (still vague)
Made a color-coded Google Sheet – blue for confirmed dates, red for unconfirmed, yellow for overlaps. Saw immediately that Berlin and Rotterdam clash horribly for me. Also discovered Locarno moved earlier to avoid Telluride… which means my Colorado camping trip might actually work!
The accommodation nightmare
Here’s where things got painful. Even without dates locked, I stalked booking sites using this trick: searched for 2024 festival weeks PLUS one month on both sides. Hotels in Cannes for May 2025? Already showing 50% booked! Screenshotted cancellation policies like a detective – turns out most places let you cancel free until 3 months out. Snagged refundable backups for 4 festivals using sketchy “pay later” loopholes.
Flights? Forget it.
Flight prices were straight-up comedy. Looked at air miles options first – big win! Found out Air France drops award seats exactly 330 days out. Set phone alarms for each festival’s ticket release minus 11 months. Pro tip: flew dummy routes through Lisbon and Reykjavik last month to collect extra miles. Sounds nuts but saved €800 already on Cannes flights.
Final plan & brutal truths
After six weeks of this madness, here’s the achievable lineup:
- Slamdance (Park City) Jan 24-30
- Berlinale Feb 13-23
- Cannes May 14-25 (airbnb in Antibes)
- Venice Sept 1-7 (if confirmed)
Hard truths learned? First, signing up for tiny email alerts from festival newsletters literally changed everything – got Berlin’s press accreditation link 48 hours before public. Second, hotel points > cash for festivals. Used Bonvoy points to lock Telluride lodging despite zero dates. Third? Most people start planning 12 months late. Be that freak who plans 15 months early while dates float in the ether.
Gotta run – my alarm’s buzzing for Sarajevo Film Festival’s press registration in 20 minutes. Happy stalking!
