“Our audience wants to watch people die really violently and really gruesomely and have no care for them whatsoever,” Fantastic Fest features programmer Austin King told Rebekah Louisa Smith last week at a live recording of her Film Festival Doctor Podcast. “We need a few of those at our program.”
King’s line got laughs, but it also reflects how top festival programmers like King and Louisa Smith’s other podcast guests, deadCenter programmers Paris Burris and Camila Chaves Rojas, keep their audiences’ desires in mind. All three stressed on the podcast that what makes their festivals successful and unique is being tapped into what they — and only they — can bring to their specific audiences.
Louisa Smith, who earned the “Doctor” part of her title by earning her PhD in Film & Audience Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales, is a producer and festival programmer who helps filmmakers find success on the film festival circuit.
During the live taping of her podcast last week at Dallas’ Texas Theatre, she tried to help filmmakers in the audience learn how to best put their films forward by talking candidly with King, Burris and Chaves Rojas about why they accept some films and reject others. (You can listen to the full episode below.)
Chaves Rojas, who programs narrative and documentary features for the Oklahoma City-based deadCenter, says she looks for Oklahoma connections — as well as filmmakers who put storytelling first.
“A lot of filmmakers have really great ideas, but the execution is the biggest part of how a story comes through, especially with documentaries. Because I feel like sometimes it feels like there could be a PSA at the end of it, instead of actually being a storyteller and making sure that the subjects that you’re interviewing are actually shining through,” she explained.
She added: “With documentaries, I try to make sure that the filmmaker isn’t just putting themselves forward, and it’s actually about what they’re talking about — that they’ve done their research and they’re respectful, especially of minority groups or the cause that they’re working towards.”
For narratives, she seeks out “that feeling that our audience is going to fall in love with this, and we’re going to have a really great screening.”
An Oklahoma angle is wonderful, she added. And kindness goes a long way: “When the filmmakers are lovely, it makes it even better,” she said.
Burris, who programs shorts for deadCenter, urged filmmakers not to take it personally when a film is rejected — something Louisa Smith also stresses, with her strong emphasis on filmmakers taking care of their mental health.
Burris stressed that a small team of about five people programs the 100 or so shorts that play at deadCenter, from around 1,500 submissions. They get help from screeners, but all films are subject to people’s tastes and biases, she noted.
She says she often opts for films that feel like a reflection of our times.
“We get a lot of great film submissions, and maybe they’re really amazing in so many regards,” she said. “But you ask yourself the question, ‘Could this have been made 10 years ago? Does it feel like it’s of 2025? Does it feel like it’s of 2026? Does it feel like it’s of the moment?'”
Burris, a host of the Reel Indigenous podcast, also appreciates “community-driven narratives” that show “a wide array of all sorts of different styles and genres and perspectives.”
Film Festival Doctor Rebekah Louisa Smith on One of the Most Crucial Considerations for a Submission
Louisa Smith asked Burris and Chaves Rojas a familiar question for screeners and programmers: “Do you find that a lot of films that get submitted, both shorts and features, can be too long?”
They agreed that that is often the case. But they said they allow for length if a film feels like it’s flying by.
“Some films are pretty long, but the storytelling is so good that you don’t even feel the run time,” Chaves Rojas noted.
King noted that as a genre fest, Austin’s Fantastic Fest is especially attuned to how filmmakers observe and subvert genre conventions.
“One of the things I have really tried to do, and really want to do as a head of submissions, is to champion things where [a filmmaker is] like, ‘We don’t have a lot of budget, but we have a vision, and we know what film language is, and we know what the conventions of genre are, and we use them to tell our story.’
“And getting to take those filmmakers — when they’re like, ‘No one is going to watch this movie. No one ever is ever going to see me’ — and I’m saying, ‘I see your movie, and I want to take you and show you to the world,’ that is my favorite part of being head of submissions.”
King said he is also conscious of uplifting voices that are under attack.
“Certainly, we are a film festival in Texas, and we think about our political mission,” he said. “We are partnering with the Transgender Film Center this year right to really champion them at a time when transgender filmmakers and people are really being attacked.”
All of the programmers urged filmmakers to please submit as early as possible. They also stressed that while they sometimes screen works in progress, it’s very hard for them to program a film that doesn’t seem ready for an audience — because of rough sound, for example.
They also enjoy films that premiere at their festivals, though premiere status is usually not a dealbreaker.
You can learn more about Rebekah Louisa Smith’s work as the Festival Doctor here, learn more about deadCenter here, and learn more about Fantastic Fest here.
Main image: Fantastic Fest’s Austin King and Film Festival Doctor Rebekah Louisa Smith. Photo by Erin Nicole Parisi.