'Is my premiere status important?'
'Does it matter when I enter?'
'Is the program already set?'
These are just a few questions that filmmakers struggle with when submitting to festivals. Join us as we provide insights and answers.
Each year, Art of Brooklyn Film Festival invites award-winning indie filmmakers with very different POVs to curate our season. We have assembled a group of former Guest Festival Directors from major film markets around the world to discuss what they looked for, what films surprised them, what turned them off, and how their own festival experiences informed their selections for AoBFF. With a new year of festivals about to begin this panel provides valuable context for filmmakers on the behind the scenes process of film festival selection. The conversation will be led by AoBFF Director of Education, award-winning filmmaker, and 2018 AoBFF Guest Festival Director Sean Mannion.
SEAN MANNION is an independent filmmaker and writer who has worked across genres and media. His mind bending sci-fi feature film MEME won best narrative feature at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in 2018, and Sean was invited to return to AoBFF as Guest Festival Director for 2019, curating the films for that season. In 2019 the short film he co-wrote, It’s Normal, won Best Screen Story at ZedFest. Sean is the Founder of 4Mile Circus an award-winning Brooklyn-based production company that makes films, web content, podcasts, and he has had projects highlighted in IndieWire, Film Threat, and Forbes. Sean is currently in the latter stages of adapting one of his feature science fiction screenplays into a novel. He is the Education Director for the new Art of Brooklyn Film Festival Learning Center, and has presented at the Ax Wound Film Festival and at the Pacific Rim Conference on Literature and Rhetoric. Sean is also an experienced instructor for various forms of media having taught a range of classes on story development for The School of Visual Arts, New York Film Academy, BRIC Arts Media, and The NYC Center for Media Education.
His debut film MEME was awarded Outstanding Feature at the 2018 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and Sean was invited to return to AoBFF as Guest Festival Director for 2019, setting the creative vision and curating the films for that season. He was selected for an artist residency at the Cill Rialaig retreat in Ballinskelligs, Ireland. Sean is the Founder of 4Mile Circus an award-winning Brooklyn-based production company that makes films, web content, podcasts, and he has had projects highlighted in IndieWire, Film Threat, and Forbes.
ALAN MCLANE ALEJOS is a consultant, festival curator, and associate producer for audiovisual portfolios. In 2020 he was appointed as Guest Director of The Art Of Brooklyn Film Festival, collaborating as a jury member for AoBFF since 2014, Indie Boom Film Festival in New York City and Jaipur International Film Festival, India. Alan collaborated as a Film Program Associate for the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin, TX, and as a Curator and SNS Manager for Japanese VOD Distributor FILMINATION. Since 2023 Alan has been working as a mentor to both fiction and documentary film projects for SANFIC Chile, Creativa GDL Mexico and Ventana Sur, Argentina.
DEREK SHANE GARCIA is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. He got his start as a Tribeca Film Fellow at the Tribeca Film Festival 2009. He was accepted to SUNY Purchase's Film Conservatory, where he graduated with a BFA in Film in 2013. Derek has been nominated and won several awards at various film festivals. His films were selected into such film festivals as Chelsea Film Festival (where he was awarded Best Director in 2018) as well as the Tribeca Film Festival, Brooklyn International, Taormina Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, HBO International Latino NY Film Festival, Williamsburg International Film Festival, Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and Soho International Film Festival.
Derek’s feature A/WAY had its World Premiere at the 2024 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, winning Outstanding Director of a Narrative Feature and Outstanding Narrative Feature. Derek was named Guest Festival Director for Narrative Features at the 15th annual AoBFF in 2025. He is well-rounded in documentary film, having made two films for CBS Sunday Morning News and Channel Thirteen for Ken Burns Projects that have aired nationally.
'Is my premiere status important?'
'Does it matter when I enter?'
'Is the program already set?'
These are just a few questions that filmmakers struggle with when submitting to festivals. Join us as we provide insights and answers.
Each year, Art of Brooklyn Film Festival invites award-winning indie filmmakers with very different POVs to curate our season. We have assembled a group of former Guest Festival Directors from major film markets around the world to discuss what they looked for, what films surprised them, what turned them off, and how their own festival experiences informed their selections for AoBFF. With a new year of festivals about to begin this panel provides valuable context for filmmakers on the behind the scenes process of film festival selection. The conversation will be led by AoBFF Director of Education, award-winning filmmaker, and 2018 AoBFF Guest Festival Director Sean Mannion.
SEAN MANNION is an independent filmmaker and writer who has worked across genres and media. His mind bending sci-fi feature film MEME won best narrative feature at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in 2018, and Sean was invited to return to AoBFF as Guest Festival Director for 2019, curating the films for that season. In 2019 the short film he co-wrote, It’s Normal, won Best Screen Story at ZedFest. Sean is the Founder of 4Mile Circus an award-winning Brooklyn-based production company that makes films, web content, podcasts, and he has had projects highlighted in IndieWire, Film Threat, and Forbes. Sean is currently in the latter stages of adapting one of his feature science fiction screenplays into a novel. He is the Education Director for the new Art of Brooklyn Film Festival Learning Center, and has presented at the Ax Wound Film Festival and at the Pacific Rim Conference on Literature and Rhetoric. Sean is also an experienced instructor for various forms of media having taught a range of classes on story development for The School of Visual Arts, New York Film Academy, BRIC Arts Media, and The NYC Center for Media Education.
His debut film MEME was awarded Outstanding Feature at the 2018 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and Sean was invited to return to AoBFF as Guest Festival Director for 2019, setting the creative vision and curating the films for that season. He was selected for an artist residency at the Cill Rialaig retreat in Ballinskelligs, Ireland. Sean is the Founder of 4Mile Circus an award-winning Brooklyn-based production company that makes films, web content, podcasts, and he has had projects highlighted in IndieWire, Film Threat, and Forbes.
ALAN MCLANE ALEJOS is a consultant, festival curator, and associate producer for audiovisual portfolios. In 2020 he was appointed as Guest Director of The Art Of Brooklyn Film Festival, collaborating as a jury member for AoBFF since 2014, Indie Boom Film Festival in New York City and Jaipur International Film Festival, India. Alan collaborated as a Film Program Associate for the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin, TX, and as a Curator and SNS Manager for Japanese VOD Distributor FILMINATION. Since 2023 Alan has been working as a mentor to both fiction and documentary film projects for SANFIC Chile, Creativa GDL Mexico and Ventana Sur, Argentina.
DEREK SHANE GARCIA is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. He got his start as a Tribeca Film Fellow at the Tribeca Film Festival 2009. He was accepted to SUNY Purchase's Film Conservatory, where he graduated with a BFA in Film in 2013. Derek has been nominated and won several awards at various film festivals. His films were selected into such film festivals as Chelsea Film Festival (where he was awarded Best Director in 2018) as well as the Tribeca Film Festival, Brooklyn International, Taormina Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, HBO International Latino NY Film Festival, Williamsburg International Film Festival, Art of Brooklyn Film Festival and Soho International Film Festival.
Derek’s feature A/WAY had its World Premiere at the 2024 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, winning Outstanding Director of a Narrative Feature and Outstanding Narrative Feature. Derek was named Guest Festival Director for Narrative Features at the 15th annual AoBFF in 2025. He is well-rounded in documentary film, having made two films for CBS Sunday Morning News and Channel Thirteen for Ken Burns Projects that have aired nationally.