Hi Nuno,

Depends entirely on the festival. Check out what the festival organizers recommend in terms of format. Some fests only accept reels to be shown, others only take DVDs. It's completely up to the festival organizers.

In fact, if you wanted to enter something like, say, a Super 8 film fest, then no: you'd absolutely not be allowed to submit an HD digital film because it is dissalowed as part of the theme of festival.

If you mean more practically though, "will 1080p look good theatrically?" Then that's a little different. It won't look as good as 35mm, but it will look damn sweet.

That is, if your footage looked sweet to begin with. 😉

But, in any case, most theatres (ie. the VAAAAAST majority of theatres) do NOT have a high definition projection system. So, it might not even matter what resolution or format you're submitting (barring of course the better image that is, by nature, acquired by the cameras you listed). There was a student film fest in my hometown that had cellphone movies displayed on the IMAX. It really just comes down to the facilities and festival parameters. Again, I'll reitirate...

It depends on the festival.

----------
http://vimeo.com/corax

Well, as far as image resolution is concerned, Star Wars Episode II was famously shot in ordinary HD, with resulting image cropped to 1920x817 pixels (for 2.35x1 aspect ratio).

I've seen a lot of discussion around various forums that debate the image clarity advantage of 35mm. One very studious article described the process with 35mm. The shortest possible summary is, while 35mm camera negative may have upwards of 6k resolution equivalent, the final, theatrical exhibition copy (result of multiple generations of copies) loses a good deal of that initial advantage and is more-or-less equivalent to the 2k image we all know as 'full' HD (i.e. 1080p). Now, if we talk about contrast and exposure latitude, that's another story, and there, 35mm film holds up noticeably better than video.

Welcome Nuno Cambra!

You question isn't stupid. It's a very good question.

Yes. It's okay to enter a film festival with a full HD film.

The HD image holds up quite well on a big screen.

Over the years I have had SD movies shown in festivals on
the big screen and it looks great. And I've seen many HD
movies in festivals on the big screen and they look great,
too.

You should attend a few film festivals so you can see for
yourself. It's very educational to see movies from your
fellow filmmaker. You want an audience for YOUR movie
so you should be an audience member for other filmmakers.

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

thank you

You're welcome.

So are you going to attend any film festivals? Or are you only
going to enter your own films?

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I have attended some and I intend to see a lot more. I'll be doing video report for festivals all year long, not because I really want to but just to see films and talk to film-makers and festivals directors.

I don't see myself submitting a film of my own anytime so soon.

So what do you think of the quality of the movies shot on the various
formats when they are shown on the big screen?

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Thanks guys for answering the question more practically than I could. Hope I didn't confuse things too much.

----------
http://vimeo.com/corax