Production Accessories

Film Festival Screening Checklist for 2026

Save screening tasks and print your handoff.

Your screening handoff

Tick items as you finish them.

Overall progress 0 of 20

Event

• Save the event's current delivery instructions
• Confirm the due date and technical contact
• Confirm picture format and sound layout
• Agree caption and audio description needs
• Record venue, screening time and film version

Film copy

• Label the final edit and keep a separate master
• Watch the exact copy from start through credits
• Check frame shape, color and smooth motion
• Listen through speech and scene changes
• Check sound channels and access tracks
• Confirm DCP assets and keys, if needed

Delivery

• Send the right copy before the due date
• Include runtime, version and technical notes
• Confirm receipt with the projection team
• Confirm loading and a playback test
• Keep a separate backup and reachable contact

Show day

• Confirm arrival time and the pass you need
• Check the scheduled version and access setup
• Agree introduction and discussion timing
• Keep the technical contact available

Use your event's own instructions to fill any gaps.

Sections10

• Start a film festival screening checklist for each event
• Lock the version before making copies
• Confirm the exhibition format
• Watch the exact picture being delivered
• Listen to sound as a separate pass
• Check captions and audience access
• Send the package and confirm receipt
• Prepare the premiere and discussion
• Final film festival screening checklist
• Verdict: deliver a checked version with a clear handoff

A film festival screening checklist turns a finished edit into a copy the venue can play. Start with the event's delivery instructions. Then check the picture and sound, along with audience access and the show plan. Keep one record for each event. Use the handoff plan and final check sheet below to track what is ready.

Confirm the venue's format and due date before making a screening copy. Watch the exact delivered version from start to finish, check its sound and captions, and ask the projection team to confirm receipt and playback. Keep a separate backup and a short technical contact sheet. On screening day, verify the correct version, the audience access arrangements and the plan for your introduction and discussion.

Start a film festival screening checklist for each event

Use the event's current instructions as the source of truth. A submission screener is the copy selectors watch; the exhibition copy is the version shown to the audience. Record those as separate deliverables. A file that worked during selection may use a different format from the one needed at the venue.

Keep this planning sheet beside your project:

• Contact: name and email of the person handling technical delivery.
• Due date: delivery deadline, time zone and time allowed for corrections.
• Show details: venue and screening time; runtime and the exact version to play.
• Picture: accepted format, frame size, frame rate, aspect ratio and color settings.
• Sound: mix format, channel order and any level requirements.
• Access: required text tracks and any audio description, plus how they will play.
• Delivery: upload or drive instructions, file naming and the expected confirmation.

Follow the requirements for your own event and edition. Ask about any missing field before paying for a new export or cinema package.

Lock the version before making copies

Give the film a clear version label once the edit is ready with its final color and sound. Keep a log of changes after that point. A new music cue or trimmed ending can affect the runtime. Check the captions and each copy already sent out when you make a change.

Store the master separately from the delivery copies. Make an export folder for each event and keep the files used for that delivery together. Tell the technical contact if you replace a copy, and ask them to confirm which version is scheduled.

Here is a naming example for a hypothetical short labeled Project01:

• Project01_20261003_v03_MASTER.mov
• Project01_20261003_v03_SCREENING.mov
• Project01_20261003_v03_CAPTIONS.srt
• Project01_20261003_v03_TECH-NOTES.txt

Use the event's required names when it specifies them. The aim is to make versions clear, not to impose one naming style on every venue. Write the same version label on the contact sheet and any delivery drive.

Confirm the exhibition format

A Digital Cinema Package, or DCP, is a set of files used for cinema playback. It carries picture and sound with the details needed to play them. The composition playlist, often called the CPL, lists what the cinema system should play. Ask the projection team which package type and version they need.

Some venues take a video file instead. Confirm both the codec, which describes how the media is encoded, and the container, such as MOV or MP4. Match the requested settings rather than changing a file extension to make it look like an accepted format.

If a supplier creates a DCP, give them the event's full instructions. Request a package report with its title and version. Ask for the runtime and sound layout too. The DCP-o-matic manual explains cinema packages and their text tracks. Use it to look up terms in the report.

An encrypted DCP needs a Key Delivery Message, or KDM, to authorize playback. DCP-o-matic's encryption guidance explains that a KDM is tied to a cinema server and a time window. Ask the venue for the correct server details and cover both the test and show times. Confirm that the key was received and works before the audience arrives.

A Version File, or VF, may refer to assets in an Original Version, or OV. Sending only the VF can leave assets missing. The manual's guide to existing DCPs shows how a VF depends on its OV. Ask your supplier whether the delivery contains everything the venue needs.

Watch the exact picture being delivered

Play the delivery copy from its beginning through the end of the credits. Checking the editing timeline alone can miss an export error. Where possible, watch a cinema package in a screening room and ask the venue about a technical test.

Use these checks during the watch-through:

• The first and last frames match the intended cut.
• Faces, skies and dark areas retain the detail you expect.
• The frame has the intended shape, without a stretched image or cropped titles.
• Cuts and moving shots play smoothly at the requested frame rate.
• Titles and credits are legible and stay on screen long enough to read.
• Every section plays, with no missing frames or stray test text.

Keep a time-stamped note for each problem. Fix the master, make a fresh copy and repeat the checks that the change affects. If you shorten the film, check caption timing through the ending too.

For media planning during production, our guide to media for a reliable recording workflow explains card choices. Keep the delivery drive separate from camera media, and maintain another copy of the finished film in a different place.

Listen to sound as a separate pass

Listen through the delivery copy on headphones, then on suitable speakers. Check speech at a normal listening level. Note clicks, cut-off words, sudden noise changes and music that masks a line. A louder playback setting can hide a balance problem rather than solve it.

Match the venue's requested channel order. If you are sending a surround mix and a stereo mix, label them clearly. Ask the mixer or supplier to confirm the channel map; a file can play while sending speech to the wrong speaker.

Listen around each scene change. Room tone is the steady location sound beneath dialogue. RØDE's guide to sound problems in post describes how room tone can bridge gaps between lines and maintain a consistent background.

Plan recording clean production sound while filming, when you can still move a mic or quiet a room. For the final handoff, keep the final mix with the picture version it belongs to. Tell the projection team about an intentional silent opening so it is not mistaken for a playback fault.

Check captions and audience access

Subtitles usually convey speech in another language. Captions also convey sound information, such as a door closing or music that matters to the scene. Open captions appear on the screen for everyone; closed captions use a separate display option. Ask the event which versions and files it requires.

Check timing against the final delivery copy. Read the whole film with its captions visible. Look for missing words, unclear speaker changes and text that runs into credits or existing subtitles. Ask the venue how it will handle a film that already has translated speech on screen.

Audio description supplies spoken detail about important visual information. If it is part of the event's requirements, confirm how its track is delivered and how the audience can hear it. Keep the access versions in the delivery record with their own clear labels.

The W3C guide to media access explains the role of captions and audio description. For a physical screening, confirm the venue's playback system as well as the media files. A prepared track helps only when the audience can use it.

Send the package and confirm receipt

Finish uploading early enough to allow a correction. Keep a record of the files sent, their sizes and the date. If using a drive, follow the venue's instructions for formatting and shipping. Ask whether it needs a return label or will hold the drive after the show.

For a large transfer, compare a file hash at both ends when the recipient supports that check. A hash is a short fingerprint of the file's bytes. Matching hashes help confirm an unchanged transfer; they do not replace a playback check.

Put these details in the technical handoff:

• Film title, runtime, version label and the exact copy to play.
• Picture format, aspect ratio, frame rate and sound channel layout.
• Caption or subtitle language and how each version is identified.
• Technical contact with a way to reach them during the screening.
• Any deliberate black frames or silence; any unusual ending.
• Delivery contents and any key needed for encrypted playback.

Ask the team to confirm receipt of the package. Then ask whether they have loaded it and run a playback check. These are different stages. A completed upload confirms delivery. A playback test shows that the venue can play the copy.

Prepare the premiere and discussion

Confirm your arrival time and the pass you need. Find out who will introduce the film. Ask whether you will speak before the screening, after it or both. Prepare a short introduction that gives useful context while leaving the story's turn for the audience to discover.

For a discussion, prepare clear answers about the film's starting idea, a specific craft choice and a problem you solved. Let the moderator know which cast or crew members can join. Check how audience questions will reach the microphone and who will watch the time.

For a small community premiere, arrange the same technical handoff even if the crew knows the venue. A simple show plan can set times for the doors to open and the film to start. Add time for the introduction and discussion, plus the room's finish time. Keep one person responsible for changes to that plan.

Use our production gear checklist for the kit stage, and small-crew filmmaking equipment to work out what you need for the next film. Screening preparation uses a separate set of questions: which copy plays, how it sounds and how the audience follows it.

Final film festival screening checklist

Copy this list into your event notes and mark each item when complete:

• Current technical instructions and due dates are saved.
• Final picture and mix match the edit used for the access versions.
• Delivery copy has passed a complete picture and sound watch-through.
• Captions and any audio description have been checked in playback.
• DCP dependencies and encryption keys are confirmed where needed.
• Projection team has confirmed the version and technical test.
• Separate backup and technical contact sheet are ready.
• Show plan is agreed, with arrival time and audience access arrangements.

Verdict: deliver a checked version with a clear handoff

Keep the film festival screening checklist tied to one event and one version. Confirm its format, check the exact copy and get a playback confirmation from the venue. Clear names, access files and a reachable technical contact give the projection team what it needs. You can then focus on meeting the audience with the film ready to play.