When you’re making an independent film, your indie film press kit, a curated collection of materials used to promote a film to festivals, distributors, and media. Also known as a film publicity packet, it’s not a luxury—it’s your lifeline. No one will care about your movie if they can’t find it. And if your press kit looks like it was put together in a hurry on a laptop at 3 a.m., you’ve already lost.
A good indie film press kit isn’t about fancy design. It’s about clarity, relevance, and proof that your film matters. Buyers at markets like AFM or Cannes don’t have time to dig through 50 files. They want the story, the visuals, the team, and the proof that your film has an audience. That’s why your press kit needs to answer three questions fast: Who made this? Why should anyone care? And where’s the proof?
It starts with a one-sheet—clean, tight, no jargon. Include your logline, runtime, format, and key crew. Then, a short bio of your director. Not their entire filmography. Just the two films that matter, or the award they won at a festival people recognize. Next, high-res stills. Not 20. Not 50. Three that show mood, character, and tension. If your stills look like screenshots from a phone, fix them. Then, a trailer. Not a 90-second cut. A 60-second version that hooks in the first five seconds. And if you don’t have a trailer yet? Don’t skip the press kit. Make a 30-second teaser. People will watch that.
Also include a press release that doesn’t say "a powerful story about love and loss." Say what the film actually is. "A single mother in rural Oklahoma steals a tractor to get her daughter to a hospital during a blizzard—and the whole town helps her." That’s a story. That’s what gets picked up. And don’t forget contact info. Not just an email. A direct line to someone who answers. If you’re not the one handling press, say who is. Buyers will call.
What kills most indie press kits? Overloading. Too many bios. Too many quotes. Too many fonts. Too many PDFs. A press kit should be one folder. Five files max. One PDF. One video. Three images. That’s it. Festivals get hundreds of submissions. Your job isn’t to impress them with volume. It’s to make them stop scrolling.
And don’t forget the context. If your film shot in a town with no film industry, mention it. If your crew worked for free for six months, say that. People root for underdogs. If your film won a local award or got into a regional festival, list it. Not every festival, just the ones that matter. A single line like "Selected for Slamdance 2024" means more than ten lines of praise from friends.
Behind every great indie film is a press kit that didn’t try to be everything. It tried to be clear. To be honest. To be human. The tools you need? Free. Canva for the one-sheet. Handbrake to compress your trailer. Google Drive to share it. Your job isn’t to be a designer. It’s to be a storyteller. Your press kit is the first chapter of that story. Make sure it’s worth reading.
Below, you’ll find real examples of how indie filmmakers used press kits to get into festivals, land distribution deals, and turn small films into conversations. No fluff. Just what worked—and what didn’t.
A well-crafted press kit is the difference between an indie film being seen or buried. Learn the five essential assets that get real media coverage-no fluff, no templates, just what works.