Film festival management software that keeps everything connected

Fiona’s pricing is built around a Core Module for the main festival management workflows, with additional costs depending on implementation, integrations, specialised modules and support needs.

The Core Module includes the main festival management functionalities discussed in this article, such as film selection, programming, guest management, accreditation, communications and connected festival data.

Additional one-off costs may apply for implementation, training and integrations with external systems. For example, Fiona can connect with your festival website, ticketing provider, legacy systems or other tools in your festival ecosystem.

Annual costs can vary when festivals add specialised modules. These may include invoicing for online badge sales, RSVP management, volunteer planning, a form builder or Fiona’s festival market module for automatically planning hundreds or thousands of curated one-on-one or round table meetings.

Festivals can also choose additional support packages, such as SLA-based support during the year or in the run-up to the festival.

Because every festival works differently, Fiona does not use one fixed public price. Instead, we first take time to understand your workflows, existing systems and operational needs. Based on that, we recommend the right setup and provide a tailored proposal.

This ensures you invest in the functionality and support your festival actually needs, while also benefiting from the festival expertise and implementation experience of the Fiona team.

Ticketing is not part of Fiona’s core festival management software. Instead, Fiona is designed to integrate with ticketing providers.

This is intentional. Many festivals already work with local cinemas, regional ticketing systems or venue partners. Rather than replacing those systems, Fiona connects to them.

For example, Fiona can provide the latest programme information to the festival website, while ticketing systems can communicate sold-out statuses back to the website. Guest and accreditation data can also be shared with ticketing or access control systems, so filmmakers, industry guests and staff have the right access to screenings and events.

Yes, in many cases film festival software can replace the spreadsheets that are used to manage films, guests, schedules, accreditation, communications and historical data.

However, the goal is not simply to remove Excel. The goal is to avoid situations where different departments work in separate spreadsheets, use outdated versions or manually copy information from one place to another.

Fiona helps centralise festival information in one connected system. Teams can still export data when needed, but the source information stays structured, up-to-date and accessible.

Film festival management software is used by many different departments, including programming, guest management, hospitality, accreditation, production, marketing & communications, industry, volunteer coordination and film festival management.

For example, the programming team may manage selected films and screening schedules, while the guest team uses the same connected information to coordinate filmmaker attendance, travel and accommodation. The communications team can then use the latest programme data for website updates, emails and audience information.

This is where Fiona adds value: departments do not work in isolated systems but from a single shared source of truth.

It depends more on the film festival’s complexity than its size.

If your festival is small, your team is limited and spreadsheets still give you a clear overview, dedicated software may not be necessary yet. But smaller film festivals can still benefit from film festival management software when they work with many submissions, remote selection committees, multiple venues, international guests or complex accreditation needs.

Fiona is especially useful when coordination becomes too dependent on individual people, email threads or manual updates.

Fiona is designed to be easy to use and easy to learn. A focused setup can often be up and running within a few weeks, depending on the availability of the festival team for training and any data migration that may be needed.

Implementation can also be planned around your festival’s most urgent deadlines. For example, if entry forms need to go online by a specific date, we can focus first on getting those forms ready and published. After that, the implementation can continue with the rest of the setup, data migration and onboarding of the wider team.

Training, integrations and additional configuration are planned alongside your natural festival timeline. This means we take into account the availability of your team and, when relevant, third-party suppliers such as your web development agency or ticketing provider.

In this way, Fiona supports your festival throughout the run-up to the event, helping you get the right parts of the system live at the right moment.

Yes. Existing festival data can be migrated into Fiona during the implementation.

This may include data from Excel or Google Sheets, as well as from legacy systems such as FileMaker, Datakal, Eventival or Festicine. Many film festivals have accumulated valuable information across multiple editions, including film records, guest lists, accreditation data, contacts, programme information and historical festival data.

During implementation, Fiona helps review, structure and migrate this data so it becomes part of your connected film festival environment.

Migrating to Fiona does more than move data from one system to another. It helps turn scattered information from multiple sources into structured festival data that can be reused across departments, future editions and connected systems.

Yes. Fiona supports filmmaker and guest management as part of the wider film festival workflow.

You can manage guest details, invitations, attendance, travel, accommodation, accreditation and related film information in one place. For example, when a filmmaker is connected to a selected film, the programming team, guest team and accreditation team can all work with the same up-to-date information.

This helps avoid duplicated work and makes it easier to coordinate guests across screenings, events and festival locations.

Yes. Fiona can provide dedicated access for different user groups, including selection committee members, volunteers, filmmakers, industry guests and other stakeholders.

Selection committee members can use Fiona’s selection platform to watch films online, submit ratings and reviews, and participate in the assessment process remotely. Volunteers and guests can access relevant information through dedicated portals, depending on the setup of the film festival.

This reduces the need for manual email updates, simplifies the sharing of the right information with the right people, and makes it easy to stay up to date on the progress of the selection process.

Generic event management software is usually built around registrations, attendees and ticket sales. Film festivals have more specialised workflows.

A film festival needs to manage submissions, selection committees, film metadata, programme planning, filmmaker hospitality, screening logistics, accreditation, venue access, website updates and long-term festival relationships.

Fiona is built specifically for these film festival workflows. It connects films, people, screenings, guests, departments and external systems such as websites and ticketing providers. Instead of adapting generic event software to fit a festival, Fiona is designed around the way film festivals actually work.