by Terra Poirier, GIFTS Distributrix

Biography
A bio is a statement about you that accompanies your film when entered into festivals. It gives people an idea of who you are, your training and experience, and other interests you have as an artist and just as a person.

Your bio should read as a narrative with mostly complete sentences, not as a point form list. You can do it in first or third person (eg. I am from Vancouver OR Jill Schmill is from Guelph).

Some points you may want to include in your bio are:

• Where you are from, where you live now.
• Your educational and training background, where you went to school.
• What inspires you as an artist/filmmaker.
• What other films/art you have made.
• Where your work has been shown/screened.
• What you are working on now.
• What other artistic mediums you work in.
• What other interests you have (eg. day job, activism, parenting, sports, etc).
• Personal/Demographic info: This is helpful because there are several festivals with particular focuses such as womenÂ’s, First Nations, queer, Quebecois, youth, Jewish, etc.

REMEMBER: your bio should only be 2 or 3 sentences, a short paragraph. DonÂ’t cover all the points above, just the ones that are the most important to you to tell the world about yourself.

Sample Bio:

Jill Schmill is a young filmmaker from Guelph, Ontario. Her first film, My Toothbrush is Blue, has shown at festivals in Toronto, Vancouver and Portland. Jill also draws comics and has plans to incorporate her work into her films.

Video Description
Your video descripton is usually the first thing people learn about your film, before they watch it. Your description should make them want to. Film festivals will almost always list your description in their festival program in order to inform festival goers of the content of the shows. So itÂ’s really important that you describe your film with care.

Again, your description should be a narrative with complete sentences. No point form please! 2 or 3 sentences will do just fine.

Points to include in your description:

• What/who the film is about.
• What is the purpose of the film (good especially for documentaries).
• What format was the video filmed in (eg. Super8, video, B&W or colour).
• What kind of movie is it-ie. the category or genre (eg. animation-computer, stop motion, scratch, classical or visual effects animation, drama, documentary, experimental, comedy, PSA, narrative, digital video effects, mockumentary, spoof, action flick, music video, sound design, suspense). Your film may fit into more than one of these categories.

Sample Description for My Toothbrush is Blue:

A Super8 exploration of the nature of toothbrushes, dental floss and the correct way to squeeze a tube of toothpaste. Using scratch animation and a haunting soundtrack, this film asks the question, “What lessons can we learn about ourselves from our dental hygiene habits?”