Erin Brown Thomas submitted to film festivals more than 900 times before she made it into the Harvard of indie cinema, AKA Sundance. Ask the multi-hyphenate “Chasers” filmmaker and artistic director of Salute Your Shorts Fest — an annual film event that returned to Los Angeles this weekend (August 15-17) for its ninth year — about her recent achievement, and she’ll give you pithy advice like a private tutor.
“A prophet’s going to prophet, even if there’s no profit,” she recently quipped of her passion to IndieWire.
A psychologically lush episodic pilot shot as a 31-minute oner, “Chasers” sees Brown Thomas reflect on the many personal and professional sacrifices she feels she had to make to compete in entertainment. The fearless filmmaker has faced a lot of headwinds over the years but continues to find comfort in the Salute community, which balances artists with a unique POV and supporting authentically good work.
Related Stories
“Balancing convention with invention is one of the sweet spots in our lineup at Salute,” explained Brown Thomas. “Our mantra has always been, ‘Films with aftertaste.’ When we give you a laurel, it means we believe you have a future. Whenever someone picks the festivals they’re submitting to, I always tell them they should make sure that that laurel they could win actually means something. Ours absolutely does.”
Salute Your Shorts brings together a growing network of like-minded creators each summer. Co-founded by Brown Thomas and Becky Murdoch in 2017, the small but mighty fest takes place at the Assistance League Theater in LA. “For eight of our nine years, we’ve been in our current venue,” said Brown Thomas. “People might know it from ‘The Office,’ the TV show, because Andy does a play there. But it’s nestled behind Home Depot and Target in Hollywood, with a wonderful projector and only 300 seats.”
In 2025, lead organizer Brown Thomas, executive director Elle Shaw, and programming director Lauren Reid Brown (Brown Thomas’ mother) received just over 1,300 submissions for Salute. The staff, which also includes programmers Jillian Corsie, Vincent DeLuca, and Kath Tolentino — and associate programmers Christopher Francis and Anna Long — showed about 60 films in 16 awards categories.
“Having someone close to you who really believes in your thing, who will tell you that whatever festival that rejected you is so stupid and that they are just so wrong, is vital,” Brown Thomas said of dealing with rejection. “You need that. With distance, you’ll either learn that you weren’t ready and you’re improving, or that they really were stupid and they were wrong, and hey! The people who love you knew that.”
The Assistance League Theater feels distinctly intimate and SoCal, but Salute Your Shorts pushes the boundaries of storytelling in a broader philosophical sense with its programming. IndieWire judged the genre section and awarded the top prize to Zoe Davidson’s “Clementine,” with “Two People Exchanging Saliva” from Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata named as our runner-up.
Over the years, acclaimed filmmakers — from the beloved Duplass brothers to the Daniels of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — have visited Salute. “A Lien” from executive producer Adam McKay went onto the 97th Academy Awards and was at the festival last year. Salute aims to become an Oscar-qualifying shorts fest in the future. Its documentary, animation, and narrative competitions are juried.
In honor of the 9th Salute Your Shorts Fest, IndieWire pays tribute to bite-sized films with nine essential tips for festival submissions from Brown Thomas. Find a complete list of winners for SYSF 2025 below.
1. “Put Real Effort into Your Profile on FilmFreeway”
Once you know about FilmFreeway, your potential in the festival world grows exponentially.
“Up until the day that I decided that I wanted to make a film festival, I had only been using it as a filmmaker,” said Brown Thomas. “Then, I did a little clicking around and I figured out you can create a film festival just as easily as you can create a film profile. That’s truly all it takes.”
Creating a compelling first impression anywhere online can be time-consuming, but Brown Thomas says it’s specifically worth it for artists on FilmFreeway. Not only does the portal allow you to explore new festivals, but it can also help you keep track of who you’ve already paid to screen your short. If you learn that a certain type of competition isn’t working for your project, you can adjust the types of festivals you’re submitting to — or improve the impression you’re making by changing your profile first.
“A lot of filmmakers really don’t use their page to their advantage,” said Brown Thomas, walking IndieWire through her evolving appreciation of the tool. Her first suggestion? “Not enough people invest in hiring a poster designer,” she said. “Really. More people will see your poster over the span of your career than your movie. Whether they’re on FilmFreeway or IMDB, that’s a fact.”
2. “Tell Your Film’s Story, While Understanding Your Audience”
No amount of marketing can fix a bad movie, but as a programmer, Brown Thomas has learned that you can “teach” festivals how to consider your work while screening. “The first audience you’re marketing to is programmers,” she said. “And you can show us how to see your film through the way you choose to talk about it and in the images you choose to accompany your application.”
After you’ve finished your project (and beefed up your profile and poster for FilmFreeway), Brown Thomas recommends thoroughly combing your application to ensure that your enthusiasm shines through. Whenever possible, filmmakers should aim to play festivals that want to show their movies — but that’s a two-way street and it’s important to express your earnest desire for the opportunity.
“Look, there are plenty of cases with Salute where I haven’t cared that their poster was terrible, or whatever,” she said. “But sometimes, you have to make a choice and it comes down to feeling like you can tell how much this filmmaker wants it, but ‘Oh, this person seems like they just submitted to submit.’”
3. “Do Your Research — and Don’t Fall for Scams”
Festivals can use smoke and mirrors too, of course. “Scam is a spectrum,” explained Brown Thomas. “On one far side, you’ve got the people who are not following through on their basic promises. These are often online events that either don’t exist or feel totally different from what was advertised.”
You can save yourself a lot of hassle by doing your research, she continued. But if you’ve submitted to a seemingly legitimate festival, and you’re not getting good results, there can be nefarious reasons for that too. “Without naming names, there are plenty of festivals that just do not put enough care into programming,” Brown Thomas said. “Maybe there’s less rhyme or reason as to what’s getting selected, or it could be, ‘Oh, wow, these people are really only selecting their friends.’ That’s a version of a scam.”
There are festivals in the middle too. “It can also be, ‘Well, this festival is doing everything it says it’s going to do, but it doesn’t add a lot of value,’” she said. “You’ll think, ‘They’re nice people, and they mean well. But that laurel just doesn’t mean enough.’ Always ask, ‘Is this how I want to spend my money?’”
4. “Pick Your Festivals with Purpose(s)”
Much like recruiters at universities, festival organizers will consider different criteria depending on the lineup they’re programming for, and their choices can shift based on any number of factors. You should have a matrix of considerations for when and where you apply with your film, as well.
“One category of festival that I definitely think is worth submitting to is the Tax Deductible Vacation,” Brown Thomas said, laughing. “This is a business trip where you are going to have a lovely time. Think of like, the Sedona International Film Festival or the Hawaii Film Festival. If you’ve never been hiking along those beautiful vistas, and you think you can take your film there, take your film there.”
Another festival type to consider? Something Brown Thomas likes to call “The Artist’s Date.” Citing two beloved events for the filmmaker — Crested Butte Film Festival and Ouray International Film Festival, both in Colorado — she said, “They feel almost like a residency. These are really well curated events where the scenery is beautiful too. Very Julia Cameron, having a date with your inner artist.”
Filmmakers should also seek out the Best of the Best Networking. Rubbing elbows with folks at Sundance helped gain “Chasers” prestige, but Brown Thomas knows better than most that you can find critical connections in all kinds of places. “Great networking is usually horizontal,” she said. “You want to play alongside really good films so the peers that you meet are people you will actually connect with.”
5. “Programming Will Teach You What Kind of Filmmaker You Are”
Smaller fests are often geared toward fostering local talent, and that can be a great place to start if you’re just getting started. (Heck, take a page out of Brown Thomas’ book, and start your own event!) But based in Los Angeles, Salute Your Shorts presents a unique challenge to its programming team.
“My local audience is people who make movies,” said Brown Thomas. “So, they’re going to be much harder on certain things. They’re going to be much more unforgiving about bad acting, for example, where as someone in middle America might be OK with a more amateur performance if it’s for the story.”
Programmers see the world through a cinematic lens, and filmmakers do too. It was combining those skillsets that made Brown Thomas succeed, she said. Honing the Salute schedule for nearly a decade was essential to her work on “Chasers,” and watching movies will help you figure out what to make.
“What you choose to champion over and over again is revealing and teaches you something about yourself,” said Brown Thomas. “I really recommend getting on the other side if you love festivals.”
6. “Being Memorable Is More Important Than Being Perfect”
Having been on several film festival juries, I can promise you people like Brown Thomas truly love to stump for underdogs. For all her advice to stay ambitious and engaged with the film community, the director is equally quick to emphasize not letting perfectionism get in your way.
“At Salute, we’re more concerned with voice than polish,” the programmer said. “Being memorable is more important than being perfect. Because there could be a film that didn’t quite work — but if what they were trying to do was interesting, and it’s like 90 percent there, and I can’t stop thinking about it, then I want to find a way to program it and I want to find a way to show it.”
Asked for some of her favorite festival submissions, Brown Thomas listed “I’m Happy, I Promise,” “The Burden,” “Starfuckers,” “Little Grey Bubbles,” and “The Robbery” as standouts throughout the years.
7. “Most Shorts Are Too Long, but There’s a Sweet Spot”
A short doesn’t always have to pave the way to a feature, but duration can seriously impact how smaller projects do on the festival circuit. You’ll find different advice out there, and as always, there’s no accounting for taste. But Brown Thomas offered unique insight into what works at Salute.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for the longer ones, and I tell you, I find that anything over 22 minutes in our system generally does not feel too long,” she said. “I find that things constantly feel too long between 15 and 22 minutes. Anyone who’s doing something over 22 minutes knows that their short is freaking long, but they usually have a point and they’re doing everything they can to keep it as tight as possible.”
Yes, artists have a hard time killing their darlings — but that’s what makes film competitive.
“Pacing and knowing what to leave out are the largest elements of craft that people overlook,” Brown Thomas said. “A lot of filmmakers don’t want to cut things because they can’t find anything that’s bad, especially in comedy. But you have to ask yourself, ‘How long does this concept deserve to be?’”
That said, more is still more when it comes to social media. After “Chasers” was accepted at Sundance, Brown Thomas went semi-viral on Instagram calling her cast and crew to tell them the great news.
“When I got the call that we got in, I was hysterical and really wished immediately that I had seen my reactions,” said the director. “I turned to my husband and my mom who were with me at the time, and I was like, ‘Start recording me. I’m going to call everybody.’ I made a reel out of everyone’s’s reactions that got a lot of attention online. I called at least 40 people. We had three hours of footage.”
Sharing that joy with the internet has allowed countless fans, including IndieWire, to follow along with “Chasers” since it premiered at Sundance. Brown Thomas says she chooses to embrace social media as a means of “future-proofing” her career and thinks other young artists should do the sane. She posts successes as much as failures in an effort to always bring her audiences “along for the journey.”
“The creator economy is the most foolproof way that we have of charting a path forward,” Brown Thomas said. It’s the one place we have the most agency. The wins, the losses, the learning opportunities, the, ‘Holy shit, I got lucky!’s — your audience wants to be invited into that.” And they are your audience.
“Literally, you are assembling an audience every time you can get over putting your face on camera,” she said. “This is something you are in charge of. As I go into my next feature, I know I want to share everything that happens to me on set because it will keep me excited about tomorrow.”
9. “Salute Your Shorts!”
A palpable love of storytelling makes Brown Thomas almost militantly optimistic about cinematic education and artistic possibility. (Certainly, she’s as intense as anyone who co-founded an event called Salute Your Shorts should be.) Still, the organizer recommends finding time to relax and enjoy the film community. If you’re championing the short film art form — even on your way to a feature! — then you should want to understand it and seek people out who can help you soar.
“In 2026, I would definitely love to see an uptick in submissions because it means that even more people are finding us,” said Brown Thomas.” “We’re a really small team and we work really hard to make this happen. It’s done through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s a lot of love that pulls us together.”
Below find the complete list of winners for Salute Your Shorts Fest 2025.
Programmers Choice Award: “The Music Store” (dir. Joe Gillette)
- Honorable Mention, Programmers Choice: “The Life We Have” (dir. Sam Price-Waldman)
Audience Choice Award: “The Singers” (dir. Sam Davis)
- Runner-up: “Mildred 4 a Million” (dir. Kim Callaway)
Narrative Best of Fest: “Live” (dir. Mara Tamkovich)
- Honorable Mention: “The Singers” (dir. Sam Davis)
Best Local Film: “RAT!” (dir. Neal Suresh Mulani)
- Honorable Mention, Local Film: “Public Freakout” (dir. Julia Bales)
Best Comedy: “Bulldozer” (created by Joanna Leeds)
- Honorable Mention, Comedy: “Blueberry” (dirs. Emil Brulin & Hampus Hallberg)
Best Drama: “Contours” (dir. Aisha Amin)
- Honorable Mention, Drama: “Corpse Fishing” (dir. Jean Liu)
Best Genre Film: “Clementine” (dir. Zoe Davidson)
- Honorable Mention, Genre: “Two People Exchanging Saliva” (dirs. Alexandre Singh & Natalie Musteata)
Best Super Short — Under 5 Minutes: “Sweet Talkin’ Guy” (dirs. Dylan & Spencer Wardwell)
- Honorable Mention, Super Short: “Quota” (dirs. Joris & Marieke Job)
Best Animation: “Flower Show” (dir. Elli Vuorinen)
- Honorable Mention, Animation: “Dragfox” (dir. Lisa Ott)
Best Documentary: “Monster Slayer” (dir. Catie Skipp)
- Honorable Mention, Documentary: “Pee Shy” (dir. Steven Brokaw Jackson)
Best Experimental: “Kamikaze” (dir. Ray Smiling)
- Honorable Mention, Experimental: “On a Sunday at Eleven” (dir. Alicia K. Harris)
Special Jury Award for Excellence in Directing: “Daly City” (dir. Nick Hartanto)
Best Cinematography – Lighting and Mood: “The Singers” — cinematography by Sam Davis
Best Cinematography – Creativity and Risk Taking: “Kamikaze” — cinematography by Timothy S. Jensen
Best Cinematography – Movement and Perspective: “RAT!” — cinematography by Emerson Duggan
Best Cinematography – Integration with Narrative: “Daly City” — cinematography by Guido Raimondo
