Festival API Is Now Public on Zapier: Build No-Code Film Festival Workflows

Festival API is now approved, listed, and publicly available in the Zapier Apps Beta section. That means filmmakers, festival researchers, submission consultants, and product teams can connect structured film festival data to the tools they already use, without writing custom integration code.

The public beta includes three Festival API actions: Search Festivals, Look Up Festival Detail, and Look Up Festival Roster. Connect the app with your Festival API key, choose a trigger, and send the result to Slack, Gmail, Google Sheets, a CRM, or any of Zapier’s 9,000+ destination apps.

What the Festival API integration can do

• Search Festivals: find the best matching festival by search query, category, and country. The action returns useful fields including festival ID, name, location, categories, regular deadline, event start date, and composite score.
• Look Up Festival Detail: enter a festival name to retrieve fuller information such as dates, location, categories, genres, website, acceptance rate, and composite score.
• Look Up Festival Roster: enter a festival name to retrieve a film entry from its programming roster, including title, director, year, genre, category, and award data when available.

Authentication uses your Festival API key. Zapier stores the app connection, so you do not have to paste credentials into every step. If you do not have a key yet, create an account through Festival API pricing, then connect it when Zapier prompts you.

Build a daily festival discovery digest

A simple first Zap can search for a relevant festival every morning and post the result to a research channel.

1. In Zapier, create a new Zap.
2. Choose Schedule by Zapier as the trigger.
3. Select Every Day and set the run time, such as 9:00 AM in your local time zone.
4. Add Festival API as the next step and choose Search Festivals.
5. Connect your Festival API account with your API key.
6. Enter the search inputs, test the step, and confirm the returned festival is relevant.
7. Add Slack, Gmail, or another destination and map Festival API fields into the message.
8. Test the full Zap, then publish it.

Example Search Festivals inputs:

{
  "query": "documentary",
  "category": "documentary",
  "country": "US"
}

Example fields available for a Slack or email digest:

Festival: {{name}}
Location: {{city}}, {{state}} {{country}}
Categories: {{categories}}
Regular deadline: {{deadline_regular}}
Event start: {{event_start_date}}
Festival score: {{composite_score}}

Important: Search Festivals returns the best matching festival as a single Zapier result. For a growing digest or shortlist, append each run to Google Sheets or a CRM and add a duplicate check before creating a new row.

Send festival research to Google Sheets

For a lightweight research database, use the same scheduled trigger and Festival API search, then add Google Sheets: Create Spreadsheet Row. Map the output fields into columns such as:

festival_id | name | country | city | categories | deadline_regular | event_start_date | composite_score | checked_at

This pattern works well for accumulating a scored shortlist over time. Add Find Spreadsheet Row before the create step, using festival_id as the unique key. If the festival already exists, update the row instead of adding a duplicate. You can then sort by composite score, filter by country or category, and give a researcher a clean review queue.

Create submission deadline reminders

Deadline reminders are most useful when you already have a candidate list. One practical setup uses a Google Sheet containing festival names and project owners:

1. Trigger the Zap daily with Schedule by Zapier.
2. Read a candidate festival name from Google Sheets.
3. Use Festival API: Look Up Festival Detail with that mapped name.
4. Use Formatter by Zapier to compare deadline_regular with today’s date.
5. Add a Filter step so the Zap continues only when the deadline enters your reminder window.
6. Send a Gmail message, Slack alert, or task to the project owner.

Example Look Up Festival Detail input:

{
  "festival_name": "Sundance Film Festival"
}

A reminder message can include the returned festival name, primary submission deadline, standard fee, website, event dates, genres, and composite score. Keep a final human verification step before submission, especially when a deadline or fee will affect a real purchase decision.

Add roster context to filmmaker workflows

A festival name can also be sent to Look Up Festival Roster. The action returns a programming entry when roster data is available, which can help researchers understand prior selections and awards.

{
  "festival_name": "Sundance Film Festival"
}

Map the response into a CRM note, an Airtable research record, or an internal filmmaker platform:

Prior film: {{film_title}}
Director: {{film_director}}
Year: {{film_year}}
Genre: {{film_genre}}
Category: {{film_category}}
Award: {{film_award}}

The roster action returns one entry per run, and not every festival has roster data. Build a fallback path for no-result cases rather than treating an empty roster as a workflow failure. For example, create a manual research task or record “roster not available” in your database.

More no-code workflow ideas

• Daily discovery digests: send one relevant festival result to a filmmaker community, research team, or internal channel each morning.
• Submission deadline reminders: watch a candidate list and alert project owners when a deadline approaches.
• Scored CRM shortlists: save festival names, locations, categories, and composite scores to HubSpot, Airtable, Notion, or another system.
• Filmmaker platform enrichment: add festival details to project dashboards or recommendation-review queues.
• Roster research tasks: attach a prior programming example to a festival record, or route missing roster data to a researcher.
• Country-specific opportunity feeds: run separate Zaps for target countries and send each result to the right regional owner.
• Editorial planning: turn selected festival records into content-calendar rows for newsletters, podcasts, or industry coverage.
• Consultant client updates: send a concise weekly email summarizing newly researched opportunities and key dates.

Best practices for reliable Zaps

• Start narrow. Use a specific query, category, or country so the best-match result is useful.
• Store the festival ID. Use it as a durable key when writing results to Sheets or a CRM.
• Deduplicate destination records. Search before creating a row or contact.
• Handle no-result paths. Searches can return no match, and roster data is not available for every festival.
• Separate discovery from decisions. Automation should assemble evidence and reminders, while a person confirms final submission choices.
• Watch task history during beta. Review Zap runs and adjust filters or mappings when real data exposes an edge case.

Try the public beta

Visit the Festival API integration page on Zapier, connect your Festival API key, and build your first workflow. A Schedule by Zapier trigger, one Festival API action, and a Slack, Gmail, or Google Sheets destination is enough to turn repetitive festival research into a useful automated routine.

Developers who need deeper filtering, pagination, or multi-result product integrations can continue using the Festival API REST documentation. Zapier is the fastest path for no-code workflows, operational experiments, and lightweight automations that need to reach the tools people already use.