Hello Filmmaker!

My name is Nat Dykeman, and I’m the founder and director of the Lake County Film Festival. I’ve handled just about every aspect of the festival since starting it in 2004 (with a hiatus from 2012 to 2018—so this will be our 15th season).

If your FilmFreeway profile included a phone number, we’ve probably already spoken. If not—congratulations! We’d love to screen your film at the 2025 Lake County Film Festival.

This page should contain everything you need to know in order to participate, but if you have any questions or need clarification, don’t hesitate to email me. I may also update this page with more information in the coming weeks.

Before we go any further, please make sure to whitelist lakecountyfilmfestival@gmail.com in your email client! Gmail in particular seems to dislike us, and messages often end up in spam or promotions folders.

  1. I AM BEHIND. It’s been a really busy year for me, and I’m literally at least six weeks behind my usual schedule, since this festival is 2 months earlier than usual. Please be patient. I am basically in triage mode, and the most important thing is finishing programming. Shorts especially are going to need another week of my attention.
  2. It seems weird to have to say a few of these things, but since every festival is different, And I’ve heard so many reports of film festivals doing things differently. I will state what I feel are the obvious things. The Lake County Film Festival has live screenings at the College Of Lake County. We do not have a streaming component. We ALWAYS leave time for filmmaker Q&A. This is the most important part of the festival to many of us. Attending films will receive two All-Access Passes, good for every screening during the festival. Please let us know if you are
  3. The festival (probably) runs September 4 – 7 & 12 – 15. But, if you are reading this, there’s an almost certainty that you will play during September 5,6,7 or 12,13,14. We are in the burbs, and it’s hard to get people out on the weekdays. Accordingly, we might drop September 4, and we might add the 16th, but you don’t have to worry about that.
  4. All film programs will screen twice at The College Of Lake County, in Grayslake, IL, which is about halfway between Chicago & Milwaukee. Because we generally have 4 screens running at a time, this gives our audience members more flexibility in choosing what to see. Additional screenings will be held at the Gorton Center in Lake Forest, IL, in a theater funded by the late writer/director John Hughes & his wife. Basically, they choose what to program out of what I’ve programmed. I likely won’t know those films until the beginning or middle of August.
  5. We are (hopefully) announcing the entire lineup on Thursday, July 31. Last year, we had the schedule, lineup, website & ticket sales up the following Tuesday, and are hoping to follow suit this year. Please don’t announce your acceptance until Thursday, July 31. We will also have artwork that you can share on social media before that date. Please check here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DYGK8Nk5qJcJuVkpX99I6zBmjvtQIFoN around the end of July for Social Media art you can share.
    Instead of a photo with a laurel on it, we usually “frame the photo with festival information. You can see last year’s art here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mMeqZAdpvtgx2HhYjxqyZvs-lvqNHD4_
  6. Website Information: We want to make sure everything is accurate, and spelled correctly on the website. You can see an example of our pages from last year here: https://2024.lakecountyfilmfestival.org/379/2024-11-09/aj-goes-to-the-dog-park
    Please fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/YF8tSYEKxK5iMrt77
  7. Attendance / Hotels: Because we are across two weekends, and everything screens twice, scheduling can be a bit intricate, but I love it. It’s pure problem solving. We can run both screenings on the first weekend or the second weekend, depending on which weekend is better for you. Local films, and filmmakers not attending usually have one screening each weekend. Please fill out this form, as soon as possible, and let me know which weekend is better for you. I can usually handle changes as we get closer, but I’m very much itching to get started on a potential schedule. https://forms.gle/SncTAR6ZuENymZp29

    Also, last year we had a group rate at the Comfort Suites hotel, just a mile or so from the college. I believe our rate was $85, which is one of the cheapest rates in the county. I’d like to get an idea of how many nights we’ll need. That question is also in that form.
  8. Badges: I have a little bit more time for this info, so it’s a separate form, but this link is to get your badges: https://forms.gle/VpoDLLD3uacgVmxQ9
    I’d like to get this information around the beginning of the month, so I can get the badges printed up in time for the festival.
  9. Exhibition Copies: All the screening rooms at the College Of Lake County run on PC’s. We use VLC for all the projection, which can basically handle any format. 1080p is fine, none of the projectors are 4k.

    It is likely that Gorton Center will need DCP’s, but considering it’s rare that a feature doesn’t have a short attached, we will probably be creating DCP’s off of those same files.

    Please send all exhibition copies to: printtraffic@lakecountyfilmfestival.org
  10. Laurels: You can find our laurels here:
    https://filmfreeway.com/laurels/45073/TheLakeCountyFilmFestival
    Password: LCFF
  11. Here are the links to our social media. I’ll try to follow everyone back as well. One note, we will not be using Twitter to promote this year’s festival. I’m going to pin a single post there about this year’s festival, with a link to our site.

    https://www.facebook.com/LakeCountyFilmFestival
    https://www.instagram.com/lakecountyfilmfestival
    https://www.threads.net/@lakecountyfilmfestival
    https://bsky.app/profile/lakecountyff.bsky.social
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/28469130

Hopefully that’s everything you need to know about this year’s Lake County Film Festival.

Thanks so much for submitting your films, I can’t wait to show them all to everyone!

Best,
Nat Dykeman
Director
Lake County Film Festival
www.lakecountyfilmfestival.org
lakecountyfilmfestival@gmail.com
224.544.9261