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Who’s behind Screentour

Hi there,

I'm Chris Xu, the maker of Screentour. I build it for filmmakers who want to find the right festivals and plan their film's journey.

Screentour is fully bootstrapped. I do pay for its servers, used AI services, and invest my time heavily to make it smooth and optimized for the festival circuit.

There are no investors or venture capital funds involved. No outside funder has a saying what shall be built, how to run it, or how much money it needs to make.

Choosing profit means choosing independence

The people who fund a business shape its incentives. Financing Screentour by me and users like you gives me a direct reason to build what filmmakers find useful. I do not focus on maximising business valuation, an exit, or a sale. When Screentour works better for you, you have a reason to keep supporting it.

Choosing profit also makes room for supporting indie filmmaking with free accounts. Paid plans support the work, but it isn't a condition for being welcome.

Independence means watching the costs

Choosing profit leads to keeping costs down wherever I can. I build things I can maintain myself and choose technology that keeps server and AI costs low while staying fast, stable, and able to grow with Screentour.

Most of the money Screentour earns goes back into its development and running costs. There’s little left for advertising or exhibition booths, so I rely on people recommending it to other filmmakers.

Supporting Screentour with a paid plan or by sharing it to others keeps it independent. If you use it for free, thank you for trusting Screentour with your film's journey.

Thanks for reading and giving Screentour a try. Contact me anytime directly if you have any question at [email protected].

Independent doesn't mean alone.

Building Screentour can't be done alone. Advisors and sponsors have trusted me and this vision with their time, knowledge, contacts, and unconditionally financial support. That support is different from taking on investors.

HFBK Hamburg

Hochschule für bildende Künste, Film department

Since 1965, HFBK Hamburg has trained auteurs through the films of Helke Sander, Wim Wenders, Angela Schanelec and others. Every cohort steps into the festival circuit for the first time on their watch. They bring Screentour the newcomer's reality: what filmmakers actually need before that first submission.

Jörn Krug

Head of Startup Services at the Film University Babelsberg

Jörn gave a great deal of his time in the early days to coach me through building Screentour. He introduced me to people across the film industry and helped me find my way from an idea to a business.

Prof. Dr. Skadi Loist

Associate Professor in Film Studies, NTNU

Skadi co-founded the Film Festival Research Network and led the Film Circulation project, which tracked around 2,500 films through the international circuit. They bring Screentour the empirical foundation: how films actually travel, which festivals connect to which, and what circulation patterns the data reveal.

Yugen Yah

Filmmaker & host of Indiefilmtalk

Yugen is a filmmaker and has hosted Indiefilmtalk since 2017, with more than 200 conversations with programmers, sales agents, producers and directors. He brings Screentour the practitioner's ear: which festivals genuinely move films and careers forward, and where filmmakers build real connections and visibility.

IONOS

IONOS provided €10,000 in service credits, helping cover infrastructure costs without taking an ownership stake in Screentour, which I am very grateful of.