Case study

Solution: accsyn for Film Festivals

About

The Stockholm International Film Festival bring together filmmakers, audiences, and industry professionals from around the world. With more than a hundred screenings across multiple venues, the festival once again delivered a world-class cinematic experience.

Behind the scenes, however, an enormous amount of digital logistics had to run flawlessly — film deliveries, DCP validation, cinema distribution, backup streaming, and more.

A Modern Workflow for a Modern Film Festival

The Stockholm Film Festival handles 100+ films this year, all arriving digitally from filmmakers, distributors, and sales agents worldwide. The technical challenges were clear:

• Securely receive films in many formats
• Validate DCPs quickly and reliably
• Distribute content to multiple cinemas
• Prepare CRU disks
• Generate internal screening links
• Ensure backup streaming options were ready at all times

The festival’s technical lead explains why they turned to accsyn:

As the technical manager for the Stockholm Film Festival, we chose accsyn.
We needed help solving the challenges we face with digital file deliveries.
When we contacted accsyn to see if they could assist, they built a validation component directly into accsyn for us.
This saved us a tremendous amount of work.

A Tailored Workflow: Upload, Validate, Distribute

accsyn helped streamline the festival’s entire process:

1. Filmmakers uploaded their films to the accsyn Media Vault.
2. The system automatically validated each DCP.
3. A clear green indicator confirmed that the film was ready for screening.
4. Validated films were pushed out to the cinemas scheduled to show them.
5. In parallel, accsyn delivered the DCPs to a Linux workstation the festival rented, enabling quick creation of CRU disks for certain venues.
6. Secure screening links were distributed to reviewers, jury members, and selected partners.

As the team describes:

accsyn built a workflow where each invited film was uploaded to the Media Vault.
The DCP was then validated, and we could instantly see a green symbol showing the film was OK.
After that, the system pushed the film out to the cinemas that would screen it.

Prepared for Anything — Backup Streams Ready at 20 Mbit

Film festivals operate under tight timelines, and unexpected issues—corrupted drives, late arrivals, or last-minute changes—can happen.

To ensure nothing stopped a premiere or screening, the festival prepared over 20 films as 20 Mbit streaming backups inside the accsyn portal. These were instantly playable if needed:

We had around twenty films in the portal, ready to stream at 20 Mbit if anything happened.

Cost-Effective — and Appreciated by the Team

The Stockholm Film Festival previously used high-end transfer tools, but the cost and complexity were significant.

By utilising accsyn, they noticed a major improvement:

Cost-wise, accsyn is cheaper than almost all other systems.
We have used both Aspera and Signiant before, and this year the invoice was 70% lower — and the support was wonderful.

The automation also freed the team from countless manual tasks:

What made us really happy was how much time we saved.
The system kept track of everything for us.

Looking Ahead – Building Even More

As festivals grow increasingly digital, systems that combine secure transfer, automated validation, distribution, and streaming into one platform are transforming how events operate.

accsyn is proud to have powered the digital logistics behind Stockholm International Film Festival – and we’re excited for what comes next.

Additional resources

Stockholm film festival

TUTORIAL

MEDIA VAULT

DELIVERY