Film festival

A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors.[1] Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g. film noir) or subject matter (e.g. horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians, including Jerry Beck,[2] do not consider film festivals official releases of film.

"Grand Jury Prize" redirects here. For the prize at the Venice Film Festival, see Grand Jury Prize (Venice Film Festival).
Film festivals
The Venice Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world and one of the most prestigious and publicized

The most prestigious film festivals in the world, known as the "Big Three", are Cannes, Venice, and Berlin.[3]

Major film festival

Big Three
  1. Cannes Film Festival
  2. Venice Film Festival
  3. Berlin International Film Festival

History

The Venice Film Festival in Italy began in 1932 and is the oldest film festival still running. Raindance Film Festival is the UK's largest celebration of independent filmmaking and takes place in London in October.[4]

Mainland Europe's biggest independent film festival is ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival, which started in 2006 and takes place every spring in Paris, France.[5] Edinburgh International Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Great Britain as well as the longest continually running film festival in the world.

Australia's first and longest-running film festival is the Melbourne International Film Festival (1952), followed by the Sydney Film Festival (1954).

North America's first and longest running short film festival is the Yorkton Film Festival, established in 1947.[6][7] The first film festival in the United States was the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, also known as The Chris Awards, held in 1953. According to the Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco, "The Chris Awards (is) one of the most prestigious documentary, educational, business and informational competitions in the U.S; (it is) the oldest of its kind in North America and celebrating its 54th year". It was followed four years later by the San Francisco International Film Festival, held in March 1957, which emphasized feature-length dramatic films. The festival played a major role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Films in the first year included Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali.

Today, thousands of film festivals take place around the world—from high-profile festivals such as Sundance Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival (Park City, Utah), to horror festivals such as Terror Film Festival (Philadelphia), and the Park City Film Music Festival, the first U.S. film festival dedicated to honoring music in film.

Film Funding competitions such as Writers and Filmmakers were introduced when the cost of production could be lowered significantly and internet technology allowed for the collaboration of film production.

Festival administration

Business model

Although there are notable for-profit festivals such as SXSW, most festivals operate on a nonprofit membership-based model, with a combination of ticket sales, membership fees, and corporate sponsorship constituting the majority of revenue. Unlike other arts nonprofits (performing arts, museums, etc.), film festivals typically receive few donations from the general public and are occasionally organized as nonprofit business associations instead of public charities. Film industry members often have significant curatorial input, and corporate sponsors are given opportunities to promote their brand to festival audiences in exchange for cash contributions. Private parties, often to raise investments for film projects, constitute significant "fringe" events. Larger festivals maintain year-round staffs often engaging in community and charitable projects outside the festival season.

Entry fee

While entries from established filmmakers are usually considered pluses by the organizers, most festivals require new or relatively unknown filmmakers to pay an entry fee to have their works considered for screening. This is especially so in larger film festivals, such as the Cannes Film Festival, Jaipur International Film Festival in Jaipur India, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, Montreal World Film Festival, and even smaller "boutique" festivals such as the Miami International Film Festival, British Urban Film Festival in London and Mumbai Women's International Film Festival in India.

On the other hand, some festivals—usually those accepting fewer films, and perhaps not attracting as many "big names" in their audiences as do Sundance and Telluride—require no entry fee. Rotterdam Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, and many smaller film festivals in the United States (the Stony Brook Film Festival on Long Island, the Northwest Filmmakers' Festival, and the Sicilian Film Festival in Miami), are examples.

The Portland International Film Festival charges an entry fee, but waives it for filmmakers from the Northwestern United States, and some others with regional focuses have similar approaches.

Several film festival submission portal websites exist to streamline filmmakers' entries into multiple festivals. They provide databases of festival calls for entry and offer filmmakers a convenient "describe once, submit many" service.

Screening out of competition

The core tradition of film festivals is competition, that is, the consideration of films with the intention of judging which are most deserving of various forms of recognition. In contrast to those films, some festivals may screen (i.e., project onto a movie screen before an audience) some films without treating them as part of the competition; the films are said to be "screened out..." (or "outside...") "of competition".

Notable festivals
Traverse City Film Festival and their giant inflatable movie screen
A queue to the 1999 Belgian-French film Rosetta at the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Finland, in 2005

The three major film festivals in Europe are considered to be Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, and have been celebrated by the Three Colours trilogy (Blue for Venice, White for Berlin, and Red for Cannes). The most prestigious film festivals in North America are Sundance and Toronto.[8]

In North America, the Toronto International Film Festival is North America's most popular festival.[9] Time wrote it had "grown from its place as the most influential fall film festival to the most influential film festival, period".[9] The Seattle International Film Festival is credited as being the largest film festival in the US, regularly showing over 400 films in a month across the city.[10][11] The Tribeca Film Festival, South by Southwest, New York Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival are also major North American festivals.

Competitive feature films

The festivals in Berlin, Cairo, Cannes, Goa, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Mar del Plata, Montreal, Moscow, San Sebastián, Shanghai, Tallinn, Tokyo, Venice, and Warsaw are accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) in the category of competitive feature films. As a rule for films to compete, they must first be released during the festivals and not in any other previous venue beforehand. [12]

Experimental films

Ann Arbor Film Festival started in 1963. It is the oldest continually operated experimental film festival in North America, and has become one of the premiere film festivals for independent and, primarily, experimental filmmakers to showcase work.[13]

Independent films

In the U.S., Telluride Film Festival,[14] Sundance Film Festival,[15][16] Austin Film Festival,[17] Austin's South by Southwest, New York City's Tribeca Film Festival, London's London Eco-Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival are all considered significant festivals for independent film. The Zero Film Festival is significant as the first and only festival exclusive to self-financed filmmakers.[18] The biggest independent film festival in the UK is Raindance Film Festival.[4] The British Urban Film Festival (which specifically caters for Black and minority interests) was officially recognized in the 2020 New Year Honours list.

Subject specific films

A few film festivals have focused on highlighting specific issue topics or subjects. These festivals have included both mainstream and independent films. Some examples include military films, health-related film festivals and human rights films festivals.

There are festivals, especially in the US, that highlight and promote films that are made by or are about various ethnic groups and nationalities or feature the cinema from a specific foreign country. These include African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Arabs, Italian, German, French, Palestinian and Native American. The Deauville American Film Festival in France is devoted to the cinema of the United States.

LGBTQ and Women's Film Festivals are also popular.

North American film festivals

The San Francisco International Film Festival, founded by Irving "Bud" Levin started in 1957, is the oldest continuously annual film festival in the United States. It highlights current trends in international filmmaking and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution.

The Toronto International Film Festival, founded by Bill Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl,[19] is regarded as North America's most major and most prestigious film festival, and is the most widely attended.

The Sundance film festival founded by Sterling Van Wagenen (then head of Wildwood, Robert Redford's company), John Earle, and Cirina Hampton Catania (both serving on the Utah Film Commission at the time) is a major festival for independent film.

The Woodstock Film Festival was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region of New York. Indiewire has named the Woodstock Film Festival among the top 50 independent film festivals worldwide.

The Wasatch Mountain Film Festival launched in 2014 has quickly grown into a leading adventure and environmental documentary film festival.

The Regina International Film Festival and awards (RIFFA)[20][21][22][23] founded by John Thimothy,[23] one of the top leading international film festivals in western Canada (Regina, Saskatchewan) represented 35 countries in 2018 festival . RIFFA annual Award show and red carpet arrival event is getting noticed in the contemporary film and fashion industries in Western Canada.

Toronto's Hot Docs founded by filmmaker Paul Jay, is the leading North American documentary film festival. Toronto has the largest number of film festivals in the world, ranging from cultural, independent, and historic films.

The Seattle International Film Festival, which screens 270 features and approximately 150 short films, is the largest American film festival in terms of the number of feature productions.[11]

The Expresión en Corto International Film Festival is the largest competitive film festival in Mexico. It specializes in emerging talent, and is held in the last week of each July in the two colonial cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato.

Other Mexican festivals include the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Guadalajara, Oaxaca Film Fest, the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Michoacan Mexico, and the Los Cabos International Film Festival founded by Scott Cross, Sean Cross, and Eduardo Sanchez Navarro, in Los Cabos Baja Sur Mexico are considered the most important film festivals in Latin America. In 2015, Variety called the Los Cabos International Film Festival the "Cannes of Latin America".

South American film festivals
Swedish director and screenwriter Johannes Nyholm (right) presenting Koko-di Koko-da at Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2019.

The Cartagena Film Festival, founded by Victor Nieto in 1960, is the oldest film festival in Latin America.[24] The Festival de Gramado (or Gramado Film Festival) Gramado, Brazil.

The Valdivia International Film Festival is held annually in the city of Valdivia. It is arguable the most important film festival in Chile.[25] There is also Filmambiente, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an international festival on environmental films and videos.[26]

The Caribbean

For Spanish-speaking countries, the Dominican International Film Festival takes place annually in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. As well as the Havana Film Festival was founded in 1979 and is the oldest continuous annual film festival in the Caribbean. Its focus is on Latin American cinema.[27]

The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, founded in 2006, is dedicated to screening the newest films from the English-, Spanish, French- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, as well as the region's diaspora. It also seeks to facilitate the growth of Caribbean cinema by offering a wide-ranging industry programme and networking opportunities.[28]

The Lusca Fantastic Film Fest (formerly Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) was also founded in 2006 and is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean[29] devoted to Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy, Dark Humor, Bizarre, Horror, Anime, Adventure, Virtual Reality and Animation in Short and Feature Films.[29]

Animation

Many film festivals are dedicated exclusively to animation.

A variety of regional festivals happen in various countries. Austin Film Festival is accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which makes all their jury award-winning narrative short and animated short films eligible for an Academy Award.

African festivals

There are several significant film festivals held regularly in Africa. The biannual Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso was established in 1969 and accepts for competition only films by African filmmakers and chiefly produced in Africa. The annual Durban International Film Festival in South Africa and Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania have grown in importance for the film and entertainment industry, as they often screen the African premieres of many international films. The Nairobi Film Festival (NBO), which was established in 2016, with a special focus on screening exceptional films from around the world that are rarely presented in Nairobi’s mainstream cinema and spotlighting the best Kenyan films, has also been growing in popularity over the years and has improved the cinema going culture in Kenya.

The Sahara International Film Festival, held annually in the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria near the border of Western Sahara, is notable as the only film festival in the world to take place in a refugee camp. The festival has the two-fold aim of providing cultural entertainment and educational opportunities to refugees, and of raising awareness of the plight of the Sahrawi people, who have been exiled from their native Western Sahara for more than three decades.

India

The International Film Festival of India, organized by the government of India, was founded in 1952.[30] The Kolkata International Film Festival, founded in 1995, is the third oldest international film festival in India.[31] The International Film Festival of Kerala organised by Government of Kerala held annually at Thiruvananthapuram is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in Indian.[32]

The International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, is a major documentary and short film festival.[33]

Other notable festivals in India include the Osian's-Cinefan: Festival of Asian Cinema at New Delhi, which recently expanded to include Arab Cinema, Chennai Women's International Film Festival (CWIFF), the Annual Mumbai Film Festival in India, with its US$200,000 cash prize (www.mumbaifilmfest.com), and Mumbai Women's International Film Festival (MWIFF), an annual film festival in Mumbai featuring films made by women directors and women technicians.

Others

Notable festivals include the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), and Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival.

Arab World film festivals
Further information: Arab film festivals

There are several major film festivals in the Arab world, such as the Beirut International Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, the only international competitive feature film festival recognized by the FIAPF in the Arab world and Africa, as well as the oldest in this category, Carthage Film Festival, the oldest festival in Africa and the Arab world, and Marrakech International Film Festival.

European festivals
Tampere Film Festival, an international festval for short films, in 2011
Further information: List of film festivals in Europe

The most important European film festivals are Venice Film Festival (late summer to early autumn), Cannes Film Festival (late spring to early summer) and Berlin International Film Festival (late winter to early spring), founded in 1932, 1946 and 1951 respectively.

See also

References
  1. "Open air cinemas".
  2. "Animated Movie Guide 1 - Cartoon Research". cartoonresearch.com.
  3. Valck, Marijke de; Kredell, Brendan; Loist, Skadi (February 26, 2016). Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice. Routledge. ISBN 9781317267218 – via Google Books.
  4. "Beale's best in show: Raindance film festival (4Creative)". The Independent. London. September 8, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  5. "ÉCU Film Festival – Taking the lead on indie films in Europe". Face Of Film. Paris. June 10, 2017. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 13, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 3, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Scott Roxborough. "Berlin Rebooted: Festival Shuffles Lineup, Aims for Recharged Market". The Hollywood Reporter.
  9. "Big-Screen Romance". Time. August 29, 2007. Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  10. "2011 Seattle International Film Festival (May 19 - June 12)". Siff.net. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-07-31.
  11. Ladwig, Samantha. "How SIFF Became the Country's Biggest International Film Festival". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  12. International Federation of Film Producers Associations. "Competitive Feature Film Festivals". Archived from the original on 2004-03-10. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
  13. Bradley, Ruth Estelle (1985). THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL, 1963-1982: A HISTORY ILLUSTRATING THE GENRES OF AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE CINEMA (EXPERIMENTAL, UNDERGROUND, INDEPENDENT; MICHIGAN). University of MICHIGAN.
  14. "Telluride Film Festival". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  15. "Redford Says Sundance Maintains Essence".
  16. "Filmmakers look to Sundance buying spree".
  17. "The Plot Thickens For 2009 Austin Film Festival". Film Threat. 2009-02-24. Archived from the original on 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
  18. "Zero Film Festival Celebrates Indie Spirit". New York Post. November 23, 2009.
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-09-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "Regina International Film Festival And Awards". riffa.ca.
  21. "International Film Festival coming to Regina".
  22. "Regina International Film Festival to be held in October - CBC News".
  23. "Regina set to compete on the international stage". 21 September 2015.
  24. de la Fuente, Anna Marie (2008-12-03). "Cartagena Festival's Nieto dies at 92, Director of oldest film festival in Latin America". Variety. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
  25. "FICValdivia: About the Festival". FICValdivia 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  26. "About | Filmambiente" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  27. "Historia". Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  28. "About". trinidad+tobago film festival. 2019-08-13. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  29. Lusca Film Fest Official Website
  30. IFFI. "IFFi". iffi.nic.in. Archived from the original on 2014-08-10. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  31. "Festagent, a directory of festivals from all over the world (India)". Festagent. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  32. "24th International Film Festival of Kerala, About". IFFK. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  33. "IDSFFK". iffk.in/idsffk. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

Further reading
  • Turan, Kenneth, Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2002, hardback, ISBN 0-520-21867-1.
  • Watson, Nigel, "The Sense and Sensationalism of Film Festivals", Talking Pictures website
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