Film festival

A film festival is an organized event where many movies are shown in one or more cinemas or other places, usually once a year in a single city or area. Some festivals even show movies outdoors or online.

Films shown at festivals can be brand new and may come from many different countries. Some festivals focus on special kinds of movies, like documentary films, very short short film movies, scary horror films, or films made by women. Others might focus on movies from a certain country or about a special topic.

Film festivals can be competitions where winners are chosen, or they can just be for fun. They are important for new filmmakers and smaller movies because they give them a chance to be seen. Movies at festivals might be shown for the first time, sometimes months before they come out in regular theaters, or they might be movies that are hard to find elsewhere. The oldest film festival in the world is the Venice Film Festival. Some of the biggest and most famous festivals are Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance, known as the "Big Five." Other well-known festivals include Karlovy Vary, Locarno, San Sebastián, SXSW, and many more.

History

The Venice Film Festival in Italy started in 1932 and is the oldest film festival that is still happening today.

Mainland Europe’s biggest independent film festival is ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival, which began in 2006 and happens every spring in Paris, France. The Edinburgh International Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Great Britain.

In Australia, the Melbourne International Film Festival began in 1952 and is the country’s first and longest-running festival, followed by the Sydney Film Festival in 1954.

In North America, the Yorkton Film Festival was established in 1947 and is the first and longest-running short film festival.

The Columbus International Film & Animation Festival, also known as The Chris Awards, began in 1953 and is the longest continuously running festival in the United States. It was followed by the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957, which helped introduce foreign films to American audiences.

Today, thousands of film festivals happen around the world, from well-known events like the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to special festivals focused on different kinds of movies.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many film festivals have started offering virtual or mixed online and in-person events. This change happened as the film industry adapted to new ways of watching movies online.

Notable film festivals

The "Big Five" film festivals are Venice, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance.

The Toronto International Film Festival is very popular in North America. It has grown to become one of the most important film festivals in the world.

The Seattle International Film Festival is the largest in the United States, showing over 400 films each month across the city.

Competitive feature films

Festivals in Berlin, Cairo, Cannes, Goa, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Mar del Plata, Moscow, San Sebastián, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tallinn, Tokyo, Venice, and Warsaw are recognized for competitive feature films. For films to compete, they must be shown at the festival first and not anywhere else before.

Genre films

Main article: List of fantastic and horror film festivals

Sitges Film Festival in Spain, Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada, and Fantastic Fest in the United States are three of the biggest festivals for fantastic and horror films. Other important genre festivals include Beyond Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Fantaspoa, Fantasporto, FilmQuest, FrightFest, Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival, Nightmares Film Festival, Overlook Film Festival, Screamfest, Telluride Horror Show and Toronto After Dark.

Some general film festivals also have sections for genre films, with the most famous being the Midnight section at Sundance Film Festival, the Midnighter section at SXSW, the Midnight Madness at TIFF and the Midnight section at Tribeca Festival.

Experimental films

Ann Arbor Film Festival started in 1963. It is the oldest experimental film festival in North America and a top place for independent and experimental filmmakers to show their work.

Independent films

In the U.S., Telluride Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, South by Southwest, Tribeca Festival, Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival and Slamdance Film Festival are important for independent film. The Zero Film Festival is special because it only shows films made with no outside money. The biggest independent film festival in the UK is Raindance Film Festival. The British Urban Film Festival was officially recognized in the 2020 New Year Honours list.

Sponsored films

The 1948 Cleveland Film Festival was the first in the United States to honor educational, industrial, training, travel, and other types of sponsored films. In June 1948, six hundred people watched one or more of the 65 films shown at the one-day Cleveland Film Festival held at General Electric’s Lighting Institute at Nela Park.

In the second year of the Cleveland Film Festival, 99 16 mm films were shown and “Oscars” were awarded in eleven groups.

Having an entry, or better yet, winning an award at the Cleveland Film Festival, was a big deal. Ads for studios and dozens of movies appeared in "Business Screen Magazine" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, promoting the film or studio as a winner at the Cleveland Film Festival.

By 1956, sponsored film festivals had become common. In addition to dozens of city-sponsored film festivals, many organizations sponsored film festivals.

In 1957, the Cleveland Film Council, the organizers of the Cleveland Film Festival, stopped running the festival. Sponsored film festivals continued, but they were never as important again.

Subject-specific films

Main article: Aswan International Women's Film Festival

Some film festivals focus on specific issues, topics, or subjects. These festivals show both mainstream and independent films. Examples include military films, health-related film festivals, and human rights film festivals.

There are festivals, especially in the US, that highlight and promote films made by or about various ethnic groups and nationalities or show cinema from a specific foreign country. These include African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Arabs, Jews, Italian, German, French, Palestinian, and Native American. The Deauville American Film Festival in France is for films from the United States. LGBTQ+ and Women's film festivals are also popular.

North American film festivals

Tribeca Festival ranks first worldwide in terms of audience size and 11th in terms of media attention.

The San Francisco International Film Festival, started by Irving "Bud" Levin in 1957, is the oldest yearly film festival in the United States. It shows current trends in international filmmaking and video production with a focus on work that hasn’t been shown in America yet.

The Newport Beach Film Festival, started by Gregg Schwenk in 1999, is the biggest international cinema event in coastal Southern California, welcoming over 56,000 people to Orange County, California. The Festival works with over 40 non-profit organizations and pairs each with a film that matches their mission. The films include world, North America, U.S., and West Coast premieres, as well as the International Spotlight Series, which celebrates foreign language films.

The Vancouver International Film Festival, started in 1958, is one of the largest in North America. It focuses on East Asian films, Canadian films, and nonfiction films. In 2016, the audience reached 133,000 and the festival showed 324 films.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of North America’s most important film festivals, and it is the most attended.

The Chicago International Film Festival, started in 1964, is North America's longest-running competitive film festival. The 60th Chicago International Film Festival, planned for October, will welcome over 40,000 people from around the world. The Festival will show 175+ films from more than 50 countries, in sections including the International Competition, New Directors Competition, Documentary, Black Perspectives, City & State, and Special Presentations.

The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), started in 1977, is the largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The festival is held at Playhouse Square, a group of beautiful theaters built in the early 1920s, and the largest performing arts center in the United States outside of New York City (only Lincoln Center is bigger).

The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival, shortened to OCanFilmFest, was started in 2015 by Ottawa filmmakers Jith Paul, Ed Kucerak, and Blair Campbell. It shows films of different lengths and types from filmmakers across Canada.

The Sundance Film Festival is an important event for independent film.

The Woodstock Film Festival was started in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto to bring high-quality, independent films to the Hudson Valley region of New York. In 2010, Indiewire named the Woodstock Film Festival among the top 50 independent film festivals worldwide.

The Regina International Film Festival and Awards (RIFFA) was started by John Thimothy, and is one of the top 5 leading international film festivals in western Canada (Regina, Saskatchewan). It is also called “The People's Festival of Canada”, showing its focus on being inclusive, accessible, and good for the community.

Toronto's Hot Docs, started by filmmaker Paul Jay, is a North American documentary film festival. Toronto has the most film festivals in the world, with events for cultural, independent, and historic films.

The Seattle International Film Festival shows 270 feature films and about 150 short films, making it the largest American film festival in terms of the number of feature films.

The Guanajuato International Film Festival is the biggest competitive film festival in Mexico. It focuses on new artists and happens in the last week of July in 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. In 2015, Variety called the Los Cabos International Film Festival the "Cannes of Latin America".

South American film festivals

The Cartagena Film Festival, started by Victor Nieto in 1960, is the oldest in Latin America. The Festival de Gramado (or Gramado Film Festival) takes place in Gramado, Brazil.

The Lima Film Festival is the main film festival in Peru and one of the most important in Latin America. It focuses on Latin-American cinema and is held each year by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

The Valdivia International Film Festival is held every year in the city of Valdivia. It is probably the most important film festival in Chile. There is also Filmambiente, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an international festival for environmental films and videos.

The Caribbean

For Spanish-speaking countries, the Dominican International Film Festival happens every year in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The Havana Film Festival was started in 1979 and is the oldest yearly film festival in the Caribbean. It focuses on Latin American cinema.

The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, started in 2006, shows the newest films from the English-, Spanish, French- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean and the region's diaspora. It also helps grow Caribbean cinema with industry programs and networking chances.

The Lusca Fantastic Film Fest (formerly Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) was also started in 2006 and is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean for sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, dark humor, bizarre, horror, anime, adventure, virtual reality, and animation in short and feature films.

European festivals

Main article: List of film festivals in Europe

The most important European film festivals are the Venice Film Festival (late summer to early autumn), the Cannes Film Festival (late spring to early summer), and the Berlin International Film Festival (late winter to early spring), started in 1932, 1946, and 1951, respectively. The Edinburgh International Film Festival, started in 1946, is the world's oldest running film festival.

Animation

Many film festivals are only for animation.

• Annecy International Animated Film Festival (started in 1960—the oldest)
• Zagreb (started in 1972)
• Ottawa (started in 1976)
• Hiroshima (started in 1985)
• KROK (started in 1989)
• Anima Mundi (started in 1992)
• Fredrikstad Animation Festival (started in 1994)
• Animac (started in 1996)
• ASIFAC Animation Festival and Conference (started in 2017)

Various regional festivals happen in different countries. The Austin Film Festival is approved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which means all its jury-award-winning short and animated short films can compete for an Academy Award.

African festivals

Main article: List of film festivals § Africa

Several important film festivals happen regularly in Africa. The Cairo International Film Festival in Cairo started in 1976, the biannual Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso started in 1969 and shows only films by African filmmakers made in Africa. The yearly Durban International Film Festival in South Africa and Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania have grown in importance for the film industry, often showing the African premieres of many international films. The Nairobi Film Festival (NBO), started in 2016 with a focus on showing special films from around the world that are not usually in Nairobi's main cinemas, has also become more popular, improving cinema in Kenya.

The Sahara International Film Festival, held every year in the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria near the border of Western Sahara, is special because it is the only film festival in the world to happen in a refugee camp. The festival aims to give cultural fun and learning chances to refugees and to help people know about the problems of the Sahrawi people, who have been away from their home in Western Sahara for over three decades.

Asian film festivals

India

The International Film Festival of India in Goa, organized by the government of India, was started in 1952.

Chennai International Film Festival has been held since 2002 by the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), the Government of Tamil Nadu, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, and the Film Federation of India.

The Jaipur International Film Festival started in 2009 and the International Film Festival of Kerala organized by the Government of Kerala happens every year in Thiruvananthapuram.

The International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, is a big festival for documentaries and short films.

The Mumbai Women's International Film Festival (MWIFF) is a yearly festival in Mumbai that shows films made by women directors and technicians.

The Calcutta International Cult Films Festival (CICFF) is a popular worldwide film festival in Kolkata that shows cult films.

YathaKatha International Film & Literature Festival (YKIFLF) is a yearly film and literature festival in Mumbai that brings together literature and cinema through discussions and events. The 3rd edition of the festival was held from 28 November-1 December 2024 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Others

Well-known festivals include the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and World Film Carnival Singapore.

Arab World film festivals

Main article: Arab film festivals

There are several big film festivals in the Arab world, such as the Beirut International Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, the only international competitive feature film festival approved by FIAPF in the Arab world and Africa, and the oldest in this group, Carthage Film Festival, the oldest festival in Africa and the Arab world, Alexandria International Film Festival, and Marrakech International Film Festival.

Festival administration

Most film festivals are run by nonprofit groups, using money from tickets, members, and sponsors. Unlike other art groups, film festivals usually get little money from the public. People in the film industry often help choose which movies to show, and sponsors get to promote their brands during the festivals. Private parties are also common, often to help raise money for new film projects. Bigger festivals may have staff working all year, doing community and charity work besides the festival.

Many festivals ask new or lesser-known filmmakers to pay a fee to enter their movies, especially big festivals like the Jaipur International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, and Montreal World Film Festival. However, some smaller festivals, such as the Stony Brook Film Festival on Long Island and the Northwest Filmmakers' Festival, do not charge an entry fee. The Portland International Film Festival sometimes waives its fee for filmmakers from the Northwestern United States.

Some festivals, like the famous Cannes Film Festival, may show films that are almost good enough for competition but are not part of it; these films are shown "out of competition".