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. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some film festivals focus on a specific filmmaker, genre of film, or subject matter. Several film festivals focus solely on presenting short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians, including Jerry Beck, do not consider film festivals as official releases of the film.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental filmmaking by showcasing emerging talents and established auteurs. The festival also places a focus on presenting cutting edge media art and arthouse film, with most of the participants in the short film program identified as artists or experimental filmmakers. IFFR also hosts CineMart and BoostNL, for film producers to seek funding. The IFFR logo is a stylized image of a tiger that is loosely based on Leo, the lion in the MGM logo.
The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii.
The Canadian Film Institute (CFI) (French: Institut canadien du film (ICF)) Canadian Film Institute involves Canada in the film production, study, appreciation process of film/moving images for cultural and educational purposes. The Canadian Film Institute organizes ongoing public film programming and artist talks, provides educational enhancements on its websites, distributes a small collection of films, and is involved in the publication of books and monographs on various aspects of Canadian cinema. CFI screenings and events are held in Ottawa Ontario, mainly at The Auditorium at 395 Wellington St. (formerly operated by Library and Archives Canada).
CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation's largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films. It annually presents approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. The festival is organized by the Center for Asian American Media.
The San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is an annual event organized by Pacific Arts Movement that takes place every November in San Diego, California.
Visual Communications –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were students of EthnoCommunications, an alternative film school at University of California, Los Angeles. The mission of VC is to "promote intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans."
Arthur Dong is an American filmmaker and author whose work centers on Asia America and anti-gay prejudice. He was raised in San Francisco, California, graduating from Galileo High School in June 1971. He received his BA in film from San Francisco State University and also holds a Directing Fellow Certificate from the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies. In 2007, SFSU named Dong its Alumnus of the year “for his continued success in the challenging arena of independent documentary filmmaking and his longstanding commitment to social justice."
Cristina Kotz Cornejo is an Argentine-American director and screenwriter who divides her time between Boston, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires. She is a descendant of the Huarpe people of the Cuyo region of Argentina and was educated in the US and Argentina.
The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival was a 10-day film festival held annually in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to show the most recent films and music by artists with Asian ethnic origins, such as from Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, the Philippines, and The Middle East. It also included films whose topical matter is about Asians or Asian Americans.
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) was founded in 1980. The San Francisco–based organization, formerly known as the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), has grown into the largest organization dedicated to the advancement of Asian Americans in independent media, specifically the areas of television and filmmaking.
Ciné-Asie is a Montreal-based, non-profit film and media company that seeks to explore the unique identity of Asian-Canadian media arts and artists. Its mission is to develop and create cinema that empowers people who are marginalized by mass media and to introduce the Asian cult and genre films to the wider public. Ciné-Asie is involved in many different projects including film contests, exhibitions and film screenings at the Cinémathèque québécoise.
The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival is an annual film festival based in Austin, Texas, featuring Latin American and indigenous films from the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. In its 14th year in 2011, the Festival grew into a citywide event, with over 100 screenings in a nine-day span. Patrons of the festival are offered a wide variety of films to choose from including narrative and documentary features, short films, animation and youth films.
The Cinematheque, founded in 1972, is a Canadian charity and non-profit film institute, media education centre, and film exhibitor based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Munich International Film Festival is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late-June/early-July. The latest festival was held from June 23 to July 2, 2022. It presents feature films and feature-length documentaries. The festival is also proud of the role it plays in discovering talented and innovative young filmmakers. With the exception of retrospectives, tributes and homages, all of the films screened are German premieres and many are European and world premieres. There are a dozen competitions with prizes worth over €250,000 which are donated by the festival's major sponsors and partners.
A growing number of film festivals are held in the Arab world to showcase films from the region as well as international standouts. In addition, institutions and organizations in other parts of the world are increasingly honoring the new generation of filmmakers in the Arab world with Arab film festivals.
World Music & Independent Film Festival is an international film festival that takes place annually in Washington D.C.. Held in the third week of August the seven-day festival is a showcase of independent filmmakers and musicians from around the world.
The Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) is a film festival, based in New York City, that screens cinema from across Latin America with a special focus on Cuba and its film industry. It is a project of The American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with the mission of building cultural bridges between the United States and Cuba through arts projects.
Launchpad is an anthology series of American independent short films produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The films are created by various filmmakers from diverse and underrepresented racial, social, and cultural backgrounds.
Isadora Quanehia Ding Welsh, known professionally as Loni Ding, was an documentary film maker, director, television series producer, activist, and university educator. She is known for her work exploring the experiences of Asian Americans. Notably, two of her films played a critical role in the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which granted reparations to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II.
