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 festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre or subject matter. 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, do not consider film festivals official releases of film.
Charles Burnett is an American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1978), My Brother's Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). He has been involved in other types of motion pictures including shorts, documentaries, and a TV series.
The LA Film Festival is an annual film festival held in September in Los Angeles, California. It showcases independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodic television and panel conversations. Since 2001 it has been run by the non-profit organization Film Independent, which since 1985 has also produced the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica.
The Busan International Film Festival, held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held from 13 to 21 September 1996, was also the first international film festival in Korea. The focus of the BIFF is introducing new films and first-time directors, especially those from Asian countries. Another notable feature is the appeal of the festival to young people, both in terms of the large youthful audience it attracts and through its efforts to develop and promote young talent. In 1999, the Pusan Promotion Plan was established to connect new directors to funding sources. The 16th BIFF in 2011 saw the festival move to a new permanent home, the Busan Cinema Center in Centum City. The Busan Cinema Center is an about USD 150 million structure designed by Austria-based architecture collective Coop Himmelblau. The about 30,000 m² Cinema Center includes a 4,000-seat outdoor theatre; four indoor screens under an LED-covered roof; media centre; archive space; and conference rooms; allowing the festival to include industry forums and educational activities.
Lola Kenya Screen, or Lola Kenya Children's Screen is an audio-visual media festival and learning-by-doing mentorship for children and youth in eastern Africa. It encompasses film production, film criticism, cultural journalism, media literacy, marketing, and event planning and organisation.
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, known professionally as Rodriguez, is an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. His career initially proved short lived in the United States, but unknown to Rodriguez his albums became extremely successful and influential in South Africa, where he is believed to have sold more records than Elvis Presley. Because of scarce information about Rodriguez, it was incorrectly rumored there that he had committed suicide shortly after releasing his first album.
The cinema of Kenya refers to the film industry of Kenya. Although a very small industry by western comparison, Kenya has produced or been a location for film since the early 1950s when Men Against the Sun was filmed in 1952. Although, in the United States, jungle epics that were set in the country were shot in Hollywood as early as the 1940s.
Iara Lee is a Brazilian film producer, director and activist of Korean descent who works mainly in the Middle East and Africa. Her most recent project is a series of two documentaries about Burkina Faso, one about creative resistance in the landlocked African country and another about resistance to corporate agriculture in the country, both released in 2018. Her other documentaries include Life Is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara (2015), K2 and the Invisible Footmen (2015), The Kalasha and the Crescent (2013), The Suffering Grasses (2012), Cultures of Resistance (2010), Beneath the Borqa in Afghanistan (2002), Architettura (1999), Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998), Synthetic Pleasures (1995), and An Autumn Wind (1994). In 2010, Lee was involved in the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla," where nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed by Israeli naval forces and many were injured.
The DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) is the oldest independent film festival in Washington, D.C. Launched in 1999, DCIFF exhibits features, animation, shorts and documentaries from around the world, focusing on cutting-edge ideas, new visions and advances in the craft of filmmaking. The festival hosts world premieres, seminars, and workshops, and also sponsors discussions on topics that impact independent filmmakers, in particular the annual "On the Hill" hearing hosted by the Congressional Entertainment Caucus. The festival includes a dedicated POLIDOCS section for documentary films that shed light on human rights, politics and social justice and an international high school film competition started in 2013. The festival also has an oral history collection program Going to the Movies documenting the role of movie-watching in US cultural history.
Tami Kashia Gold is a documentary filmmaker, visual artist and educator. She is also a Professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York in the Department of Film and Media Studies.
Dominic Brown is an English independent documentary filmmaker, based in London. He is also the founder of Dancing Turtle, a record label, film production and creative studio.
Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death, & Technology (2011) is an autobiographical documentary film directed by Tiffany Shlain, dedicated to her father. The film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. As Tiffany’s father Dr. Leonard Shlain, MD battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, her very understanding of connection is challenged. Using a mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain attempts to reveal the ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead.
Steven Markovitz is a South African film and television producer. He has produced, co-produced and executive-produced features, documentaries and short films. Steven has been producing and distributing for over 20 years. Since 2007, he has worked all over Africa producing documentary series and fiction. He is a member of AMPAS and co-founder of Electric South & Encounters Documentary Festival. He is the founder of the African Screen Network. Recent productions include "aKasha" by hajooj kuka, "Rafiki" by Wanuri Kahiu, the documentary "Silas" by Anjali Nayar, Hawa Essuman, "Beats of the Antonov" by hajooj kuka, "High Fantasy" by Jenna Bass, "Viva Riva!" By Djo Munga and "Behind the Rainbow".
Cinema of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) originated with educational and propaganda films during the colonial era of the Belgian Congo. Development of a local film industry after the Democratic Republic of the Congo became independent in 1960 was handicapped by constant civil war.
Wyatt Bardouille is a Seattle-based independent film and media producer/director and actor. She is currently the Executive Producer at Bardouille Productions.
Andrew Ruhemann is a film producer, director and the founder of Passion Pictures, the double Academy Award winning independent production company.
Blackfella Films is a Sydney-based documentary and narrative production company, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces distinctive Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a particular focus on Aboriginal Australian stories. Its productions have included the documentary series First Australians, the documentary The Tall Man, the television film Mabo, and the TV series Redfern Now.
Jeta Amata is a Nigerian filmmaker, born on August 21, 1974 to popular Nigerian actor Zack Amata. He comes from a family of veteran filmmakers including Ifoghale Amata, Zack Amata and Fred Amata. Growing up in the film industry, following his family’s passion for film, Jeta produced and directed his first film at the age of 21, making it no surprise when he began to rise in the world of film and entertainment.
Florence Ayisi was born in Kumba in Cameroon in 1962. She is an academic and filmmaker. Her film Sisters in Law won more than 27 awards and was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination in 2006. She won the UK Film Council Breakthrough Brits Award for Film Talent in 2008. Since 2000 she has taught film at the University of South Wales.
Sophie Hyde is an Australian film director, writer and producer based in Adelaide, South Australia. She is co-founder of Closer Productions at Glenside and best known for her award-winning debut fiction film, 52 Tuesdays.
