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.
Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwriting, casting, pre-production, shooting, sound recording, post-production, and screening the finished product before an audience, which may result in a film release and exhibition. The process is nonlinear, as the director typically shoots the script out of sequence, repeats shots as needed, and puts them together through editing later. Filmmaking occurs in a variety of economic, social, and political contexts around the world, and uses a variety of technologies and cinematic techniques to make theatrical films, episodic films for television and streaming platforms, music videos, and promotional and educations films.
The Austin Film Society (AFS) is a non-profit film society based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1985 to exhibit independent, experimental, foreign and various other non-mainstream art films, the film society has grown from just film exhibition to fostering independent filmmaking in Texas and has served as a cornerstone in building the film industry in Austin. The film society also owns and maintains Austin Studios, hosts the annual Texas Film Awards gala, and oversees the Austin Film Society grant program. The film society was founded by film director Richard Linklater, who currently serves on the board as artistic director. Other notable members on the board and advisory board include Tim McCanlies, Robert Rodriguez, Charles Burnett, Guillermo del Toro, Jonathan Demme, Mike Judge, John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Stekler and Quentin Tarantino.
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).
Olympia Film Society (OFS) is a nonprofit arts organization in Olympia, Washington, USA, that shows independent, international and classic film year-round, offers special live performances and produces the Olympia Film Festival. OFS welcomes its members and non-member patrons to the Capitol Theater.
The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is the largest film festival in England outside London. Founded in 1987, it is held in November at various venues throughout Leeds, West Yorkshire. In 2022, the festival showed 140 films from 78 different countries, shorts and features, both commercial and independent.
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) takes place every year in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island as well as satellite locations throughout the state.
The Independent Film Festival Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Sacramento Film and Music Festival (SF&MF) is a large, multi-day, all-genre international film festival held in Sacramento, California in the United States. It has been in operation since 2000. The festival's mission is to celebrate filmmaking from around the world and sponsor the art of film in California's Capital region.
The Guanajuato International Film Festival or GIFF is an annual international film festival, held since 1998. It is held during the final week of July in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato City, Mexico. GIFF was formerly known as Expresión en Corto International Film Festival.
The Kingston Canadian Film Festival is an annual celebration of the best in Canadian cinema held in Kingston, Ontario. It is the largest stand-alone showcase of feature films from across Canada. The 2021 festival took place from February 26 to March 7, and was the first-ever digital version of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival.
The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas, specializing in independent films. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver.
The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival is known for its close relationship with John Waters, who is on the festival's board of directors and selects a favorite film to host within each year of the festival.
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 Trinidad and Tobago film festival is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago in the latter half of September, and runs for approximately two weeks. The festival screens feature-length narrative and documentary films, as well as short and experimental films.
The Valley Film Festival (VFF) is an annual independent film festival held in the San Fernando Valley of northwestern Los Angeles, California.
The European Independent Film Festival is an annual international film festival dedicated to independent cinema. Held in Paris, France, it was created in 2006 by Scott Hillier. The festival's mission is to discover and promote independent film making talents from Europe and beyond, showcasing films that demonstrate quality, innovation, and creativity in both form and content.
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.
Devour! The Food Film Fest is a Canadian Film festival dedicated to films about food and wine culture. The five-day festival takes place annually in late fall in the Wolfville, Kings County, Nova Scotia. In 2020 organizers mounted a hybrid in-person and streamed festival due to Covid-19. Attendance was 1800 in person and 1600 virtual guests. Opening night celebrity host was "Phil Rosenthal" from the "Netflix" hit "Somebody Feed Phil".. Festival Dates for 2021 are October 19–24, 2021.
The Forest City Film Festival is a film festival located in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2016, the Forest City Film Festival centres on exhibiting the work of filmmakers from Southwestern Ontario in juried competition for features, shorts, documentaries, short animations and other categories, although it also screens a selection of other Canadian and International films out of competition.
