Film Festival
A film festival is a curated event designed to celebrate and showcase films, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. Each year, over twelve thousand film festivals take place globally, highlighting the significant diversity and unique characteristics of these gatherings. While many festivals aim to promote industry standards and business, they also serve as cultural showcases that introduce international audiences to various cinematic forms. Major festivals, such as Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, are well-known for their international recognition and attendance, often drawing large audiences and industry professionals.
Notably, the Cannes Film Festival, established in 1939, has grown to be regarded as one of the most prestigious events in the film industry, alongside other prominent festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. These events not only celebrate established cinematic works but also provide platforms for independent filmmakers, often leading to significant breakthroughs in their careers. Additionally, emerging festivals in regions such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America reflect the global nature of cinema and the increasing recognition of diverse voices in storytelling. With the rise of online film festivals, the accessibility and reach of these cultural events continue to expand, making them an integral part of the contemporary film landscape.
Film Festival
A film festival is an organized event celebrating films. If this definition seems so broad as to offer little understanding of the term, such vagueness can be attributed to the diverse characteristics and purposes of cinematic festivals. According to the 2024 article "Quantifying the Global Film Festival Circuit," more than twelve thousand film festivals take place throughout the world each year. Film festivals may function to develop aesthetic standards, promote industry business, showcase a particular form or genre of cinema, or, in the case of foreign films, introduce films to an international audience. Although film festivals are international in scope, with events being held on six continents, a substantial majority are held in North America. The best known film festivals are major media events with international coverage and corporate sponsors, but most festivals are local or regional festivities.
Background
The oldest international competitive film festival, the Venice Film Festival, began in 1932 as part of the Venice Biennale, a biannual arts exhibition in Venice, Italy, that dates back to the late nineteenth century. The festival became an annual event in 1935. The festival’s reputation declined in prestige and popularity in the late twentieth century, but by the twenty-first century, the festival boasted more than 150 movies screened on average and an annual attendance of more than 50,000.
The Cannes Film Festival originated in response to politics infiltrating the Venice Film Festival. When the top prize at the Venice festival in 1938 was awarded jointly to two fascist-produced films over the favorite, Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion, the French withdrew in protest, followed by the resignation of jury members from Britain and the United States. In response to a strong lobby led by a group that included Louis Lumière, the co-inventor of cinema, the French inaugurated the Festival International du Film at Cannes on September 1, 1939. However, the first festival closed after the first day because of the outbreak of World War II. The second Cannes festival opened on September 20, 1946. More than seventy years after the first festival, the Cannes Film Festival had grown into the best known international film festival and one of the largest. The 2024 festival was an eleven-day gathering of more than 150,000 film professionals and fans from 140 countries.
Overview
The Berlin International Film Festival completes the triumvirate of the most prestigious European festivals. The largest public film festival, also known as the Berlinale, was founded in West Berlin in 1951. In 2024, attendees viewed 138 films. The winning film was Anora, written and directed by Sean Baker, about a sex worker who marries the son of an oligarch.
Other international film festivals of note include the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Raindance Film Festival. The first and largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the Melbourne International Film Festival, began in 1952. By 2024, the festival had become a major cultural event in Australia, drawing around 200,000. North America’s most popular film festival, the Toronto International Film Festival was founded in 1976 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It continued to grow in attendance and influence over four decades. Award-winning movies that have debuted at the festival include Slumdog Millionaire, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, and Silver Linings Playbook. Toronto, home to more film festivals than any other city, is also the site of Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North America’s largest documentary festival.
Launched in 1993, the Raindance Film Festival is the largest film festival in the United Kingdom. Since What's Eating Gilbert Grape? premiered at the first festival, Raindance-premiered hits have included Pulp Fiction, The Blair Witch Project, and Memento. In 2024, the nine-day festival screened 100 feature films and 150 short films.
Although Europe was the birthplace of the film festival, the United States is home to the greatest number of festivals honoring cinema. The oldest film festival in the United States, the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, founded in 1953, offers the prestigious Chris Award in documentary, educational, business and informational competitions. The Seattle International Film Festival, with an estimated annual attendance of more than 150,000 is the largest in the United States. Founded in 1976, the first festival featured 18 films. Nearly forty years later, the seven-day 2024 festival included 260 screenings of feature films, short films, and documentaries from 92 countries.
The Sundance Film Festival may be the most famous of the festivals held in the United States. The festival traces its beginnings to the US Film Festival, first held in Salt Lake City in 1978. In 1985, actor Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute took over the festival and renamed it the Sundance/United States Film Festival and later, more simply, the Sundance Film Festival. The association with Redford, along with an expansion of award categories, increased attendance. The festival became synonymous with independent projects that became box-office successes, beginning with Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 entry Sex, Lies and Videotape and continuing with Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Kevin Smith’s Clerks in 1994, Jared Hess’s Napoleon Dynamite in 2004, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’s Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, Lee Daniels' Precious in 2009, Daniel Chazelle's Whiplash in 2014, Michael Showalter's The Big Sick in 2017, Chinonye Chukwu's Minari in 2020, and Sian Heder's CODA in 2021.
Among the growing number of Asian film festivals, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, founded in 1977, is one of the oldest and largest. The festival originated as a government-sponsored event, but in 2004, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society became the sponsor. In 2024, the festival screened more than 190 titles from 62 countries. India is the site of ten film festivals. Mumbai, the center of Bollywood (the Hindi film industry) hosts several, including the Mumbai Film Festival, founded in 1997 and famous for its generous cash awards; the Mumbai Women’s International Film Festival, which showcases the work of women in the film; and the biennial Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films, the first festival of its kind.
South Africa’s Durban International Film Festival is one of Africa’s largest and longest-running film festivals, the event screens feature films, short films, and documentaries. Latin America’s premier film festival is the Guadalajara International Film Festival, a showcase for Mexican and Ibero-American films. The International Federation of Film Producers' Associations gives a top rating to the Cairo International Film Festival, established in 1976, and film festivals in Dubai and Marrakesh are garnering increased attention. Online film festivals are also growing in number, a trend that seems likely to continue given online festivals sponsored by the Public Broadcasting Company, the New York Times, and Amazon.
Bibliography
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Craig, Benjamin. Cannes: A Festival Virgin's Guide: Attending the Cannes Film Festival for Filmmakers and Film Industry Professionals. 6th ed. London: Cinemagine Media Publishing, 2013. Print.
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Pattison, Michael. "Power to the People." Sight & Sound 25.5 (2015): 57. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 June 2015.
Rich, B. Ruby. "Sundance at Thirty." Film Quarterly 67.2 (2013): 85–91. Print.
Tascón, Sonia M. Human Rights Film Festivals: Activism in Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2015. Print.
Turan, Kenneth. Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made. Berkeley: U of California P, 2002. Print.
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Zemaityte, Vejune, et al. "Quantifying the Global Film Festival Circuit: Networks, Diversity, and Public Value Creation." PLOS ONE, 6 Mar. 2024, doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297404. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.