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49-571: The San Francisco Independent Film Festival , known as San Francisco IndieFest , is an annual film festival , held in January or February, that recognizes contemporary independent film . It is run by SF IndieFest, a non-profit organization, and based at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District . The San Francisco Independent Film Festival was founded in 1998 by Jeff Ross, operations manager of

98-647: 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. The oldest film festival in the world is the Venice Film Festival . The most prestigious film festivals in the world, known as the "Big Five", are (listed chronologically according to the date of foundation): Venice , Cannes , Berlin (the original Big Three ), Toronto , and Sundance . The Venice Film Festival in Italy began in 1932 and

147-402: A focus on experimental and otherwise unconventional works. The second IndieFest was held in January 2000, expanding from four days to nine, and the festival has continued to take place in January or February and further expanded to two weeks. The 2000 IndieFest added animated shorts; in 2002, despite losing corporate sponsorship in the wake of 9/11 , the festival added foreign films. Ross directed

196-488: Is Raindance Film Festival . The British Urban Film Festival (which specifically caters to Black and minority interests) was officially recognized in the 2020 New Year Honours list. A few film festivals have focused on highlighting specific issues, topics, or subjects. These festivals have included mainstream and independent films . Some examples include military films , health-related film festivals , and human rights film festivals . There are festivals, especially in

245-585: Is North America’s longest-running competitive film festival. The 60th Chicago International Film Festival, scheduled during the month of October, will host over 40,000 attendees from around the world. The Festival's program, screening 175+ films from more than 50 countries, is presented in sections including the International Competition, New Directors Competition, Documentary, Black Perspectives, City & State, and Special Presentations. The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), founded in 1977,

294-592: Is a popular international film festival based in Kolkata which showcases international cult films. YathaKatha International Film & Literature Festival (YKIFLF) is an annual film & literature festival in Mumbai showcasing literature collaboration in cinema via various constructive discussions and forums. 1st edition of the festival is being held from 25–28 November in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. San Francisco Green Film Festival The San Francisco Green Film Festival

343-624: Is accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences , which makes all its jury-award-winning narrative short and animated short films eligible for an Academy Award. There are several significant film festivals held regularly in Africa. The Cairo International Film Festival in Cairo was established in 1976, the biannual Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso

392-859: Is held in the last week of each July in the two colonial cities of 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 are considered

441-900: Is largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The film festival is held at the Playhouse Square , which are a series of elegant 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 larger). The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival , abbreviated OCanFilmFest, was co-founded by Ottawa-based filmmakers Jith Paul, Ed Kucerak, and Blair Campbell in 2015. It features films of various durations and genres from filmmakers across Canada. The Sundance Film Festival founded by Sterling Van Wagenen (then head of Wildwood, Robert Redford's company), John Earle, and Cirina Hampton Catania (both serving on

490-497: Is one of the largest film festivals in North America. It focuses on East Asian films, Canadian films, and nonfiction films. In 2016, there was an audience of 133,000 and 324 films. The Toronto International Film Festival , founded by Bill Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk, and Dusty Cohl, is one of North America's most important film festivals, and is the most widely attended. The Chicago International Film Festival , founded in 1964,

539-856: Is the Melbourne International Film Festival (1952), followed by the Sydney Film Festival (1954). North America's first and longest-running short film festival is the Yorkton Film Festival , established in 1947. The first film festival in the United States was the Columbus International Film & Video Festival , also known as The Chris Awards , held in 1953. According to the Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco , " The Chris Awards (is) one of

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588-539: Is the oldest film festival still running. Mainland Europe 's biggest independent film festival is ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival , which started in 2006 and takes place every spring in Paris, France. Edinburgh International Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Great Britain as well as the longest continually running film festival in the world. Australia's first and longest-running film festival

637-568: The International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) in the category of competitive feature films. As a rule, for films to compete, they must first be released during the festivals and not in any other previous venue beforehand. Ann Arbor Film Festival started in 1963. It is the oldest continually operated experimental film festival in North America and has become one of the premier film festivals for independent and, primarily, experimental filmmakers to showcase work. In

686-653: The San Francisco International Film Festival and office manager of the San Francisco Film Society , at the end of a decade when independent films had increased in importance. The impetus was that San Francisco independent filmmaker Rand Alexander was unable to find a venue in the city to show Caged , which had premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival . The first festival took place in January 1999 and comprised 20 films, with

735-695: 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), founded in 1932, 1946, and 1951 respectively. The Edinburgh International Film Festival , founded in 1946, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. Many film festivals are dedicated exclusively to animation. Various regional festivals occur in various countries. The Austin Film Festival

784-724: The 2020 festival, and was rebranded in 2022 as the Green Film Festival of San Francisco. The first Decibels Music Film Festival took place in fall 2021 at the Roxie and online. Past associated festivals included the Northern California Action Sports Film Festival and the US edition of the International Short Film Festival. A week-long Winter Music Fest was added in 2010, taking place the week before

833-786: The Dominican International Film Festival occurs annually in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic . As well as the Havana Film Festival was founded in 1979 and is the oldest continuous annual film festival in the Caribbean. Its focus is on Latin American cinema . The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival , founded in 2006, is dedicated to screening the newest films from the English-, Spanish, French- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean and

882-661: The Festival was the official film presenting partner of the Global Climate Action Summit , hosted by the U.N.'s Christiana Figueres, Michael Bloomberg, and California Governor Jerry Brown. In 2019, the Green Film Festival took place for the last time. The Opening Night event at the Castro Theare included a screening of Fredrik Gertten ’s feature documentary film Push , and a conversation with U.N. Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha . The tenth edition

931-696: The Government of Kerala held annually at Thiruvananthapuram is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in Indian. The International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, is a major documentary and short film festival. The Mumbai Women's International Film Festival (MWIFF) is an annual film festival in Mumbai that features films made by women directors and technicians. The Calcutta International Cult Films Festival (CICFF)

980-448: The U.S., Telluride Film Festival , Sundance Film Festival , Austin Film Festival , Austin 's South by Southwest , NYC 's Tribeca Festival , and Slamdance Film Festival are all considered significant festivals for independent film. The Zero Film Festival is significant as the first and only festival exclusive to self-financed filmmakers. The biggest independent film festival in the UK

1029-544: The US, that highlight and promote films made by or about various ethnic groups and nationalities or feature the 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 devoted to the cinema of the United States . LGBTQ+ and Women's film festivals are also popular. Tribeca Festival , one of

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1078-669: The Utah Film Commission at the time) is a significant festival for independent film. The Woodstock Film Festival was launched 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) founded by John Thimothy, one of

1127-755: The associated parties, particularly the Big Lebowski party. The 20th IndieFest, in 2018, included a film from each previous festival. The 2021 festival, held during the COVID-19 pandemic , was streamed . The 2022 festival had a mix of screenings at the Roxie and virtual events. Past festival participants have included Abel Ferrara , Gregg Araki , David Lynch , Gus Van Sant , Don Coscarelli , Bruce Campbell , Jon Cryer , Bill Plympton , Edward Furlong , Ben Wheatley , Alex Cox , Gaspar Noé , Don Hertzfeldt , Sam Elliot , Antonio Campos , Joe Swanberg , Mia Wasikowska , John Leguizamo , Steve Zahn and many more. Over

1176-457: The border of Western Sahara , is notable as the only film festival in the world to take place in a refugee camp. The festival aims to provide cultural entertainment and educational opportunities to refugees and raise awareness of the plight of the Sahrawi people, who have been exiled from their native Western Sahara for more than three decades. The International Film Festival of India , organized by

1225-679: The climate crisis. Over 9 years, the Festival grew from a 3-day programme in one small venue to a weeklong event in multiple venues across the city, and the largest environmental film festival in the USA outside the long-established Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital in Washington D.C. The festival was known for its 'Take Action' programmes, encouraging audiences to get involved with local climate campaigns and causes in partnership with organisations such as Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and 350.org. SFGFF

1274-888: The festival alone until a program director, Bruce Fletcher, was added. IndieFest is now based at the Roxie Theater in the Mission District ; it began at the Victoria , also in the Mission, and has used other Bay Area theaters including the United Artists Galaxy, the Castro Theatre , the Brava, the Alamo Drafthouse , the Lumiere, and the Fine Arts Cinema in Berkeley . It has become known for

1323-441: The festival presented over 600 feature length and short films with over 800 guests ranging from filmmakers to scientists, academics, activists, indigenous leaders and youth. Notable guests included Margaret Atwood , Annie Leonard , Fredrik Gertten , Louie Psihoyos , The Yes Men , Jonathan Franzen , Céline Cousteau , Yann Arthus-Bertrand , Josh Fox , Virginia McKenna , Ralph Eggleston , and Madonna Thunderhawk . In 2018,

1372-451: The film festival; starting in 2011, it ran concurrently and the number of music-related films was increased. Ross also started A Mighty Ruckus, a rock festival. The San Francisco Independent Film Festival has separate film entry categories for general entrants and for Bay Area filmmakers. Both have sub-categories for length (features and shorts) and genre (narrative fiction, documentary, and animation). The SF IndieFest awards panel confers

1421-428: The first U.S. film festival dedicated to honoring music in film. Film Funding competitions such as Writers and Filmmakers were introduced when the cost of production could be lowered significantly, and internet technology allowed for the collaboration of film production. Film festivals have evolved significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic . Many festivals opted for virtual or hybrid festivals. The film industry, which

1470-495: The first year included Akira Kurosawa 's Throne of Blood and Satyajit Ray 's Pather Panchali . Today, thousands of film festivals take place around the world—from high-profile festivals such as Sundance Film Festival , Newport Beach Film Festival , and Slamdance Film Festival ( Park City, Utah ), to horror festivals such as Terror Film Festival ( Philadelphia ), and the Park City Film Music Festival ,

1519-422: The following awards: Jury Prize Audience Award Screenplay Competition Vanguard Award Film festival 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, such as horror films , or subject matter. Several film festivals focus solely on presenting short films of

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1568-648: The government of India, was founded in 1952. Chennai International Film Festival has been organized 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 , founded in 2009, is India's most prominent international film festival. The International Film Festival of Kerala organised by

1617-554: The largest international cinema event in coastal Southern California , attracting over 56,000 attendees to Orange County, CA . The Festival partners with over 40 non-profit organizations and pairs each with a film that aligns with their mission. The films featured 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 , founded in 1958,

1666-615: The most important film festivals in Latin America. In 2015, Variety called the Los Cabos International Film Festival the "Cannes of Latin America". The Cartagena Film Festival , founded by Victor Nieto in 1960, is the oldest in Latin America . The Festival de Gramado (or Gramado Film Festival) Gramado , Brazil . The Lima Film Festival is the leading film festival in Peru and one of

1715-624: The most important in Latin America. It is focused on Latin-American cinema and is organized each year by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru . The Valdivia International Film Festival is held annually in the city of Valdivia . It is arguably the most important film festival in Chile . There is also Filmambiente, held in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil, an international festival on environmental films and videos. For Spanish-speaking countries,

1764-511: The most influential fall film festival to the most influential film festival, period". The Seattle International Film Festival is credited as being the largest film festival in the United States, regularly showing over 400 films in a month across the city. The festivals in Berlin , Cairo , Cannes , Goa , Karlovy Vary , Locarno , Mar del Plata , Moscow , San Sebastián , Shanghai , Tallinn , Tokyo , Venice , and Warsaw are accredited by

1813-476: The most prestigious documentaries, educational, business and informational competitions in the U.S.; (it is) the oldest of its kind in North America and celebrating its 54th year". It was followed four years later by the San Francisco International Film Festival , held in March 1957, which emphasized feature-length dramatic films. The festival played a major role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Films in

1862-528: The most prestigious in North America, ranks first worldwide in terms of audience attendance and 11th in terms of media attendance. The San Francisco International Film Festival , founded by Irving "Bud" Levin in 1957, is the oldest continuous annual film festival in the United States. It highlights current trends in international filmmaking and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. The Newport Beach Film Festival , founded by Gregg Schwenk in 1999, has emerged as

1911-555: The region's diaspora. It also seeks to facilitate the growth of Caribbean cinema by offering a wide-ranging industry programme and networking opportunities. The Lusca Fantastic Film Fest (formerly Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) was also founded in 2006 and is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean devoted to sci-fi , thriller , fantasy , dark humor , bizarre, horror , anime , adventure , virtual reality , and animation in short and feature films . The most important European film festivals are

1960-820: The spin-off film festivals DocFest, the SF Documentary Film Festival, started in 2001, Another Hole in the Head, a horror and science fiction festival started in 2003, the San Francisco Independent Short Film Festival, started in 2019, and the Livable Planet Festival, which was launched in 2021 as a replacement for the San Francisco Green Film Festival , which folded after the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of

2009-482: The top leading international film festivals in western Canada ( Regina, Saskatchewan ) represented 35 countries in 2018 festival. RIFFA annual Award show and red carpet arrival event are getting noticed in the contemporary film and fashion industries in Western Canada . Toronto's Hot Docs , founded by filmmaker Paul Jay, is a North American documentary film festival. Toronto has the largest number of film festivals in

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2058-455: The world, ranging from cultural, independent, and historic films. The Seattle International Film Festival , which screens 270 features and approximately 150 short films, is the largest American film festival in terms of the number of feature productions. The Expresión en Corto International Film Festival is the largest competitive film festival in Mexico . It specializes in emerging talent and

2107-553: The years, the festival has screened acclaimed films such as Inland Empire (opening film, 2007 edition), Shotgun Stories (opening film, 2008), Paranormal Activity , Zatoichi , Bubba Ho-Tep , Kaboom (opening film, 2011), Heartbeats , Kill List , Berberian Sound Studio , Antiviral , Sightseers , A Field in England , The We and the I (US premiere, 2013), All My Friends Hate Me , Little Woods , Club Zero , among many others. SF IndieFest also runs

2156-410: Was already in upheaval due to streaming options, has faced another major shift, and movies showcased at festivals have an even shorter runway to online launches. The "Big Five" film festivals are considered to be Venice , Cannes , Berlin , Toronto , and Sundance . The Toronto International Film Festival is the most popular festival in North America. Time wrote it had "grown from its place as

2205-553: Was an environmental film festival which was held annually from 2011 to 2019. The festival was founded by Rachel Caplan, who had previously worked for the Edinburgh Film Festival , the San Francisco Film Society and the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival . She created the festival to connect international environmental films and filmmakers with San Francisco Bay Area audiences and increase awareness of

2254-566: Was established in 1969 and accepts competition-only films by African filmmakers and chiefly produced in Africa. The annual Durban International Film Festival in South Africa and Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania have grown in importance for the film and entertainment industry, as they often screen the African premieres of many international films. The Nairobi Film Festival (NBO), which

2303-411: Was established in 2016 with a special focus on screening exceptional films from around the world that are rarely presented in Nairobi's mainstream cinema and spotlighting the best Kenyan films, has also been growing in popularity over the years and has improved the cinema-going culture in Kenya. The Sahara International Film Festival , held annually in the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria near

2352-492: Was planned to be held over 10 days in September 2020, but in May it was announced that the festival would cease operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Around that time, it had a staff of three employees, not counting its board of directors. In 2022, SF IndieFest launched the 'Green Film Festival of San Francisco' as a new event which is not affiliated with this festival. Juried award introduced in 2017 for Best Bay Area Environmental Feature with $ 5,000 prize. The Festival

2401-412: Was recognised Internationally through an official partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and membership of the Green Film Network, a global association of 30 film festivals which focus on environmental issues. Its Science on Screen and Impact Film Forum initiatives were funded by National Endowment for the Arts. In nine years,

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