M&C film festival coverage

By Scott Rosenberg Apr 15, 2006, 11:26 GMT

Cannes International Film Festival 2005 poster courtesy of Festival press division. 2006 poster to be posted after April 20, 2006.

As we mentioned in an editorial last week, here on Monsters and Critics, our goal is to bring you not only the latest information and news on movies from around the globe but also about the world of making movies, the people in front of and behind the camera that actually make it all work.

In talking about movies, one activity that you hear of often is a film festival.

As we enter film festival season – and that is really a misnomer since there are a reported 3,500 film festivals a year, may be better to say, the season of the year when a number of “A list” film festivals take place - we thought it might be interesting to take a look at what a film festival is all about.

Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, defines a film festival as a festival in one or more movie theaters with a special program showcasing many films.

The films are usually of a recent date; sometimes there is a focus on a specific genre (e.g. animation) or subject (e.g. Asian or gay and lesbian film festivals). These are typically annual events.

Film fests are also gatherings of film makers, critics and other industry people to share news and information about movie deals and/or happenings. Sometimes there are film markets attached where sales agents and film distributors hawk their film ware to buyers from international territories.

Most film festivals have juries made up of prominent industry people that view movies and judge them on their merits. 

The world's first major film festival was held in Venice in 1932; the other major  film festivals of the world (Berlin, Cannes, Moscow and Karlovy Vary) date back to the 1940s and 1950s.

These festivals along with  Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam, Moscow, Locarno, and Tokyo are the so-called "A list festivals", the most prestigious in the world.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival in Scotland was established in 1947 and is the longest continually running film festival in the world.

It was followed shortly thereafter by the San Francisco International Film Festival held in March 1957 whose emphasis was on feature-length dramatic films. The festival played a major role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Among the films were Akira Kurosawa's ‘Rashomon’ and Satyajit Ray's ‘Pather Panchali’.

The Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, begun in 1976, is now the major North American film festival and the most widely attended worldwide.

The Raindance Film Festival in London, England, begun in 1992, is the largest independent film festival in the UK.

The Ivy Film Festival at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is the largest student film festival in North America and the only student-run film festival in the world.

So stay tuned to M&C for the very best in film festival coverage

From our reviewer and New York correspondent Ronald Wilkinson’s coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival (founded in NY in 2002 by Robert De Niro, as a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center), to our London reviewer Evrim Ersoy’s coverage of the Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), to coverage of Comic Con by our Southern California correspondent Frank Woodward and my own following of the latest news and events at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival – we will bring you the best in film reviews, star and film maker interviews and coverage of all the exciting events.

We’ll see you at the movies!