Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
Film festival in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Film festival in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada,[1] held over nine days each September. It is one of the largest film festivals in Canada.[2]
| Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival | |
|---|---|
| |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | 40 Larch Street Unit 103 Sudbury, Ontario P3E 5M7 |
| Years active | 35 |
| Inaugurated | 1989 |
| Attendance | 32,000+ |
| Website | www.cinefest.com |
First held in 1989, Cinéfest quickly became a popular destination for Canadian filmmakers.[1] Unlike the larger film festivals in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Cinéfest offers filmmakers a chance to gain exposure among more typical film audiences in a city which, at the time of the festival's launch in 1989, had never previously had any regular venues for screening independent, international, and non-mainstream films.[1] Cinéfest presents an annual program of over 135 films, both domestic and international, often screened for both English and French language audiences.[1]
In 2022, the festival's longtime executive director Tammy Frick was named the new chief executive officer of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.[3] The festival's longtime managing director Patrick O'Hearn was named the new executive director of Cinéfest Sudbury following the departure of Tammy Frick.[4]
Cinéfest is a qualifying film festival for the Canadian Screen Awards.[5]
Patricia Rozema's I've Heard the Mermaids Singing was presented in Sudbury in 1988 at a special test screening. Planned as a onetime event, Sudbury was being used as a test market for alternative Canadian films in communities outside of Canada's top metropolitan markets. The result surprised everyone, with over 900 people attending the sold out screening. Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival was established a year later in 1989 as the Sudbury Film Festival, and despite some remaining skepticism, local citizens proved that the city could be receptive to repertory film culture, as approximately 9,000 cinema buffs crowded theatres during the three-day event.[2] The event proved so popular, in fact, that despite having booked opening gala Jesus of Montreal in a 600-seat hall rather than a movie theatre, 1,500 people lined up for the screening and the festival had to quickly add two follow-up screenings.[6] Director Cameron Haynes noted that not even the Toronto International Film Festival had been as wildly popular in its first year of operation.[6]
By 1993, Cinéfest evolved into a full-service film organization, with the festival growing to include upwards of 60 films over five days. Cinéfest Sudbury has become recognized as one of Canada's premiere film festivals. The festival has developed a distinct identity and role within its community and the media arts industry, winning provincial and national acclaim. It is administrated by the non-profit Cultural Industries Ontario North.
Cinéfest Sudbury has a long history of promoting Canadian cinema and supporting the local film industry. One of the organization's most ambitious projects was the establishment of the Northern Film Circuit (NFC) in 1992. An attempt to build audiences in Northern Ontario for Canadian and international film, the NFC began with only four members. The NFC was eventually used as a model for the Film Circuit, which was developed in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival and now operates in over 110 communities throughout Ontario.[7]
Constantly working to bring knowledge to the north, Cinéfest introduced Industry Forum to the Festival's framework in 2003, an initiative that has since provided emerging and mid-career film artists with access to key film representatives, and invited partnerships between Festival, industry and educational institutions. Since the introduction of industry forum, Cinéfest has established itself as a focal point for independent filmmakers, and programmers. While the festival has a long history of presenting and supporting films that represent the output of Canada's independent film artists, Cinéfest Sudbury has also over the years extended significant support to its regional film artists. Through programs such as Northern Connections (introduced in 2003), a program which highlights the best and brightest of regional film talent, and the CTV Best in Shorts Competition, which has awarded over $92,000 in cash prizes to up-and-coming regional film talent since it was established in 2001, the festival has served as a place for regional artists to have their work seen and celebrated.
Since the overwhelming success of Cinéfest Sudbury in 2003, which saw 80 per cent of festival screenings either reach or exceed capacity, festival organizers have worked aggressively to ensure accessibility for its audiences. The Festival Expansion Initiative was developed and launched in 2004, through which the festival was expanded from six to nine days. A plan was also developed at that time to establish Cinéfest as a year-round venue to showcase the best in film. In 2006, Cinéfest Sudbury introduced two new mini-festivals, Canadian Spotlight and Show & Tell Children's Film Showcase). These events are now providing audiences with even greater access to the works of Canadian film artists and are providing area schools with educational and inspirational film works that meet the needs of each curriculum.
In 2010, Cinéfest Sudbury introduced The Cinema Summit, a presentation, exchange and development series devoted to the celebration, promotion and advancement of Canada's new and emerging filmmaking talent. Aside from expanding the number of film screenings attended by talent associated with selected films, Cinema Summit features additional panel discussions, master classes and lectures with specific topics of focus, and introduces attendees to experts in the film and media arts industries. Cinema Summit represents Cinéfest's next efforts to inspire audiences, talent, students and industry.
In 2010, Cinéfest Sudbury further expanded its year-round presence by introducing the Cinéfest Sudbury Film Series, a monthly film presentation series typically held on the last Thursday of each month, featuring the best in Canadian and international cinema. The Cinéfest Sudbury Film Series has since been discontinued.
The Greater Sudbury Public Library maintains a dedicated "Cinéfest Collection", featuring DVDs of over 200 films that have previously screened at the festival.[8]
At the end of 2021, Cinéfest Sudbury introduced the Red Carpet Patron Program, a subscription-based program for dedicated festival fans to keep the spirit of Cinéfest alive all year long. The program initially presented four exclusive films throughout the year but, due to popular demand and praise, has since expanded to provide registered Red Carpet Patrons with complimentary popcorn and access to six exclusive films throughout the year.
Cinéfest currently boasts a nine-day repertoire of film programming for local, national and international guests. Its lineup often includes a selection of prominent international films which may have screened at TIFF just a week or two earlier, but also places a greater emphasis on both commercial and independent Canadian films. In 2021, when Michael McGowan attended the festival to screen All My Puny Sorrows, he praised Cinéfest's dedication to Canadian film, noting that it was the only film festival that had screened every single film he had ever made in his career.[9]
Due to the Sudbury region's significant Franco-Ontarian population, the festival also programs a significant selection of French-language films from both Quebec and France. In recent years, the festival has also programmed a dedicated Cinema Indigenized stream of Indigenous Canadian films, and as the region is also a significant centre of Finnish Canadian settlement, the festival frequently tries to ensure that at least one film from Finland is also present in each year's lineup.
The festival is sometimes the world premiere venue for films that were produced or shot within Northern Ontario.
Cinéfest also includes a Best in Shorts competition, sponsored by CTV Northern Ontario, for student and emerging filmmakers from Northern Ontario.[10] Films are entered in one of three categories, Open, Student or Northern Flicks, and are screened at a dedicated event during the festival, with the winners and runners-up in each category awarded cash prizes of $500, $750 or $1,250 depending on the category.[11] Best in Shorts was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in 2023.[12]
Gala presentations included Score: A Hockey Musical, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Casino Jack, Made in Dagenham, Jack Goes Boating, The Bang Bang Club and Barney's Version.
Gala presentations: Restless, The Guard, I'm Yours, The Woman in the Fifth, Starbuck, Albert Nobbs, Donovan's Echo, Take This Waltz.
Special Presentations: Afghan Luke, Monsieur Lazhar, Sophie, Midnight in Paris, Sleeping Beauty.
Gala Presentations: The Riverbank, The Angels' Share, A Dark Truth, Midnight's Children, A Royal Affair, Old Stock, Inch'Allah, Still Mine, A Late Quartet
Special Presentations: All in Good Time, Amour, Crooked Arrows, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, The Hunt (Jagten), Inescapable, Laurence Anyways, Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os), The Suicide Shop (Le Magasin des suicides), No, Revolution, Safety Not Guaranteed, Stories We Tell, War Witch (Rebelle)
Gala Presentations: The Art of the Steal, The Invisible Woman, Cubicle Warriors, Kill Your Darlings, The Story of Luke, Parkland, Gabrielle, The Right Kind of Wrong, Cas & Dylan
Special Presentations: Adore, All Is Lost, The Armstrong Lie, Les beaux jours, The Face of Love, The Four Soldiers, Gloria, La grande bellezza, Jeune & Jolie, Shoshite chichi ni naru, Louis Cyr: L'homme le plus fort du monde, The Lunchbox [Dabba], Le passé, La vie d'Adele (chapitres 1 et 2)
Gala presentations: Maudie, Manchester by the Sea, Chocolat, Denial, The Headhunter's Calling, Toni Erdmann, Mean Dreams, I, Daniel Blake, The Dressmaker.[31]
Gala presentations: Back to Burgundy (Ce qui nous lie), Borg/McEnroe, Breathe, Call Me By Your Name, Don't Talk to Irene, Indian Horse, Long Time Running, Mary Shelley, Stronger.
Gala presentations: 1991, Bel Canto, Colette, The Grizzlies, The New Romantic, Sharkwater Extinction, The Sisters Brothers, Through Black Spruce, What They Had
Gala presentations: American Woman, And the Birds Rained Down (Il pleuvait des oiseaux), La Belle Époque, The Farewell, Guest of Honour, Judy, The Last Full Measure, The Rest of Us, The Song of Names[32]
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, organizers announced that the 2020 Cinéfest would proceed with a mix of in-person and online screenings, similarly to the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[34]
Gala presentations for the festival were Ammonite, Girl, My Salinger Year, Nadia, Butterfly, The Nest, Nine Days, Percy and The Rose Maker (La fine fleur).
The 2021 festival was again presented under a hybrid model, with both in-person and online screenings.[35] The festival also introduced a number of juried film awards, following several years of only presenting audience choice-based awards; the new awards program includes cash prizes for Outstanding Canadian Feature, Outstanding International Feature, Outstanding Female-Led Feature, Cinema Indigenized Outstanding Talent, French-Language Feature, Inspiring Voices and Perspectives Feature, Outstanding Short, Outstanding Emerging Canadian Short, and Outstanding Animated Short.[36]
Gala presentations included All My Puny Sorrows, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Official Competition (Competencia oficial), Falling for Figaro, Juniper, The Vinland Club (Le club vinland), Lakewood, Night Raiders, One Second (一秒钟), and The Card Counter.[37]
Gala presentations included Alice, Darling, Ashgrove, Beautiful Minds (Presque), Broker (브로커), Call Jane, North of Normal, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlisle, The Swearing Jar and Viking.[38]
The 2023 festival returned to a fully in-person model, following the partially-online hybrid festivals that took place from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.[39]
The gala lineup consisted of Swan Song, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, My Mother's Men (Les Hommes de ma mère), Sweetland, La Chimera, The Old Oak, The Boy in the Woods, Close to You and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant).[40]
The gala presentations were 1995, Bob Trevino Likes It, Bookworm, The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte Cristo), Drive Back Home, The Invisibles, The Mother and the Bear, The Outrun and Young Werther.
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