GuadaLAjara Film Festival in Los Angeles set to run December 17-19, 2020, announced a 100% virtual 2020 program. Celebrating ten years since its premiere in Los Angeles, the festival, formerly known as FICG in LA also revealed its new name – GuadaLAjara Film Festival – as homage to the two cities in which it was founded.
Slamdance Film Festival announced the full lineup of 25 features along with 107 shorts and episodics for the 27th edition of the festival, a number that equals previous editions of the festival. This includes a new program titled Unstoppable, a showcase for creators with disabilities. Running February 12-25, 2021, this will also be Slamdance’s most accessible festival ever, with all films, Q&A’s and panels available on Slamdance.com, AppleTV, Roku, Firestick, and YouTube. In addition to a vibrant virtual experience, there will be a two-night drive-in presentation in Joshua Tree open to the public on February 13th and 14th as well as the closing night screening at a Los Angeles drive-in on February 25.
Waikiki directed by Christoper Kahunahana won the top prize for Best Feature Film along with a Special Mention (Cinematography) at the 40th Hawai’i International Film Festival. In the film described by the festival as a “cinematic allegory of love and loss,” a hula dancer fights for survival and her sanity in the shadows of Waikiki for an unflinching glimpse into paradise where there remains hope through human connection and re-connection to ʻaina (nature).
The 2020 Key West Film Festival wrapped with the annual awards ceremony, awarding prizes to the winning films. The top prizes including KWFF Critics’ Award went to I Carry You With Me, directed by Heidi Ewing and Best Florida Film went to Cuba, Reframed, directed by John Biffar. The Best LGBTQ Film went to Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation, directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland and Best Women’s Film went to 9 to 5: Story of a Movement, directed by Julia Reichert.
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced the winners of the competition programs during the IDFA 2020 Awards Ceremony. Radiograph of a Family by Firouzeh Khosrovani won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, along with the Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award for best creative use of archive.
Whistler Film Festival (WFF) will shine a spotlight on Colm Feore, Kelly McCormack, Gabriel Byrne, Rémy Girard and Tzi Ma with films in the festival through its popular signature series of talent talks that recognize distinguished artists and rising stars of our time with an intimate interview and award.
The 29th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) held virtually this year, concluded with the livestreamed closing-night awards presentation.
This past Sunday evening, the awards for the online edition of exground filmfest 33 were presented in Wiesbaden, Germany. In the German Short Film Competition, the audience chose “keep shiftin'”by Verena Wagner as the winning film and in the International Short Film Competition, the jury chose the Mexican film Nightcrawlers (Noctámbulos) by Arturo Baltazar as the winning film.
Under the banner “Streaming Rivers: The Past into the Present,” the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) returns virtually December 2-6 with a spotlight on the cinema of two nations: Nigeria and the Sudan. Presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) and African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF), this year’s regional NYAFF will screen six features and eight short films in the FLC Virtual Cinema, as AFF celebrates its 30th anniversary.
This year’s 2020 AFI European Union Film Showcase will take place as a virtual event from December 2–20 featuring 48 films representing 25 EU member states. Now in its 33rd year, the Showcase, one of the largest and long-running showcases of European cinema in the United States, has typically taken place at the historic AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD.
The 2020 Whistler Film Festival (WFF) has announced that it will take place entirely online for its 20th anniversary edition. Audiences across Canada can access over 89 films (30 features and over 57 shorts) online from December 1-31, 2020.
The 24th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will take place June 2–6, 2021, two months later than the previously announced April dates. Organizers cite the pandemic’s impact on industry calendars, audiences, and the documentary filmmaking community for the date change.