A Comprehensive List of Exciting Film Festivals

Entering your film into an exciting film festival can bring you plenty of exposure — and possibly a few hints on becoming the next Oscar winner. Film lovers, on the other hand, see festivals as the best place to experience the very best of movie making, and as an opportunity to watch films from every genre imaginable.

You would not believe the sheer archive of film festivals I turned up during my search. I sieved through them all to bring you the major names associated with our favourite story-telling medium. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the list I’ve compiled.

Film lovers see film festivals as the best place to experience the best of movie making.

The circuit at a glance

Ten festivals, four continents — from January in the Utah snow to October on the Thames.
Venice (1932) is the oldest; Berlin is the best attended, with over 500,000 visitors.
Cannes draws the most publicity; Sundance made careers out of low budgets.
Every one of them is a working marketplace as much as a celebration.

Venice Film Festival Late Aug – Sep

Founded in 1932, Venice sits proudly on the list of the world’s oldest film festivals. This prestigious celebration of film hands out honours such as the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker, the Lion of the Future, the Silver Lion and, above them all, the Golden Lion. In 2015 alone the festival drew a hundred film entries.

Where: Palazzo del Cinema, Lido di Venezia, Italy — a short vaporetto ride from Piazza San Marco. Founded: 1932, part of the Venice Biennale. Official site: labiennale.org/en/cinema

Cannes Film Festival May

Cannes, running since 1946, is the festival that receives the most publicity anywhere on the globe. Its awards include the Grand Prix, the Camera d’Or, the Queer Palm and the fabled Palme d’Or. It is also where documentaries from all over the world receive their due notice, and fans who can’t make the Croisette can follow the ceremonies on live broadcast.

Red-carpeted steps by the Mediterranean at a film festival — The Croisette in May: the most photographed staircase in cinema.

Where: Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes, France. Top prize: the Palme d’Or. Official site: festival-cannes.com

SXSW Film Festival March

In 1987 SXSW began a tradition, and it has grown into one of the most anticipated festivals held annually in the United States. Independent events and emerging directors are regularly pulled into its spotlight, and some studios famously use the Austin crowd as a test audience for their comedies, gauging how they might perform at the box office.

Where: Austin, Texas — screenings spread across the city’s downtown. Known for: premieres of independent film alongside music and interactive media. Official site: sxsw.com

BFI London Film Festival October

Often known simply as the BFI, the London Film Festival takes place annually in the second half of October, with origins traceable back to 1957. One festival organiser relates that it now features more than 300 films and documentaries from around the globe — a fortnight when the whole world’s cinema washes up on the Thames.

Where: BFI Southbank and venues across London, UK. Founded: 1957, by the British Film Institute. Official site: bfi.org.uk/london-film-festival

Toronto International Film Festival September

Toronto’s festival, started in 1976, has grown into one of the most prestigious events on the calendar. The Best Canadian Feature Film Award and the People’s Choice Award are its two key prizes, and the latter has become an uncanny Oscar bellwether. Drawing close to 480,000 people in a single year, it ranks among the best-attended film events anywhere.

Festival crowds outside a modern cinema complex in Toronto — TIFF in September — half a million filmgoers and a city-wide queue.

Where: TIFF Lightbox, King Street West, Toronto, Canada. Key prizes: People’s Choice Award · Best Canadian Feature Film. Official site: tiff.net

Sundance Film Festival January

This American festival takes place in the Utah snow every January. Founded in 1978 and run by the Sundance Institute, it attracts over 46,000 attendees each year. In the 1990s it became legend: the place where low-budget films could land distribution deals from the leading studios — and where independent American cinema, as we know it, grew up.

Where: Park City, Utah, USA. Founded: 1978, by the Sundance Institute (Robert Redford). Official site: festival.sundance.org

Berlin International Film Festival February

Born in 1951 and held every February since 1978, the Berlinale’s attendance exceeds 500,000 — making it the largest publicly attended film festival in the world. Each year around twenty films compete for its Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards, in a city that treats cinema as a civic occasion.

Where: Berlinale Palast, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany. Top prize: the Golden Bear. Official site: berlinale.de

Edinburgh International Film Festival June

Festival-goers can look out for this annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events every June. Running since 1947, EIFF is one of the longest continuously running film festivals in the world. The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film is among the major honours handed out during the event.

Where: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Founded: 1947 — among the world’s longest-running festivals. Official site: edfilmfest.org.uk

Melbourne International Film Festival July – Aug

First held in 1952, Melbourne’s festival unfolds over a three-week period every July in one of Australia’s great southern cities. Most noteworthy: in 2012 the festival generated over $8 million in revenue, and it remains one of the fastest-growing festivals anywhere in the world.

Where: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded: 1952 — the southern hemisphere’s senior festival. Official site: miff.com.au

Hong Kong International Film Festival March – April

One of the largest festivals in Asia, with over 250 film entries from 55 countries screening across more than eleven cultural venues in the territory. Founded in 1976, HKIFF is a deliberate effort to introduce Chinese-language, Hong Kong and wider Asian filmmakers to the world. It takes place between March and April every year.

Hong Kong harbour skyline lit up at night — HKIFF: 250 films, 55 countries, one harbour.

Where: Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui, and venues across the territory. Founded: 1976. Official site: hkiff.org.hk

Ten festivals, one calendar — a yearly tribute to cinema that never really ends. Wherever you are in the world, the movies are gathering somewhere near you.