Seven Lesser Known Movie Festivals that are Solid

This year I attended one film festival which wasn’t the most prestigious event in the world but had I not gone I never would have seen a great movie.  That movie by the way is called The Pill and we did a few reviews on it.   The point is this.   There are TONS of film festivals that take place all year around giving all of us a chance to not see the same old crap that we see on cable every day.

And it isn’t just the Cannes or Sundances out there.   If you do your research you’ll find that there are plenty of great festivals.

Here are seven that are must attends….

Berlin Film Festival

More than 19,000 film professionals from 115 countries, including about 4,000 journalists, are accredited for the Berlin International Film Festival every year.  I’d say that it qualifies.  Plus it’s a chance for people to go to Europe.

Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca Enterprises is a diversified global media company based in New York City. Established in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, the company currently operates a network of branded entertainment businesses including the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, Tribeca Cinemas and Tribeca Film.   This festival has gotten pretty big over the years and I almost omitted from the list for that reason alone.

Austin Film Festival

More than 80 panels, roundtables and meet and greets will address current trends, new developments in media, inspiring film events, producing a film on a small budget, business development and the core elements of screenwriting and filmmaking.  It was founded in 1993 and is a pretty big hit in Texas.

Venice Film Festival

This year the Venice Film Festival celebrated it’s 68th year so it’s not exactly a spring chicken.  Then again you don’t hear about it all that often either.   And technically speaking the foundation has been around since 1895.

Telluride Film Festival

This festival actually began this month, on the 2nd and is growing every single year.   And why shouldn’t it?  It’s hosted in Colorado.   Here’s a quote about the show…. “The Telluride Film Festival represents the rarest jewel in the crown of the festival-going experience. It is the most open, democratic and collegial of festivals, in addition to being one of the best programmed and run.”

South by Southwest

Most people think of this as a music show which it’s mostly known for.  However, SXSW is no joke when it comes to film. The music event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to over 16,000 registrants. As Austin has grown and diversified, film companies and high-tech companies have played a major role in the Austin and the Texas economies. In 1994, SXSW added a film and interactive component to accommodate these growth industries. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events together attract approximately 32,000 registrants to Austin every March.

Nantucket Film Festival

Hey when you see Ben Still gracing their homepage you know it’s legit!  The Nantucket Film Festival was founded by brother and sister team Jill and Jonathan Burkhart in 1996. The Burkharts lived on the island year round, and with their love of movies and the community, they knew it was the perfect place to begin a film festival. In 1997, Mystelle BrabbĂ©e joined the team and today, with Colin Stanfield as Executive Director, NFF continues to thrive, always remaining true to its mission.

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8 Comments

  1. @Simon

    Hahahaha I’ve been thinking this for YEARS. It’s been too minor to mention, though it drives me absolutely bonkers from an OCD perspective. But I feel once that’s ingrained into you, you’re just always going to do that. I imagine your fingers do it without your brain even noticing.

  2. One of the best festivals here in Spain is coming up soon. It is a really weird one, with a ton of independent and “besides Hollywood” movies that are worth it. It is focused on fantastic and terror movies, and it even has a zombie walk each year!

    The Sitges Film Festival, check it out if you are curious.

    http://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng

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