The Afghan film festival aims to explore Afghan culture and history and look at the ways in which the country has been shaped by the sparring between East and West that has taken place on its soil. It attempts to educate audiences about how current policies toward Afghanistan have evolved, leading to better informed approaches in the future.
AiM is the biggest African film festival in the UK. The festival’s main goal is to overcome the under-representation of African film in the UK and to introduce Scottish audiences to the riches of African cinema. The festival celebrates its fourth edition in 2009.
The Australian Festival - held at The Barbican in March - prides itself on showing every major feature film made Down Under in any particular year. Marking their 14th year in 2008, they also feature documentaries and short films and a range of supporting events with film-makers from Australia. The festival will tour the UK in June and July.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) is one of the key festivals in the international film calendar. Founded in 1951, the festival "sees itself as a showcase for what is happening in cinema, but also as an actor and propagator on the international film circuit".
Birds Eye View celebrates the work of women film-makers around the world, this umbrella group hosts an annual festival and touring programme. Its annual festival in London kicks off on International Women's Day in March. Their touring programme has included a presence at several UK festivals.
Bradford International Film Festival celebrates its 14th year in 2008. Running from late February to early March, this year it celebrates the work of several filmmakers, including Julien Temple and Kenneth Branagh. The programme features a range of premieres and includes a strand dedicated to American independent movies.
The Cambridge Film Festival has been running for 27 years. It has previously taken place in July, but in 2008, it will move to run from September 18 to 28. It has a particular commitment to German cinema, to which it devotes a special strand and also features a range of other foreign film and arthouse movies. In addition, 2007 saw the inclusion of some open-air screenings of classic films.
The Cinema China festival enjoyed its inaugural year in 2007. Running in mid-March it aims to bring Chinese classics to a wider UK audience, it is the brainchild of The University Of Edinburgh, who hope it will go on to become an annual event. Many of the films screened aren't available on DVD so it offers a rare chance to see them. The programme also featured a series of lectures in Edinburgh.
Barbican Film presents the 3rd annual Cinema of Brazil festival, from Tuesday 8 September to Thursday 8 October 2009. An urban theme permeates this award-winning selection of ten contemporary features and four documentaries studded with UK premieres. This year's selection has the subtitle Urban Tales, as the country's cityscapes provide a backdrop for the stories, both fact and fiction.
Inaugurated in 2007, the Dance:Film Festival returns for its second edition, in Edinburgh, from May 21 to 29. Celebrating dance in all its forms, from Hollywood musicals, through to the present day, it also features dance classes and talks.
Dead By Dawn - Scotland's International Horror Film Festival. Queen of darkness - Adele Hartley - dishes out the blood, gore and shredded nerves in a local festival, spanning the past 14 years. No genre too sick, no nightmare too depraved for the weekend's non-stop deluge of vomitorium-worthy material.
Edinburgh International Film Festival. Celebrating 62 years in 2008, Edinburgh hosts the longest continuously running film festival in the world. It runs for just over two weeks and has moved from August to June this year. It began as a documentary festival and still prides itself on its documentary strand.
Celebrating the best of short film, this Bristol-based festival runs at the end of November each year. It features bite-sized chunks of everything from drama to documentary and from animation to experimental.
Although French film is a lot more popular in the UK than it was a decade ago, the French Film Festival gives cinemagoers a chance to see films that do not yet have a British distributor. Running in April and May, it's honorary patron is Bellevue Rendezvous director Sylvain Chomet. The festival celebrated its 15th year in 2007.
Celebrating an eighth year of scary movies, FrightFest runs across the August Bank Holiday in London each year, also making an appearance at several festivals up and down the country. Celebrating the best of horror flicks from around the world, it is a showcase for short films, features and a range of related events.
The fastest-growing film event in Britain, Glasgow Film Festival celebrates its fifth edition from 12 to 22 February 2009. Going from strength to strength year on year, it boasts an impressive range of films, including UK premieres. The festival also features retrospectives.
The Human Rights Watch Festival, screens internationally, in London, San Francisco and New York and also has a touring programme which makees its way around the UK. Screening at the end of March it aims to highlight social issues from around the world through features and documentaries.
The Italian Film Festival screened its 14th edition in 2007. Running from mid-November until early December, this festival, which tours the UK, celebrates the best of new Italian cinema and also includes retrospectives on the work of bygone greats.
The Korean Film Festival celebrated its third year in 2008, running at the Barbican in London in mid-November and then moving on to Liverpool. Among the highlights are a celebration of animation and retrospectives.
Leeds International Film Festival celebrated its 21st year in 2007. Running in early November, a key aspect of the festival programme is its Fanomenon segment, which is dedicated to horror movies. It also selects a Silver Melies winner - for "best fantastical film" - which will go forward to be part as a nominee for the Golden Melies Award, selected from nominees from 10 European Film Festivals.
The Times London Film Festival runs in mid-October and celebrates its 53rd year in 2009. Held in conjunction with the British Film Institute, awards include the BFI Sutherland trophy, Turner Classic Movies short film award, Satyajit Ray Award, FIPRESCI Award and Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award. The 2009 festival will run from October 14 to 29. The programme will be launched on September 10.
Celebrating its 10th year in 2009, this festival offers a selection of vital documentary, fiction, art, and animation work related to the question of Palestine.
New Directors/New Films is a longstanding collaboration between The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, dedicated to the discovery of new work by emerging filmmakers.
The New York Film Festival runs each year in late September and early October. The 2007 festival featured 28 premieres. The festival features a smaller selection of films than many other festivals, but by doing so aims to keep the quality high.
Established six years ago specifically to celebrate films from northern Europe, the Northern Lights Film Festival - which runs in Newcastle and Gateshead in early December - has now expanded its brief to include a worldwide remit. The focus remains on spotting breakthrough talent.
Raindance aims to celebrate the stars of tomorrow, giving its programme over to up-and-coming film-makers. Running from September 25 to October 7 in 2007. They also give out a range of awards, including Best International Feature, Best UK Feature and Best UK Short Film.
Celebrating its inauguaral year in 2006, Reel is a collaboration between the Scottish and Irish film industries to celebrate both past successes from both countries and up and coming film-makers. It was intended that this event become an annual one but as of the beginning of 2008, there has been no follow up.
RESfest is a cutting edge international festival, which tours 45 cities across six continents of the globe. Celebrated its 10th year in 2006, it offers a platform for new and established directors pushing back the boundaries with their films. Kicking off in the US in October, it then tours the world for around six months.
Enjoying its inaugural year in 2007, this festival aims to showcase "inspiring and provocative work of established and debut filmmakers from various generations to demonstrate the multifaceted nature of contemporary Russian cinema, providing the British audience with a chance to see very recent, high-quality works that cover a full range of genres, themes and styles." Takes place in Apollo West End, London.
The film festival will celebrate its 57th edition in 2009. A recognised film marketplace, the festival says its "primordial role is to serve as a showcase for each year's most disquieting and innovative films". Its top prize is the Golden Shell for best film.
The festival runs from September 18 to 26 and we'll be bringing you daily news and film reviews throughout.
The UK's only dedicated science fiction and fantasy film festival runs annually in April at the Apollo West End cinema, Regent Street, London.
The programme includes a mix of features and documentaries, plus 'all-nighter' showcases. There is also a 48-hour film challenge, inviting wannabe filmmakers to make a five-minute film. It's free to enter but you'll need your own filmmaking kit.
Bringing together inspirational, controversial and challenging films from around the world, the annual Sheffield DocFest is the number one industry event for documentary filmmakers and enthusiasts. Now 15 years old, it also hosts film-making masterclasses and discussion groups, and it is attended by leading industry talent.
Sundance is the daddy of all independent festivals. Run in conjunction with the Sundance Institute - set up by Robert Redford to support independent film - it has continued to develop its brief. It championed documentary which has resulted in a slew of factual films hitting the multiplex and has recently turned its attention to short film.
A weekend celebration of films from across Asia, taking place at the Prince Charles Cinema, London, from May 21 to 24.
Tribeca Film Festival was the brainchild of Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff as a direct response to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The idea was to help revitalise lower Manhattan both economically and culturally. Celebrating its sixth year in 2006, the festival has gone from strength to strength, and this year featured a strong mix of foreign highlights and domestic premieres.
Now in its 14th year, Viva is a celebration of Latin American and Spanish film which is growing year on year. This year marks a new project alongside Soda Pictures to release some of the films from this and previous years on DVD. The festival kicks off at Manchester Cornerhouse on March 6, before touring the UK and Ireland.
Wild Japan: Outlaw Masters is a periodic touring festival of ultra-rare Japanese prints from the 1960s and 70s. Touring around the UK throughout the winter of 2006 - it offered a rare chance to see older Japanese film and celebrates the new wave of Japanese directors who were pushing back the boundaries in their time and still have an influence on modern directors today.
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