Cheltenham International Film Festival (CIFF) marked its fifth anniversary in 2023 by hosting two of Britain’s greatest living directors, Sir Stephen Frears and Ken Loach.
Following in the footsteps of Dame Judi Dench and Mike Leigh, the festival had the honour of presenting Sir Stephen with a life-time achievement award; and we were awarded the added distinction of screening the premiere of Ken Loach’s latest and, presumably, final film, The Old Oak, in the presence of the director, who took audience Q&A after the screening.
We also welcomed celebrated director, Carol Morley, with her latest film Artist Typist Pirate King who was joined by the film’s producer Cairo Cannon and leading lady, the multi-award winning actress, Monica Dolan. Timothy Spall came to the film festival along with actor/director, Ian Puleston-Davies for a preview of their film, Bolan’s Shoes.
The Festival introduced a number of new strands including television with the premiere of the BBC Television drama Boiling Point. The premiere in front of a live audience was introduced by the producers, writer and cast who talked about the journey of Boiling Point from film short to feature film to television series.
We also launched CineYouth to engage young people with the culture of cinema and the art of filmmaking. And, we had our most successful season yet of short film screenings which we were able to combine under the title of On The Dark Side.
This year the film festival is from 13 - 22 September and we welcome film submissions for feature film length films, narrative and documentary, as well as short films, narrative and documentary. And, we thank the actor, Simon Pegg, for his continued patronage of the film festival.
All films are watched by a selection panel, diverse in makeup. Films selected for the festival allow filmmakers access to new audiences in a town that has been home to arts festivals through the decades and home to many celebrities who live in the area.
For the past three years, there has been one award and that is BEST FILM. It is open only to emerging filmmakers with their first or second feature film, (on occasion we may accept a third feature film).
The BEST FILM is selected from a short list of seven films designated as ‘IN COMPETITION’. The seven ‘IN COMPETITION’ films are selected by a panel from all the films to be screened during the 10 days of the film festival.
In 2023 we were delighted to have as Chair of the panel, Sara Putt, who is Chair of BAFTA.
Previous winners:
2023 - RICEBOY SLEEPS - Canada (Anthony Shim) & EXODUS - Lebanon (Abbe Hassan)
2022 - OLGA by Swiss director Elie Grappe
2021 - I NEVER CRY by Polish director, Piotr Domalewski
The organisers will introduce a second award in 2024 for BEST SHORT FILM. All short films screened during the film festival will be eligible for BEST SHORT FILM.