Chesapeake Film Festival:
Journeys Into the Imagination
It is the mission of the Chesapeake Film Festival to enrich, entertain, educate and inspire by bringing the finest in environmental, narrative, documentary and short and student short films to the Chesapeake Bay community and to the world. The Chesapeake Film Festival will continue to shed light on topics that impact the Maryland Eastern Shore and the vast watershed we call the Chesapeake Bay.
Entering its 16th year, the Chesapeake Film Festival plans a two-day LIVE event and speakers at our flagship venues September 30 through October 1. Our venues include the beautiful historic Avalon Theatre and Ebenezer Theater in downtown Easton. A seven-day international Virtual Festival continues the excitement from Monday, October 2 through Sunday, October 8 featuring films from around the world.
Our commitment to collaboration, unity, diversity and the celebration of arts and artists is our emphasis, as we endeavor to present the best cinematic works and speaker events by artists from around the world. Also central to our message this year is to highlight both environmental films and student achievement in independent cinema. We are seeking films that are light-hearted and upbeat with comedic themes. We uniquely feature local artists with a Films Made in Maryland category.
Last year’s films included an exceptional array of wide-ranging subjects, including "Search for the Cooper River: A River in Plain View", that takes us on a six-day expedition along the Cooper River in Camden, NJ as area youth kayak, hike and hack their way through overgrowth in search of the source of the river. Also, as part of our LIVE Festival in 2022 we honored Women's Achievement in Independent Cinema by presenting many films by prominent women including "The Glorias" by Julie Taymor about Gloria Steinem's life as a writer, activist and organizer for women's rights worldwide. We finished the LIVE events with the Hollywood classic film "Roman Holiday" featuring guest speaker Catherine Wyler, the daughter of William Wyler, the director of the film. For both the LIVE and VIRTUAL Festivals in 2022 there were 60 films presented across all genres including work from 9 foreign countries.
Films are selected based on originality, creativity, direction, writing, cinematography, performances, production value, pacing, structure and sound/music.
To see the films selected for CFF 2022, visit www.chesapeakefilmfestival.com and select Festival Program. To see what films and filmmakers received awards, select Award Winners.
Whether you are a filmmaker or an avid film enthusiast, we welcome you to engage and experience the festival, as we embark on an exciting new year for the Chesapeake Film Festival 2023. To register for further information about our ongoing events for the CFF visit www.chesapeakefilmfestival.com.
Festival Awards will include Best Environmental Feature and Short, Best International Film, Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Emerging Filmmaker, Best Made in Maryland Film, Best Student Film, Best Animation among other categories. Awards also include Best Performance, Best Director and Jury’s Prize.
