Taking place in November

For the third time in a row, this November festival is taking place in the well-known state of Goa. Although the show itself has an impressive history, it only became an annual competitive event in the 21st century. It is logical that the festival has not yet had time to gain the necessary weight, and the competition mostly includes projects from friendly and little-known cinemas (Iran, Bangladesh, etc.), which can expect to win awards (including money) for best film, best directing and best male and female roles, as well as the special prize from the jury.

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Takes place in October

A festival founded in 1985 that takes up the last week of October on the calendar. The competition, for obvious reasons, is dominated by Asian films. The organizers are proud of the fact that from the first years of the festival’s life they have supported young directors in every possible way: this is where Alejandro González Iñárritu won with his first full length film “Love Bitch”. It is no coincidence that all the main prizes of the international competition (Grand Prix, Special Jury Prize, prizes for the best director, actor, actress, award for the “best artistic contribution”, Audience Award) are accompanied by checks for considerable sums of money (from 50 to 5 thousand dollars). Out-of-competition programs bring the total number of films screened in Tokyo to ~150, the norm for a modern film festival.

Running in parallel with the festival is the three-day TIFFCOM cinema market, considered one of the largest in Asia – last year it was attended by over 1000 “buyers” from all over the world.

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Held in June

China’s largest film festival (the only serious competitor in the region is the Beijing Film Festival), which starts every year in early summer. The show is relatively young (in 2014 it was held only for the 17th time) and has a very extensive program. It includes an international feature film competition where the jury selects the best film (it should be noted that Russian directors have already won the top prize twice), the best screenplay, the best camerawork, the best director, actor and actress, awards the grand prize and gives awards for outstanding artistic achievements in editing, makeup, etc.; the Asian New Talent Award, whose name speaks for itself; the MOBILE SIFF competition; a large non-competitive selection of international films; and the SIFF Mart and SIFFORUM sections.

MOBILE SIFF program grew out of the former international contest of student short films and, according to the organizers’ idea, should be of interest to beginner filmmakers. Not only feature short films but also documentaries and animation films can compete for the prizes.

The scale of the events at SIFF Mart (film market and pitching) and SIFFORUM (lectures, seminars, round tables, workshops) can be judged by the figures provided by the organizers. According to their data, 819 companies applied for the film market in 2013 (42% were from abroad), and 244 applications were submitted for the pitching, 29 of which were short-listed and eventually received financial support.

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