The Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) is a nine-day

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, hosted at

Landmark Cinemas Landmark Cinema of Canada Inc. is a Canadian cinema chain. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Landmark operates 40 theatres with 325 screens, primarily in Ontario and western Canada. Its holdings include much of the former Empire Theatres chain which it ...

Edmonton City Centre Edmonton City Centre is a shopping mall in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, across the street (west) from Churchill Square. History In 1974, the City Centre Place office tower (Oxford Tower) was completed within the larger Edmon ...

. It is supported by and partnered with

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

Government of Alberta The government of Alberta (french: gouvernement de l'Alberta) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Alberta. As a constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor—i ...

, Alberta Foundation for the Arts,

Edmonton City Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

, and the Edmonton Arts Council.https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f9860cf2131d951fa9508cb/t/5fc69bb8f81c9a2a0c8c1232/1606851533917/2020+Program+Guide+-+FINAL.pdf The festival schedule consists of over 150 films of various genres, ranging from

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, and from

dramatic work Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

to documentary. The EIFF showcases films that are produced within 20 months of each festival, selected on the basis of story, quality, and originality. The Festival also presents, other films that have garnered a ' buzz' around the festival circuit, along with filmmaker talks, Q&As, gala screenings, spotlights on local filmmakers, and shorts with lunch, among others. EIFF is an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

-qualifying festival for short films (live action and animation): winning at this festival can make a film eligible to win an Academy Award.92nd Academy Awards Short Films Qualifying Festival List
"

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. 2020. The two short films that win the EIFF Grand Jury Award are chosen by an international jury and of five industry peers, after which they are eligible for Oscar consideration in the accompanying year. Lunchbox Shorts is a series of select EIFF short-film programs (curated from thousands of submissions) that are presented throughout the lunch hour over the festival, with lunch included in its ticket price. From 2015 through 2017, and in 2019, ''

MovieMaker ''MovieMaker'' is a magazine, website and podcast network focused on the art and business of filmmaking with a special emphasis on independent film. The magazine is published on a quarterly basis. See also * List of film periodicals Film period ...

'' has listed EIFF as one of "50 film festivals worth the entry fee." The 35th Annual EIFF is scheduled for the week of October 1–10, 2021.

History

It began in 1986 as Local Heroes Film Festival—a smaller, 3-day film festival in March. Over time, the festival grew in size and scope; in 2003, the festival was moved to September, expanded to 9-days, and renamed the Edmonton International Film Festival. Since its creation, EIFF has welcomed veteran and emerging filmmakers, actors, writers, and producers alike, hosting such talent as

Jon Cryer Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. Born into a show business family, he made his motion picture debut as a teenage photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy ''No Small Affair''; his bre ...

Thom Fitzgerald Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer. Life Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years ol ...

Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta. Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''Due So ...

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

Norman Jewison Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best D ...

Naomi Klein Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...

Jørgen Leth Jørgen Leth (; born 14 June 1937) is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making. Most notable are his documentary ''A Sunday in Hell'' (1977) and his surrealistic short film ''The ...

Avi Lewis Avram David "Avi" Lewis (born May 1967) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, former host of the Al Jazeera English show ''Fault Lines'' and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) current-affairs programs ''CounterSpin'' and ' ...

Neil Mandt Neil Mandt is an American producer oThe Golden Globe Awards director and technology entrepreneur. He started becoming involved in film and TV in the 1990s. He has written, directed, produced, and acted in many different films and TV shows. Mandt h ...

Luke Matheny Luke Matheny (born December 23, 1976) is an American actor, writer, and director. Matheny is an Academy Award winner, receiving the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for '' God of Love''. Early years Matheny was born in Mechanicsburg, ...

Albert Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...

, Bruce McDonald,

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the ...

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...

Molly Parker Molly Parker (born 30 June 1972) is a Canadian actress, writer, and director. She has had roles in independent films as well as television. Her accolades include two Genie Awards, one Canadian Screen Award, one Independent Spirit Awards nomina ...

Patrick Warburton Patrick Warburton (born November 14, 1964) is an American actor. On television, he has played David Puddy on '' Seinfeld'', the title character on '' The Tick'', Jeb Denton on ''Less Than Perfect'', Jeff Bingham on ''Rules of Engagement'' and Lem ...

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

Shea Whigham Franklin Shea Whigham Jr. (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also appeared in the first season of ''True Detective'' and the third season of ' ...

, among others. For the 2010 festival, organizers planned on 55 feature-length and 100 short films, all shown at the

Empire Theatres Empire Theatres Limited was a movie theater chain in Canada, a subsidiary of Empire Company Ltd., the holding company of the Sobey family conglomerate. In June 2013, Empire announced it would exit the movie theatre business, selling the vast ...

in the Edmonton City Centre.

2020

In 2020, the 34th Edmonton International Film Festival consisted of a program of over 130 short films and 30 feature films. That year, given the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the EIFF was presented for the first time by subscriber-based Super Channel. Super Channel broadcast 20 short films and 20 feature films, each feature being shown only once over 10 days. From October 1 to 10, EIFF was also hosted at

(at 25% capacity), where 22 short films and all 30 features were projected. In 2020, the two winners of the Grand Jury Award for Short Film were ''The Bear and the Beekeeper'' (live action) and ''

If Anything Happens I Love You ''If Anything Happens I Love You'' is an American 2D animated short film written and directed by Will McCormack and Michael Govier. Its story follows two grieving parents as they struggle to confront the death of their daughter, who was ki ...

'' (animated).

References

External links

Official website #1Official website #2
{coord, 53, 32, 37, N, 113, 29, 30, W, display=title Film festivals in Edmonton Film festivals established in 1986