Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe)

[Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) was launched in 1989 as the Film Art Festival Ljubljana. The festival is organised by Cankarjev dom Cultural and Congress Centre, Film Programme, but films are also screened at Slovenian Cinematheque, Kinodvor Cinema, Kinoklub Vič and Kolosej Maribor. It can be classified as specialised competitive festival.

The main purpose of the festival is to familiarise audiences with non-Hollywood films which are not usually screened in commercial Slovene cinemas, since the art cinema distribution network in Slovenia has only developed very recently. At present the Festival comprises the following sections: Perspectives - the official competitive section of the festival, which presents the work of first- or second-time directors; Avant-premieres - which screens major European and other films by established directors that will be screened later in the commercial distribution; King and queens - works by renowned and awarded masters of contemporary film; World film panorama - festival favourites from five continents; Extravaganza - the so called ‘midnight cinema’ brings daring and titillating contents of diverse genres; Focus - An insight into one (or more) of the hottest national cinematographies; Retrospective - An overall presentation of films by an important contemporary cineaste; Tribute - A short, condensed presentation of an author who has received a fair share of festival and media attention; The world in short - competitive section that brings a selection of short-length films by young filmmakers; Kinobalon - a selection of films for children aged 7 to14; in association with Kinodvor Cinema.

Numerous awards are presented at the Festival. The main festival award is the Kingfisher Award (introduced in 1996) - presented by three-member international jury - that goes to best film of the Perspectives. The Audience Award (introduced in 2000 as a Golden Reel Award; in 2008 it become the Dragon Award) can be bestowed to any film of the festival; the FIPRESCI Award is awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics; Best Short Film Award goes to best film of the section The world in short.

Ljubljana International Film Festival has been a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) since 1992. It is also a member of Europa Cinemas, the Association of European Film Exhibitors, Paris ECFF, the European Co-ordination of Film Festivals (ECFF), Brussels and the Motion Pictures Association, Brussels.

The 17th Ljubljana International Film Festival of 2006 featured as many as 100 films, with a turnout of an estimated 50,000 spectators. It closed with the screening of Marco Bellochio's latest film The Wedding Director (part of that year's Tribute section). Janine Euvrard, president of the three-member LIFFe-FIPRESCI Award jury, bestowed the LIFFe-FIPRESCI Award to the Hungarian drama White Palms, presented in the South by Southeast festival section. The LIFFe Amnesty International Award was bestowed on the Iranian film Offside, which told the story of Iranian female soccer fans denied access to the stadium. The film's director Jafar Panahi dedicated the award to the women's organisation White Scarfs, which fights for emancipation and dignity of Iranian women. The 2006 Golden Reel Award, bestowed by the audience on the best film of the Horizons section, was the Irish-British comedy Breakfast on Pluto, directed by Neil Jordan. The prestigious Kingfisher Award went to Annete K Olesen's Pingpong, the best film in the Perspectives section which told an exceptional story of interracial conflicts in the culturally-mixed democracies of modern Europe.

External links

LIFFe website

Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe)

See also

External links

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