Festival Data:

• Established: 1983
• Genre: General
• Attendance: 45000
• Total Number of Films Screened: 200
• Total National and International Premieres: 23
• Accreditations: ECFF

• Competitive
• Retrospective
• Has Panels
• Has Seminars

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Since its creation, the Alès Film Festival has been organized in the spirit of conviviality: Itinérances.  The Alès Film Festival- Itinérances  encourages interaction between its audiences (adults and students) and its filmmaker and film professional guests.

The Alès Film Festival- Itinérances is located in the South of France, near Nîmes, Montpellier and Avignon. Since Aki Kaurismäki came in 1993, the Festival has been named Itinérances, and you can find the recurring theme of wanderings in major thematic retrospectives. Each film festival also screens an international selection of unreleased films, premieres, a short film competitions, several tribute screenings, cineconcerts, films and activities for young people- all which combine fictions and documentaries, as well as cultural heritage and discovery.

One of the most important goals of the Alès Film Festival is to promote cinema awareness among young people, from primary to hight school student. Close to 14,000 students (from 3 to 18 years-old) came to watch about 27 films, especially programmed for them. Several hundreds of them tried their hand at the job of film critic, by taking part into the Ecrits sur l’Image competition (where they were asked to comment on a film). School classes, coming from all over France, took part in screenings, meetings, workshops.

A group of local associations take active part into the artistic choices of this programming, which focuses on the various cultures from the Maghreb region and presents a dozen North African-related films (both fiction and documentary films) as well as concerts.

Since 1985, a competition of French-speaking short films has been one of the highlights of the Festival. Approximately 300 films are sent to compete in this category this year, with only 10 being selected in the end.

Beyond the organization of this 10-days long event, the nonprofit organization runs additional activities all year round. One of them focuses on the young audience, through the following works: Junior High & Cinema (Collège au Cinéma), School & Cinema (Ecole & Cinéma), High School student & Cinema (Lycéens au Cinéma), the cultural partnership with the cinema option classes from High School in Alès and Mende, Cinema in the city (Passeurs d’Images), the Month of the Documentary (Mois du Documentaire), the Cultural Week (Semaine Culturelle), The Animation Day.

**THERE IS NO FEE TO SUBMIT TO THIS FESTIVAL**

Film Submissions:

• Accepts direct submissions
• Submission formats: Beta-SP, 16mm, 35mm
• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.itinerances.org/ 2010/ itinerancesinscripcm2010.pdf