Festival Data:

• Established: 1980
• Genre: General
• Attendance: 29400
• Media Attendance: 40
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 700
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 621
• Total Number of Films Screened: 223
• Total Screenings: 116
• # of Shorts Screened: 136
• # of Features Screened: 87

• Competitive

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Set in gorgeous Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Atlantic Film Festival marries innovative cinema with Eastern Canadian culture. The AFF is recognized as one of the top four festivals in Canada, and enjoys an intimate yet professional atmosphere rarely found at such prestigious gatherings. The 200+ films, galas, parties and festivities attract over 700 industry delegates to the Festival each year to meet and get to know their colleagues in a lively, welcoming setting.

Every September, the Atlantic Film Festival showcases the finest filmmaking in its seven main programming streams. At the heart of the Festival, Atlantic Focus celebrates the superior work from regional filmmakers from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Canadian Perspectives illustrates this country’s powerful gift of storytelling from coast to coast. International Perspectives explores cultures, histories and cinematic storytelling from around the world. The Showcase Late Shift presents edgy, offbeat international films for a late night audience. Our popular Frame x Frame is an international program of animation for both children and adult audiences. That’s So Gay highlights the best of gay and lesbian content in the Festival. ViewFinders at the AFF, an extension of our annual April event, presents three days of daytime screenings geared toward children, school classes and families and will screen the winners of this year’s Movie & Animation Challenge. The AFF is also dedicated to the professional development and promotion of a strong cultural industry in its entirety and to that end have developed the exciting Inspired Industry Sessions that occur during the Festival.

Inspired Docs brings the best of documentary film to the AFF, with these filmmakers attending screenings and participating in a formal post-screening interview with a respected journalist and facilitated Q&A with the audience.

Inspired Scripts is a competitive opportunity for Atlantic Canadian writers to submit, develop and pitch these scripts to potential producers with the winning script receiving funding for further development.

Inspired Music, and Music & Image, a partnership created by the AFFA and the ECMA, is dedicated to the professional development and promotion of East Coast music, and designed to bridge the gap between music and film. It facilitates discussion and interaction between professionals of the respective industries with workshops, panels and performances, and offers regional artists a platform for presenting their work.

Film Submissions:

• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.atlanticfilm.com/ aff/ documents/ 31st%20AFF_entryform.pdf