LARGEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN ODESSA!
Odessa is a famous Ukrainian seaport and beautiful resort with a rich cultural history and a long cinematic tradition. In 1894, a year and a half before the famous Lumière brothers, a young Odessa engineer Joseph Timchenko presented projected «Moving Pictures» to the public. In 1907, the first movie studio in the former Russian Empire opened in the city, and since then, almost 700 films have been shot there. Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Dovzhenko and Dziga Vertov turned Odessa into a legendary place in the history of Ukrainian cinema.
POTEMKIN STAIRCASE — OPEN-AIR
The place, which has long belonged to the history of world cinema, was glorified all over the world by the great Sergei Eisenstein in the movie «Battleship Potemkin». During the festival, the famous staircase becomes a huge open-air movie theater overlooking the Black Sea, attracting about 15 thousand spectators.
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Accompanied by a symphony orchestra, the festival has shown Charlie Chaplin’s «Big City Lights», Fritz Lang’s «Metropolis», Friedrich W. Murnau’s «Sunrise», Alfred Hitchcock’s «Blackmail» and, of course, Sergei Eisenstein’s «Battleship Potemkin». Saturday movie screening of world classics accompanied by a symphony orchestra is the largest event of the Odessa IFF.
CONCEPT
The International Competition Program includes films from all over the world, mostly international or national premieres. The program focus of the festival is «art mainstream», i.e. films of high artistic quality and accessible to the widest possible audience. Since 2012, the audience has become the main arbiters of the Odessa International Film Festival, as the Grand Prix is awarded based on the results of audience voting.
An international jury awards winners in the categories of Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. Out-of-competition programs include retrospectives, selections of the newest films from different countries, exclusive premieres and festival hits.
UKRAINIAN FOCUS
The National Competition Program consists of the latest films made in Ukraine or in coproduction with Ukraine. The awards for Best Ukrainian Feature Film and Short Film are presented annually at the Odessa IFF by the National Competition Program Jury. Since 2014, the jury of the National Competition Program also presents the award for the Best Actor’s Work.
PROFESSIONAL SECTION
The development of the professional film community in Ukraine is one of the main missions of the film festival. Within the framework of the Professional Section, a Producer Pitching (competition for the best film project) is held,
presentations of films at the Work in Progress stage, as well as panel discussions and round tables dedicated to pressing issues of industry development. In the future, Odessa also plans to become a major coproduction market between European states and Russian-speaking countries. Within the framework of the Odessa Film Festival there is a local film market, the main goal of which is to develop productive relations between Ukrainian distributors and film distributors.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
One of the largest projects of the Odessa IFF — the Summer Film School — functions during 9 festival days. In 2014, 600 students and film lovers attended film screenings, master classes and creative meetings within this section. Among the masters and guests of the film school are world stars and film professionals such as Peter Greenaway, Krzysztof Zanussi, John Malkovich, Roger Corman, Darren Aronofsky, Emir Kusturica, Peter Webber, Jos Stelling, Jiří Menzel and Sergei Loznica,
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Kira Muratova, Todd Solondz, Stephen Frears, Geraldine Chaplin, Vadim Perelman, Aidan Turner, Timur Bekmambetov, Alexander Rodnyansky, Andrei Plakhov, Naum Kleiman and others. The festival also annually hosts special educational sections such as Director+Producer (2014), Film Critics School (2012-2013) and Screenwriting Workshop (2011).
FILM VENUES
Since 2012 the Festival Palace has been located in the building of the Vodyaniy Theater of Musical Comedy. The capacity of the hall, where competitive screenings and gala premieres take place, is 1260 seats. Accreditation, ticketing, guest service and press center are located here. A large festival square with a fountain and an area of cafes and restaurants gathers all guests in an informal atmosphere at the main entrance to the palace. The second most important festival venue is the Rodina Cinema, which has two modern movie halls with 180 and 520 seats. The professional section is located on the territory of the Odessa Film Studio, and the events of the Film Market are held in the multiplex «Cinema City».