If you’re budding actor, filmmaker or a plain ol movie buff, here are a few film festivals you must keep tabs on.

 

1. Festival De Cannes

Where: France
When: Β May

We all know and have heard of this massive film festival, whose events usually make ripples in the cinema world from across the globe. As one of the biggest and most prestigious of film events, Festival De Cannes features talent that cannot be compared, from emerging directors, writers to actors descending on the festival from all over the world.

The festival has become an important showcase for European films. Jill Forbes and Sarah Street argue in European Cinema: An Introduction , that Cannes “became…extremely important for critical and commercial interests and for European attempts to sell films on the basis of their artistic quality.”

(Image Courtesy : Festival De Cannes/Facebook)

 

2. Tribeca Film Festival

Where: Tribeca, Manhattan, USA
When: April

“Where film culture and storytelling intersect.”

The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of independent cinema.Β The Tribeca Film Festival was established to help contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan after 9/11. The festival also celebrates New York City as a major filmmaking center. The mission of the film festival is “to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience.” Tribeca as a location is also a popular filming location for movies and television shows.

 

3. Sundance

Where: Utah, USA
When: August

The magnum opus for all things indie, Sundance festival’s stamp of approval of indie noir and drama films has always been regarded highly. Since 1981 the Sundance institute became a nonprofit organization hell-bent on actively advancing “risk-taking storytellers”, founded byΒ Robert Redford.

What we really like about this festival is the platform it delivers for another voice of cinema. In the past years, the festival has featured some amazing movies that went on to be smash hits. 500 Days Of Summer, anyone?

 

4. Venice Film Festival

Where: Venice, Italy
When: August

Cannes and Venice can go head to head on basis of prestige and popularity, especially since both events hosts the biggest superstars in the industry and are really swanky affairs. The Venice festival’s USP has always been in how it presents itself a festival, which many other up and coming events have imitated. The festival was the first to feature some ground-breaking cinema, including Brokeback Mountain, The Wrestler and A Single Man.

 

5. SXSW

Where:Β Austin, Texas
When: March

South By Southwest, more conveniently known as SXSW, is spread across more than a 100 venues in the city of Austin, Texas, the festival is one of the largest of its kind in the United States.Β a 10-dayΒ music, tech, and film festival that has single handed-ly put Austin,Texas on the map over the years.Β SXSW is one of the largest music festivals of its kind, with more than 2,000 official performers and bands playing in more than 100 venues. The festival has also established itself as a respectable platform for the coming together of technology and film.

 

6. Telluride Film Festival

Where: Telluride, USA
When: September

A festival that isn’t talked about much, but is actually one of the best.The bulk of the program is made up of new films, and there is an informal tradition that new films must be shown for the first time in North America to be eligible for the festival. Telluride is well-situated on the international film festival calendar for this: shortly after the Cannes Film Festival, but just before theToronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. This insistence on premieres has led to Telluride’s being associated with the discovery of a number of important new films and filmmakers.

 

7.Β Berlin Film Festival

Where: Berlin, Germany
When: February

The famous ‘Berlinale’ festival is a perfect representation of culture and film in Europe. This ‘established’ film event is frequented by the best filmmakers in the industry today, making it one of Europe’s biggest film festivals. Somehow the festival has managed to nail the equal quantity to quality factor, with the various films of different genres decorating the event’s roster