Hamptons International Film Festival (#HIFF2016) is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives. The Maidstone will serve as the HIFF Headquarters this fall.
The Southampton October 6 Opening Night Film is, Strange Weather, starring Holly Hunter. HIFF’s Saturday and Sunday Centerpiece films include, ‘Manchester by the Sea,’ and ’20th Century Women,’ respectively. HIFF will close October 10 with ‘American Pastoral,’ directed by and starring Ewan McGregor.
HIFF Signature Programs make up the programming foundation of the festival. Included in Signature Programs are: HIFF Competition; A Conversation With … ; Films of Conflict and Resolution; Compassion, Justice and Animal Rights; Air, Land and Sea; Views From Long Island; Variety 10 Actors to Watch; Winick Talks at Rowdy Hall; Screenplay Readings.
HIFF supports a competition section, and each year the HIFF Awards honor emerging narrative and documentary directors from all over the world. This year’s Hamptons International Film Festival will conduct their 2016 Awards Dinner, while celebrating acclaimed actor, director, producer and activist, Edward Norton with the Career Achievement Award.
World Arts Film Festival
The World Arts Film Festival in Jacksonville is a collaboration of the non-profits, World Arts Education and the Make A Film Foundation. Created by individuals in New York, Los Angeles and Jacksonville, and supported by a network of advisors around the world, the festival is dedicated to a global message of inclusion through the arts and education. An October 13 Opening Night Reception and Art Exhibit at Unity Plaza, features the premiere of ‘Insight,’ a short film commissioned by World Arts Film Festival. ‘Insight’ was filmed by students from Douglas Anderson High School Cinematic Arts Department on the subject of the Florida School for The Deaf and Blind on the day they learned to take photographs. The Festival showcases a continuous series of short films, each no longer than 20 minutes.
World Arts Film Festival submissions are from any filmmaker wanting to create, inspire and share their work worldwide. Over the three day festival expect workshops and activities like an experimental animation drawing workshop, improv acting workshop, sound effects workshop, storytelling through origami and magic, and roundtable discussions.
More information will be available on the festival website as the festival dates draw closer. The festival is produced in collaboration with the 501c3 nonprofit World Arts Education, an organization that supports diverse and inclusive arts and educational programs. Festival Founder, Karen Douglass Sadler, a graduate in Cinema Studies and Visual Arts from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, has over twenty years experience in the film industry and a commitment to building community.
Chicago International Film Festival
Cinema/Chicago, the presenting organization of the Chicago International Film Festival (#ChiFilmFest), is a year-round non-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to fostering better communication between people of diverse cultures through the art of film and the moving image. The four-day gathering that opens October 13 will be comprised of networking events, master classes, panel discussions, workshops, parties, and an invite-only competitive pitch session juried by a distinguished panel of industry professionals. Pitch Day on October 23 is presented in conjunction with IFP Chicago. ‘La La Land’ is the Opening Night film of #ChiFilmFest.
Here are the various event categories that define this year’s festival: International Feature Competition, Spotlight Musicals, Special Presentations, New Directors, U.S. Indies, World Cinema, Documentaries, After Dark, Shorts, Tributes, Black Perspectives, Cinema of the Americas, City and State, Outlook, Industry Days. Industry Days will be the Festival’s hub for participants to connect, share ideas and get inspired, Industry Days is set to run October 20-23, and will examine current and future trends in the art and industry of the entertainment business. Topics covered include: new modes of production and content creation, shifting financing and distribution paradigms, artistic, social, and political issues related to filmmaking.
In year-round programming, CineYouth is the Chicago International Film Festival’s yearly film festival that showcases short films made by filmmakers 22 years old and younger from around the world. A year-round Education Program delivers screening sessions to Chicago students, while showcasing the creativity of young filmmakers and nurturing young audiences to appreciate film. Cinema/Chicago presides over the Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards. The award categories include: Commitment to Excellence in New Media award, Commitment to Excellence in Investigative Journalism Award, Innovation Award (technical achievement), Chicago Legend in Advertising Award, Commitment to Excellence in Advertising Award, The Chicago Award, and the competition’s top prize, the Gold Hugo.
OrlandoiX
OrlandoiX is an interactive festival based in Orlando that showcases advancements in entertainment technology, interactive media, and digital arts. OrlandoiX (#OrlandoiX16) features Industry Keynotes, Speaker Sessions, Interactive Exhibits, Game Developers Conference, Startup Series, Demo Zones, Gaming Tournaments, Networking Opportunities, and Entertainment. The October 14 opening party of the OrlandoiX Interactive Experience will be held at Wall Street Plaza, in downtown Orlando, and is free to the public with an RSVP made at the Facebook page. A special feature of the opening party is the Battle of Geek Bands, with bands comprised of tech industry workers taking the stage for a contested faceoff.
At the planned OrlandoiX Digital Conference segment, Shaun McCabe, Production Director at Insomniac Games, delivers the Opening Keynote. Later on that afternoon, a panel will form to discuss the topic: “User Experience, A New World with VR.” There is also a separate Gaming Dev Conference that will be broken down between sessions and panels. Solving Locomotion in VR Games and The Career of Games, are planned sessions. Alternative Paths in Gaming and A Candid Conversation on Building a Sustainable Games Studio – Structure, Funding, and Growth are planned topics for panels.
The expo floor, from October 15-16, will include interactive experience from a diverse cross-section of the tech community; including health tech, AR/VR, simulations and training, web technologies, gaming, interactive media, and more. OrlandoiX will also set up multiple gaming tournaments for the weekend. Visitors can compete or root for those who are taking part in the gaming competitions. Games this year will include Super Smash Bros., Halo, Mario Kart, Killer Instinct, Madden 17, and FIFA. Prizes will be awarded.
Marché International des Programmes de Communication
MIPCOM (Marché International des Programmes de Communication) is an annual event in Cannes focused on the television industry. The four-day MIPCOM is generally attended by representatives of television studios and broadcasters who use the event as a marketplace to buy and sell new programs and formats for international distribution. The 2016 MIPCOM offers activities in the areas of: exhibitions, networking, conferences and screenings. The conference’s opening Media Mastermind Keynote, on October 17, will be delivered by Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO, Sony Corporation.
Other Media Mastermind Keynotes at MIPCOM 2016 will be delivered by: Ben Sherwood, Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks and President, DisneyABC Television; David Linde, CEO, Participant Media; Sophie Watts, President STX Entertainment; Kiefer Sutherland, actor and Executive Producer, ‘Designated Survivor.’ Japan will be a central theme through dedicated events, conferences, matchmaking sessions and other activities at MIPCOM 2016 as it is this year’s Country of Honor.
Additionally, MIPCOM 2016 will present feature focus sessions that place an emphasis on evolving trends and innovations. Producers’ Toolbox will be a program providing producers with the essentials of new production techniques – including VR; distribution opportunities and effective marketing practices. Trends and Visions are exclusive conferences and events placing the spotlight on the latest trends in content development, and OTT (Over the Top) distribution.
Virtual Reality makes its way into MIPCOM 2016, not just through exhibitions, but during discussion sessions revealing how VR content is disrupting the standard procedure to creating, distributing and monetizing content. In a similar way to the Virtual Reality focus session, 4K Ultra HD demonstrates through exhibitions, conferences and screenings how to anticipate the imminent mass-market deployment. And MIPCOM 2016’s Carriage Deal Forum will offer its own kind of setting to meet new partners, network and discuss new business and co-production opportunities.
NYC Television and Video Week
The fourth annual NYC Television and Video Week, presented by Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News and Next TV will use four days to present an array of trends and topics at the forefront of today’s television business. The convention will be broken up into five segments – some happening on overlapping days. With the 26th annual Hall of Fame ceremony and the new VR 20/20 virtual reality summit, as well as conferences such as Advanced Advertising, Next TV Summit, and the Hispanic Television Summit, NYC Television and Video Week brings education, information, and networking events for professionals in broadcast, cable, OTT, advertising, and technology companies serving the industry. NewBay Media is the owner and organizer of #NYCTVWK.
Virtual Reality 20/20
Virtual Reality 20/20 on opening day, October 17, is structured for film/television/digital content/gaming industry executives, consumer electronics companies, VCs/angel investors, publishers, news outlets, sports franchises, advertising agencies, social media channels, educators, and others interested in the field. The Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame 2016 will honor the class of 2016 on October 18. The evening begins with cocktails at 17:30 and a formal dinner resumes at 18:30. 2016 honorees will include: Monica Gadsby, Publicis One; Peter Liguori, Tribune Media; Inside the NBA, Turner; Deborah Norville, CBS Inside Edition; Mark Pedowitz, CW Television Network; Michael Powell, NCTA; Kevin Reilly, Turner; Stuart Sucherman, Sucherman Group; Jay Sures, United Talent Agency; Keith Turner, Univision; Jeff Wachtel, NBC Universal Cable. Norah O’Donnell, 60 MINUTES.
Advanced Advertising
On October 19 at NYC TV and Video Week, the Advanced Advertising segment will have thought leaders come together to explore the impact of data and automation in TV advertising, and offer insight into how this emerging trend is building one-on-one relationships with viewers and driving TV’s key revenue streams. Also on this date, the Next TV Summit gets underway with two Keynote Q&A’s: Dwayne Benefield, VP, Sony Interactive, who will address “The Broad Potential of Tailored Video Services” and Tony Goncalves, SVP, AT&T Entertainment Group, who will address “Breaking the Mold in the OTT Era.” Also in the agenda, a 2016 Net TV Innovator of the Year award will be handed to Craig Piligian, Founder, Piligian Media Group and Executive Producer, The Runner on go90.
Hispanic Television Summit
The final day for #NYCTVWK, October 20, will host the 14th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, that will focus on expanding the business environment of Hispanic TV & Video.
MIA ANIMATION
Based in Miami, MIA ANIMATION (#miaanimation), founded in 2010 is a two-day industry conference and festival that focuses on Computer Animation, Gaming, Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, Film, Web Design and Visual Arts. It has been structured to be a forum for active networking and practical information exchange with strong commitment and emphasis in education while developing new talent. This year’s conference Keynote Speaker is Aaron Parry, Chief Creative Officer and Executive Vice President, at Deluxe 3D, LLC, opening the conference on October 22. Other speakers on the schedule to give talks include: Sara Sherman, Executive Director, Casting at Walt Disney Co; Drew Tolman, Animation Associate Producer, 20th Century Fox; Elbert Perez, UX Prototyper for HTC Vive; Diliana Alexader, Executive Director at Film Gate and others.
Master Class sessions at MIA/Animation will range from Cinema 4D, presented by MAXON to Z-Brush with Alexis Centeno, presented by SPINE. MIA is especially keen on discovering and nurturing new creativity. This year for the first time, MIA Animation, LLC and the IDEA Center at Miami Dade College are sponsoring a first-ever indie game competition. The competition is created to encourage independent game development and draw fresh talent into the video game industry. A cash award and a consulting meeting with an established incubator program will be awarded to the winner. Also worth knowing, MIA Animation, LLC is partnering with Natcom Global to sponsor the KnowMore film and animation competition. The competition is opened to the public and MDC animation and film students. The conference and festival closes out with an awards ceremony and an After-Party following that.
American Film Festival
With the sole purpose of furthering familiarity and understanding of American film culture, the American Film Festival (AFF) in Wrocław, will present both recent and retrospective films by both internationally established directors and unknown filmmakers to its festival audiences. This year’s AFF program focuses on the ties and fascinations between the cinemas of Europe and America. The 2016 AFF will devote a section to Orson Welles’s work in Europe. Presently, American films occupy a fair amount of Polish cinemas programming, though they are regarded as commercial productions distributed globally by major film studios. The festival aims to introduce new names and original concepts in the American cinema to the Polish audiences.
Quite notably, AFF will offer directors’, and actors’ retrospectives, genres and themes, to offer an educational perspective, when there is a screening of classic works. The retrospectives will create a background for the presentation of contemporary films and will disclose the multitude of links between the present day and the past years of American cinema.
The AFF program spotlights the ties and fascinations between the cinemas of Europe and America – the Old and New Worlds. The Europeans in America review features over a dozen cult favorites directed by European artists in the USA, including Herzog, Dumont, Antonioni and Agnès Varda. Wrocław is the largest city in western Poland on the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe. In 2016, Wrocław is a designated European Capital of Culture and the World Book Capital. It will host the Theatre Olympics, World Bridge Games and the European Film Awards in 2016, IFLA Annual Conference and World Games in 2017.
More Events
The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Calendar of Global Media and Showbiz Industry Social Networking Events” page. If you like this report and other content found on The Actor’s Checklist, please consider liking the Facebook page at this link. This month’s photo placement shows (starting from top of page) ‘The Girl on the Train’ feature thriller opening in North American movie theaters the week of October 7, Chicago International Film Festival, OrlandoiX interactive festival, NYC Television and Video Week, MIA ANIMATION conference and festival.
As a preview for next month, here are some global calendar events for the month of November to be aware of. Variety’s Inclusion Summit takes place in Beverly Hills, Streaming Media West 2016 will be in Huntington Beach, Edinburgh Short Film Festival is in Edinburgh, the new Kaleidoscope festival of illumination opens in Perth, the International Cinematographers Guild comes to Atlanta to hand out Emerging Cinematographer Awards, 50th Annual CMA Awards comes to Nashville, the 17th Annual Latin Grammy Awards celebrates in Las Vegas, The Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival will be in Palma de la Mallorca, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam will be in Amsterdam.
