The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. Historically, the festival took place in early July, but now it occurs annually during autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge Film Trust.
Established in 1977[1] and re-launched in 2001[1] after a 5-year hiatus, the Cambridge Film Festival shows a range of UK and international films that debuted at leading film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, as well as hosting UK premieres of films, alongside a broad range of specialist interest, archive, and retrospective strands. All films are open to the public to watch.
The Cambridge Film Festival is presented annually by the Cambridge Film Trust, a registered charity with a mission to foster film culture and education for the benefit of the public in Cambridge and the Eastern region and throughout the UK.
Long-time Festival Director, Tony Jones, stepped down following the 2019 Festival.[2]
Over more than 30 years he had overseen all aspects of the Festival.
Following his departure, a new programming panel was set up, incorporating new and existing CFF programmers.
The Panel was fully established in 2022 under the leadership of Elle Haywood,[3] a film curator and critic with a background in film, media and technology, and includes programmers Savina Petkova,[4] Amon Warmann, Ramon Lamarca,[5] the panel is supported by Short Film Programmer Abby Pollock and several Programme Advisors.
Sally Potter at CFF42 for a Q&A for OrlandoThe Cambridge Film Festival audienceMembers of the CFF Youth Lab at the 2022 FestivalFilmmaker Asif Kapadia - CFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema - 2023
Awards
Each year, the Cambridge Film Festival presents several audience and Jury awards; the most prestigious of these[citation needed], the audience awards, are the Golden and Crystal Punt Awards.
Since 2019 the Festival has also awarding the Youth Lab Jury Award, and the CFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award.
Cambridge Film Festival Outstanding Contribution Award
Originally based at the single-screen Arts Cinema in Cambridge city centre's Market Passage, the Festival was originally conceived with a two-fold purpose: as a means of screening current international Cinema and to rediscover important but neglected filmmakers and their films, which were either out of distribution or unseen for many years.
1981 marked the 5th Festival and the first Festival with current Festival Director Tony Jones at the helm.
The Festival in 1981 screened a newly restored version of Gance'sNapoleon, alongside a Bertrand Tavernier retrospective. It was also the first year to have 'away' screenings at the Arts Theatre in St Edward's Passage.
1982
1982 saw a general widening of the Festival programme and hosted the UK Premiere of another Werner Herzog film, Fitzcarraldo.
1983
In 1983, the 7th Festival hosted the Premiere Sayles'Lianna. The Retrospective Strand was focused on Indian filmmaker Mrinal Sen.
1984
In 1984, at the 8th Festival, Wim Wenders was in attendance to present his film Paris, Texas. For the Retrospective Strand, the work of Volker Schlondorff was highlighted.
1985
At the 9th Cambridge Film Festival, Francesco Rosi introduced Carmen to audiences as part of his retrospective. A second retrospective strand on Percy Adlon was also featured.
Two significant additions to the festival proved highly popular: an ambitious programme of free screenings introducing artists' moving image work to new viewers and the daily festival podcasts. This year, Volver won the Audience Award.
2007
UK premieres included the opening night film Lady Chatterley, Anna M, The Walker and the latest film from Studio Ghibli, Tales From Earthsea. The festival closed with UK premieres of The Hoax and The 11th Hour. A season celebrating the best in New German Cinema was once again curated by Monika Treut, and eclectic shorts and documentaries, including The Man Who Shot Chinatown and Deliver Us From Evil, contributed to the programme. Kenneth Branagh and Brian Blessed attended As You Like It.
The retrospective this year was on Derek Jarman: Remembered season, and Hey Negrita played a live set after a screening of the documentary "We Dreamed America". Peter Greenaway attended a Q&A for his film "Nightwatching".
2009
A collaboration with the Festival and BAFTA brought Michael Palin: A Life In Pictures, where Mark Kermode interviewed Michael Palin at Ely Cathedral.
The UK's 3rd longest running Film Festival - 2010's
2010
2010 the closing night film was Made in Dagenham. Festival regular and film music master Neil Brand hosted a workshop about creating music for film, and director Stephen Frears took part in a career retrospective, as well as discussing his latest film, Tamara Drewe. Also, The Dodge Brothers accompanied Neil Brand in soundtracking Beggars of Life.
This year's centrepiece was season of a dozen Hitchcock films, stretching from his early silents to his peak period in the 50s and early 60s. Five of the most well-known titles – North by Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie – were shown in brand new digital prints.
As the Italian director Francesco Rosi celebrated his 90th birthday, the Festival presented a short review of his career.
2013
The 33rd Festival screened Deadcat, which Stefan Georgiou directed. Alongside his filmmaking, Stefan was one of the judges for Short Reel, the Student Filmmaker Award, and the winning film screening as part of the Festival each year.
2014 also saw the launch of Short Reel, an award for student filmmakers in eastern and central England, launched by the Arts Film Club in association with the Cambridge Film Festival.
2015
The 35th Cambridge Film Festival ran from 3–13 September 2016.
The Festival collaborated with Cambridge Live to present a specially curated film night celebrating Syd Barrett. The evening included archival music promos and documentaries featuring classic sixties performances and the UK premiere of Get All That Ant?, a free-form documentary made by Barrett's former school friend and fellow art student, Anthony Stern.
The 39th festival saw Festival director Tony Jones presented with the inaugural CFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award as he stepped down after more than 30 years.
As the Covid-19 pandemic took hold and arts organisations looked for ways to survive, Cambridge Film Festival partnered with Cinecity Brighton, Bath Film Festival, and Cornwall Film Festival to present Amplify![23] a 16-day online film Festival, aimed at engaging their collective audiences and supporting filmmakers who had been hit hard by the pandemic.
2021
Following the lifting of the first lockdown in the UK, Cambridge Film Festival could return to its traditional cinema setting, albeit for a pared-back, more focused festival. The 2021 festival opened with Ali and Ava and closed with The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
The 43rd Cambridge Film Festival will take place in October of 2024.
Film categories and strands
The Festival programme is divided up into strands. Some strands reoccur each year, and others are one-off or occasional strands.
Recurring strands
The Family Film Festival - Almost a mini festival within the festival, the family film festival was established in 2010. The strand includes children's films, TV shows and workshops. Previous years have featured films such as The Gruffalo, Frozen (2013 film) and Monsters University, as well as workshops in slapstick filmmaking and a sneak preview of the 3D restoration of The Lion King in 2011.
Opening and Closing Night Films -
High-profile features with special guests.
Gala Screenings -
Previews of films and returning home to the big screen
International Festival Highlights -
Titles from film festivals across the world.
Camera Catalonia Strand -
A recurring strand to showcase Catalan cinema.[24]
Connection and Disconnection -
The fluctuation of time, memory and relationships, including thrillers and mysteries of the world.
Short Fusion Strand -
A recurring strand that showcases contemporary short films worldwide.
Outstanding Contribution Award - A season of films from the year's award winner.
The Festival occurs in Cambridge's three-screened Arts Picturehouse, a local arts cinema run by Picturehouse.
In various years since 2005, the Festival has expanded to take in other formal arts venues such as The Light Cinema Cambridge, arts venue The Junction, and Sawston Cinema, as well as interesting non-traditional venues such as pedestrianised Cambridge streets, local churches and the colleges of the University.
Movies on the Meadows was one of the UK's most significant outdoor screening events[citation needed] at Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge.
For 9 years from 2011 - 2019 it took place over the August bank holiday weekend, In Grantchester. With Audiences between 2,000 and 4,000 the event screened films on giant inflatable screens on the banks of the river Cam. Up to 4 films screened simultaneously each night, and audiences used radio headsets to tune into their preferred film.