Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Sudbury, Ontario held over 9 days, each September. It is one of the largest film festivals in Canada
First held in 1989, Cinéfest quickly became a popular destination for Canadian filmmakers. Unlike the larger film festivals in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Cinéfest offered filmmakers a chance to gain exposure among more typical film audiences in a city with no major venues for screening independent and non-mainstream films. Cinéfest presents an annual programme of over 135 films, both domestic and international, often screened towards English and French language audiences. Cinéfest also presents a large number of International films that include English and French subtitles.
History (1989-Present)
What was at the time an unprecedented success for Canadian film, Patricia Rozema’s I've Heard the Mermaids Singing was presented in Sudbury in 1988 at a special test-screening. Planned as a onetime event, Sudbury was being used as a test market for alternative Canadian films in small communities. The result surprised everyone, with over 900 people attending the sold out screening. Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival was established a year later, in 1989 (as The Sudbury Film Festival) and despite some remaining skepticism, local citizens proved that a mining-oriented community could be receptive to repertory film culture, as approximately 9,000 cinema-buffs crowded theatres during the three-day event.