We Are One: A Global Film Festival In Your Living Room
Montreal has a steady stream of film festivals all year, with topics ranging from “art” (FIFA) to documentaries (RIDM) to genre films, (Fantasia), but fanatics like to hit the big circuit. The Toronto Film Festival isn’t so far away, but Sydney? Tokyo? Sundance? Cannes? And let’s face it, no one is doing much traveling right now. This is a downer for film festivals and their attendees alike who delight in spending morning to night watching premieres, remasters, listening to directors talks, and seeing the stars.
Well, in the Zoom Age, film festivals come to you with the We Are One: A Global Film Festival. For 10 days, from May 29 to June 7, 20 film festivals from around the world will curate both long and short films for viewer’s dleight in order to raise money for COVID-19 relief.
The list of participants is striking. Films are curated by the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM), Jerusalem Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR), San Sebastian International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. Wow.
34 feature films, 71 shorts, 3 web series, and 15 VR films are being featured. They include documentaries as well as action, experimental, sci fi, comedy, and animation.
Some of the feature films to catch include Mystery Road, featuring Aaron Pederson, as an indigenous cowboy detective who returns to the outback to solve a murder, kung fu and guns meet in Crazy World which comes from Uganda’s no-budget powerhouse Wakaliwood, and Mary is Happy, Marry is Happy, which is based on an anonymous Twitter feed.
In addition to major feature films, recorded interviews and panel discussions with Jane Campion, Jackie Chan, Guillermo del Toro, Song Kang ho, Bong Joon ho, John Waters, and more big names from the industry take place daily.
Enjoy yourself and watch some great films from around the globe on YouTube. Viewers are invited to make donations. Head here to see what’s on today. Until June 7.
