1.
Sydney
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Sydney /ˈsɪdni/ is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australias east coast, the metropolis surrounds the worlds largest natural harbour, residents of Sydney are known as Sydneysiders. The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years, the first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788 to found Sydney as a penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia. Since convict transportation ended in the century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural. As at June 2016 Sydneys estimated population was 5,005,358, in the 2011 census,34 percent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home and it is classified as an Alpha+ World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and throughout the world. Ranked eleventh in the world for economic opportunity, Sydney has a market economy with strengths in finance, manufacturing. Its gross regional product was $337 billion in 2013, the largest in Australia, there is a significant concentration of foreign banks and multinational corporations in Sydney and the city is promoted as one of Asia Pacifics leading financial hubs. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park, man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are also well known to international visitors. The first people to inhabit the now known as Sydney were indigenous Australians having migrated from northern Australia. Radiocarbon dating suggests human activity first started to occur in the Sydney area from around 30,735 years ago, the earliest British settlers called them Eora people. Eora is the term the indigenous used to explain their origins upon first contact with the British. Its literal meaning is from this place, prior to the arrival of the British there were 4,000 to 8,000 native people in Sydney from as many as 29 different clans. Sydney Cove from Port Jackson to Petersham was inhabited by the Cadigal clan, the principal language groups were Darug, Guringai, and Dharawal. The earliest Europeans to visit the area noted that the people were conducting activities such as camping and fishing, using trees for bark and food, collecting shells. Development has destroyed much of the citys history including that of the first inhabitants, there continues to be examples of rock art and engravings located in the protected Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The first meeting between the people and the British occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. He noted in his journal that they were confused and somewhat hostile towards the foreign visitors, Cook was on a mission of exploration and was not commissioned to start a settlement
2.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
3.
Cannes Film Festival
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Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+ Pierre Lescure took over as President of the festival, the Board of Directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the festival. The 2016 Cannes Film Festival took place between 11 and 22 May 2016, australian film director George Miller was the President of the Jury. I, Daniel Blake, directed by British director Ken Loach, in 2017, The Festival de Cannes will celebrate its 70th anniversary edition from May 17 to 28. In 1947, the festival was held as the Festival du film de Cannes, at that time the principle of equality was introduced, with a jury made up of only one representative per country. The festival is now held at the Palais des Festivals, expressly constructed for the occasion, although for its 1949 inaugural the roof was unfinished, the festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems. Although its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with Autumns Venice Film Festival, in 1955, the Palme dOr was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year. In 1957, Dolores del Rio was the first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member, in 1959, the Marché du Film was founded, giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce, in 1962, the International Critics Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors all over the world. In 1965, an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, the next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival. The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May, some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors Society that same year, during the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President and he immediately introduced an important change in the selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different countries chose which films would represent them in the festival, Bessy created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign films. In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra dOr award, in 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed The Bunker and provoked many reactions against it, in 1984, Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival. It was not until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection and its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
4.
Roger Ebert
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Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase Two Thumbs Up, used when both hosts gave the film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, Ebert lived with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands from 2002. This required treatments necessitating the removal of his jaw, which cost him the ability to speak or eat normally. His ability to write remained unimpaired, however, and he continued to publish frequently both online and in print until his death on April 4,2013. Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the child of Annabel, a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Marys elementary school and his paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. In his senior year, he was president and editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in radio speaking, regarding his early influences in film criticism, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies, I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine. Mads parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies, I lost it at Mad magazine, Ebert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high-school courses while also taking his first university class. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his degree in 1964. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La Dolce Vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. Ebert spent a semester as a student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. Instead Kogan referred Ebert to the city editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Hoge and he attended doctoral classes at the University of Chicago while working as a general reporter at the Sun-Times for a year
5.
Melbourne International Film Festival
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The Melbourne International Film Festival is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, MIFF is one of Melbournes four major film festivals, in addition to the Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival and Melbourne Underground Film Festival. As of 2013, the festivals Artistic Director is Michelle Carey, Melbourne is a significant city in the history of film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, the worlds first full-length feature film, was filmed in the city. Established in 1952, the Melbourne International Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the world and has become the most notable event in Australia. MIFF is the largest film festival in both Australia and the hemisphere, and is Australias largest showcase of new Australian cinema. The 2012 festival generated A$8 million for the Victorian economy, as of 2013, the festival is accredited by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Australian Film Institute and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. As of 2013, the festivals CEO is Maria Amato, Carey is the Artistic Director, the 37ºSouth Market is the only international film financing marketplace to take place during a film festival in Australia or New Zealand. As of 2013, the 37ºSouth Market is also the partner of the Londons Production Finance Market for Australia. Since 1962, MIFF has staged a short film competition, as well as feature film award categories. It also presents audience popularity awards for film and documentary. The festivals inaugural award was Best Short Film, but the title was changed to Grand Prix for Best Short Film in 1965, from 1985 onwards, the Grand Prix has been officially presented by the City of Melbourne. The judges for the 2013 MIFF short film awards were Lorin Clarke, Michael Matrenza, Chinese filmmakers withdrew their films from the festival two days before it opened on 24 July 2009. Later, both pro-Chinese and pro-Uyghur activists attempted to disrupt ticketing due to the media coverage, the festival website was hacked soon after the launch of its 2009 program, with information replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans. Victoria Police was placed on alert during the screening of the film, Australias Ambassador to China Geoff Raby was summoned by Chinas Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun to express displeasure about Kadeers attendance at MIFF. In 2000, MIFFs rejection of a film written and directed by Richard Wolstencroft led him to form the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. In subsequent years, MUFF has attracted controversy by criticising the content of MIFF, as well as its management, MUFF prioritises and declares that he has a mandate, as a space for exciting and edgy Australian cinema that may not be played at MIFF. Film festival List of film festivals List of short film festivals St Kilda Short Film Festival Cinema of Australia Official website
6.
Scarlett Johansson
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Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer. She made her debut in the fantasy comedy North. Johansson subsequently starred in Manny & Lo, and garnered acclaim and prominence with roles in The Horse Whisperer. She shifted to roles with her performances in Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lost in Translation. Since 2010, Johansson has also portrayed the Marvel Comics character Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in the 2010 Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge. As a singer, Johansson has released two albums, Anywhere I Lay My Head and Break Up, Johansson is considered one of Hollywoods modern sex symbols, and has frequently appeared in published lists of the sexiest women in the world. As of February 2017, she is the actress of all time in North America. In 2016, she added another $1.2 billion to that box office record and her father, Karsten Johansson, is an architect originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, and her paternal grandfather, Ejner Johansson, was an art historian, screenwriter, and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx, Sloans ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Minsk in the Russian Empire. Scarlett Johansson has a sister, Vanessa, also an actress, an older brother, Adrian, a twin brother, Hunter. She holds both United States and Danish passports and citizenship, Johansson grew up in a household with little money, and with a mother who was a film buff. She and her brother attended PS41 elementary school in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Johansson began her training by attending and graduating from Professional Childrens School in Manhattan in 2002. Johansson began acting during childhood, after her mother started taking her to auditions and she would audition for commercials but took rejection so hard her mother began limiting her to film tryouts. She made her debut at the age of 9, as John Ritters daughter in the fantasy comedy North. Following minor roles in the mystery thriller Just Cause, as the daughter of Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw, and If Lucy Fell, she played the role of Amanda in Manny & Lo. Her performance in Manny & Lo garnered a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female, after appearing in minor roles in Fall and Home Alone 3, Johansson garnered widely spread attention for her performance in the film The Horse Whisperer, directed by Robert Redford. She received a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress for the film, in 1999, she appeared in My Brother the Pig and in the neo-noir Coen brothers film The Man Who Wasnt There
7.
Vera Farmiga
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Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress, director and producer. She began her career on Broadway in the play Taking Sides and she made her television debut in the Fox fantasy series Roar, and her film debut in the drama-thriller Return to Paradise. Farmigas breakout role came in 2004, when she portrayed a mother harboring a secret drug habit in the drama film Down to the Bone and she then co-starred in The Manchurian Candidate, The Departed, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and Nothing But the Truth. She then had starring roles in Orphan, Source Code, Farmiga made her directorial debut with the drama film Higher Ground, in which she also starred in the lead role. In 2013, she portrayed paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the horror film The Conjuring, since 2013, Farmiga has starred as Norma Louise Bates in the A&E drama-thriller series Bates Motel, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. This role, along with her roles in Joshua, Orphan, Farmiga was born in Clifton, New Jersey, to Ukrainian-born parents Lubomyra Luba, a schoolteacher, and Michael Farmiga, a systems analyst-turned-landscaper. She was raised in an insular Ukrainian American community in Irvington, New Jersey and she did not learn English until she started kindergarten at age six. As a child, Farmiga converted with her family from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Pentecostalism, when she was twelve, the family moved from Irvington to Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. She attended St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School in Newark, New Jersey, in addition to being a semi-professional folk dancer, she is also a classically trained pianist. Farmiga was a member of Plast, the Ukrainian scouting organization, in 1991, she graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. Farmiga went on to performing arts at Syracuse University, from which she graduated in 1995. Farmiga has one brother, Victor, and five younger siblings, Stephan, Nadia, Alexander, Laryssa. Her maternal grandparents, Nadia and Theodor Spas, met at a displaced persons camp in Karlsfeld during World War II, at the time, her grandfather was working as a mechanic for the United States Army. Theodor and Nadia married in Munich in 1946, and emigrated to the States in 1950 when Luba was 14 months old, Farmigas father was born in Ukraine and raised in Argentina. A soccer player, Michael was scouted for the Argentine national team, in February 1996, Farmiga starred as Miranda in the American Conservatory Theaters production of The Tempest. She also performed in productions as a member of The Barrow Group, a prestigious theater company in New York City. Farmiga made her Broadway debut alongside Ed Harris and Daniel Massey on October 17,1996, understudying the role of Emmi Straube, following these stage roles, she co-starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame Western television film Rose Hill, portraying Emily Elliot. The film, which aired on the CBS network on April 20,1997, also featured Jennifer Garner, Farmiga next played the beautiful former slave Catlin in Foxs fantasy adventure series Roar, alongside Heath Ledger and Sebastian Roché
8.
Matthew Nable
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Matthew Nable is an Australian film and television actor, writer and former professional rugby league footballer. After playing in the Winfield Cup Premiership during the 1990s for the Manly-Warringah and South Sydney clubs, he wrote, Nable went on to act in films such as Killer Elite and Riddick. He appeared on The CWs Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as Ras al Ghul, Nable grew up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and also, as a young boy, spent two years at Portsea, Victoria, when his father, a soldier, was stationed there. His father had worked as a trainer for the Australian national rugby league team. Matt Nable rose through the ranks at the Manly-Warringah club. Following this he wouldnt appear in the premiership until 1995 when he played three games for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and he then worked as a beer salesman and personal trainer, but eventually decided to leave paid employment to become a writer. After encouragement from his mentor, Booker Prize-winning novelist Thomas Keneally, with friends he also managed to raise $1. 6m and they worked together to make the film which was released in 2007, and earned critical praise but was a box office failure. Nable went on to act in the United States as a Los Angeles detective in the 2008 television movie S. I. S. In 2009, his book We Dont Live Here Anymore was published, in 2011 he published his second book Faces in the Clouds and he worked as a writer on Channel 7s new rugby league comedy programme, The Matty Johns Show. Nable starred in the 2012 Australian drama series, Bikie Wars, Brothers in Arms, the same year he was announced as a cast member of another Australian TV series, Underbelly, Badness. He also had a role in the film 33 Postcards and he appeared in the 2013 sci-fi film Riddick alongside Vin Diesel. In March 2014 it was reported that Nable would appear in the Nine networks upcoming miniseries Gallipoli, on 4 September, Stephen Amell announced on Facebook that Nable would portray the role of Ras al Ghul on the third season of Arrow. Despite Liam Neeson expressing an interest in reprising his role for the series third season. IGNs Jesse Scheeden said he brought charisma and danger to the part, Nable portrayed the character in ten episodes of the third season. He reprised his role in Legends of Tomorrow, Matthew Nable at the Internet Movie Database Matt Nable at yesterdayshero. com. au Matthew Nable at rugbyleagueproject. org
9.
AACTA Awards
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The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. The awards recognise excellence of professionals in the film and television industry and it is the most prestigious awards ceremony for the Australian film and television industry. They are generally considered to be the Australian counterpart of the Academy Awards, the awards, previously called Australian Film Institute Awards or AFI Awards, began in 1958 and involved 30 nominations across six categories. They expanded in 1986 to cover television as well as film, the AACTA Awards were instituted in 2011. As of 2011, the Australian awards take place at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and they were instituted in 1958, as a way to improve the impoverished state of Australian cinema, and was part of the Melbourne International Film Festival until 1972. Between 1958–1980, submitted films were presented with a gold, silver or bronze prize, and in some circumstances, a Grand Prix award, which was the highest honour a film could receive. Additionally, films were presented with a gold or silver medallion for technical achievements. Up until 1970, prizes were handed out in recognition of the film and production, rather than achievements of individual filmmakers and crafts people. In 1977 feature film categories became competitive, while non-feature films continued to be awarded the gold, silver and bronze prizes until 1981, in 1976 the awards were broadcast live on television for the first time on the Nine Network at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne. In 1986 television categories were introduced, presenting awards for mini-series and telefeatures before expanding to dramas, in June 2011, the AFI announced an industry consultation for an Australian Academy. The aim of the Academy is to create awareness for Australian film in local and international markets, the name of the new Academy was revealed on 18 August 2011 as the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, with the awards renamed to the AACTA Awards. The date change was made to align the awards with the awards season. At the time of the inception, a jury of five judges, composed of film critics and filmmakers. In 1976, the system was replaced by a peer voting process for feature films which would allow public members the right to vote in the Best Film category. The nominees and winners were later peer-voted by a jury which was made up of representatives from all industry crafts, including members of guilds, who have a professional membership with the AFI. When the AFI announced the launch of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, the fifteen Chapters consist of professionals from industry guilds and organisations including actors, producers, directors and screenwriters. All television and non-feature film awards, and feature film pre-selection are determined by juries, members of the Australian Film Institute are eligible to vote in the Best Short Fiction Film, Best Short Animation and Audience Choice award categories only. The votes are audited by accounting firm Ernst and Young from 2011, throughout the history of the awards there have been several differently designed awards given to winners
10.
Bong Joon-ho
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Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. His films include South Korean hits Memories of Murder, based on a serial murder case, monster movie The Host. Korean film industry insiders have nicknamed him Bong Tae-il, which, pronounced in Korean, though he displays a fascination for strong subject matter, his films are filled with humor and sudden mood shifts. Bong Joon-ho was born in Daegu in 1969 and decided to become a filmmaker while in middle school and his father was a designer and his grandfather was a noted author. He majored in sociology in Yonsei University in the late 1980s and was a member of the club there. He was then a fan of Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien, in the early 1990s, he completed a two-year program at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. While there, he made many 16mm short films and his graduation films Memory Within the Frame and Incoherence were invited to screen at the Vancouver and Hong Kong international film festivals. He also collaborated on works with his classmates — most notably as cinematographer on highly acclaimed short 2001 Imagine. Aside from cinematography on Hur Jae-youngs short A Hat, Bong was also lighting director on an early short Sounds From Heaven and Earth by Choi Equan, after graduating, he spent the next five years contributing in various capacities to works by other directors. Shortly afterwards Bong began shooting his first feature Barking Dogs Never Bite under producer Cha Seung-jae, the film, about a low-ranking university lecturer who abducts a neighbors dog, was shot in the same apartment complex where Bong had lived after getting married. Although now remembered fondly, at the time of its release in February 2000 it did not stir up much interest among audiences, response from critics was positive but slightly muted. Nonetheless, the film was invited to the section of Spains prestigious San Sebastian International Film Festival. Bongs second film, Memories of Murder, a much larger-scale project, was adapted from a stage play centered on a real-life serial killer who terrorized a rural town in the 1980s. Production of the film was a long and arduous process, but with the weather providing unexpected help with some stunning skyscapes and it was released in April 2003 and proved an immediate critical and popular success. Although passed over by the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, the film received its international premiere at San Sebastian. The film also received a strong critical reception on its release in foreign territories such as France. Following this, Bong took some time to short films to two omnibus projects. Influenza is a disturbing 30-minute work acted out entirely in front of real CCTV cameras stationed throughout Seoul and his films Memories of Murder, The Host, Madeo and Snowpiercer were re-released as a film series in April 2015 in the Jacob Burns Film Center in New York
11.
Toronto International Film Festival
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The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Year-round, TIFF Bell Lightbox offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals, workshops, industry support, TIFF Bell Lightbox is located on the north west corner of King Street and John Street in downtown Toronto. In 2015,397 films from 71 countries were screened at 28 screens in downtown Toronto venues, welcoming an estimated 480,000 attendees, TIFF starts the Thursday night after Labour Day and lasts for eleven days. Founded in 1976, TIFF is now one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world, in 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that TIFF is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity. In 2007, TIME noted that TIFF had grown from its place as the most influential film festival to the most influential film festival. This is partially the result of TIFFs ability and reputation for generating Oscar buzz, the Toronto International Festival’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award — which is based on popular vote by Festival filmgoers — has emerged as a beacon of awards-season success. Founded by Bill Marshall, Dusty Cohl and Henk Van der Kolk and that first year,35,000 filmgoers watched 127 films from 30 countries presented in ten programmes. Piers Handling has been the director and CEO since 1994. TIFF was once centred on the Yorkville neighbourhood, but the Toronto Entertainment District later gained a level of prominence. TIFF is known for the celebrity buzz it brings to the area with international media setting up near its restaurants and stores for photos and interviews with the stars. In 2010, TIFF opened its permanent headquarters, TIFF Bell Lightbox, TIFF has grown, steadily adding initiatives throughout the years. TIFF Cinematheque and the Film Reference Library opened in 1990, the TIFF Kids International Film Festival launched in 1998. Film Circuit began exhibiting independent and Canadian films in under-serviced cities across Canada in 1994, the festival was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel by Bill Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl. Beginning as a collection of the films from film festivals around the world. Ironically, however, Hollywood studios withdrew their submissions from TIFF due to concerns that Toronto audiences would be too parochial for their products, in 1994, the decision was made to replace the name Festival of Festivals with Toronto International Film Festival. From 1994 to 2009, the organization running TIFF was named Toronto International Film Festival Group. In 2009, the umbrella organization TIFFG was renamed to TIFF, in 2001, Perspective Canada, the programme that had focused on Canadian films since 1984, was replaced by two programmes, Canada First. A forum for Canadian filmmakers presenting their first feature-length work, featuring eight to 15 films, and Short Cuts Canada, in 2004, TIFF was featured as the site of murder mystery in the film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, a comedy film starring Martin Short
12.
Archibald Prize
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The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australian art. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, guido Belgiorno-Nettis said that judging the annual competitions was absolutely the most fun thing you can do as a trustee. The Archibald Prize is awarded annually and since July 2015 has been AU$100,000, the Peoples Choice Award, in which votes from the public viewing the finalists are collected to find a winner was first awarded in 1988. The award comes with a prize of A$3,500. In 1992 the Packing Room Prize was established, in which the staff who receive the portraits, the prize-winner is not always an Archibald finalist. Although the prize is said to be awarded by the staff, the Packing Room Prize is awarded annually and since June 2014, the prize has been A$1,500. To date there has never been an Archibald Prize winner who has also been a Packing Room Prize winner, for this reason winning the Packing Room Prize is known as the kiss of death award. Category, Archibald Prize finalists Lists of Archibald Prize finalists Since 1992, since 1999, Sydney based law firm Holding Redlich have sponsored a Salon des Refusés Peoples Choice Award. The Archibald is held at the time as the Sir John Sulman Prize, the Wynne Prize, the Mortimore Prize for Realism, the Australian Photographic Portrait Prize. The Archibald is the next richest portrait prize in Australia after the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, in 1978 Brett Whiteley won the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes all in the same year, the only time this has happened. It was his win for the Archibald and the other prizes as well. Some works which do not make the Archibald Prize finalists are shown at the S. H. Ervin Gallery in the Archibald Salon des Refusés exhibition which began in 1992. The Archibald is one of the few art prizes in which the artists signature is covered up so as not to be seen by the judges during initial selection for the final. Given the small size of Australias art community, this is intended to discourage nepotism on the part of judges simply selecting their friends rather than making selections based on merit. Max Meldrum criticised the Archibald Prize winner in 1938, saying that women could not be expected to paint as well as men. Nora Heysen was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize, with a portrait of Madame Elink Schuurman, in 1953 several art students including John Olsen protested William Dargies winning portrait, the seventh time he had been awarded the prize. One protester tied a sign around her dog which said Winner Archibald Prize – William Doggie, dargie went on to win the prize again in 1956. This is now hanging at New Parliament House in Canberra, in 1975, John Bloomfields portrait of Tim Burstall was disqualified on the grounds that it had been painted from a blown up photograph, rather than from life
