We Are Ready
Canadian International Fashion
Film Festival 2018 Begins!
When fashion meets film, the third
annual Canadian International Fashion Film Festival (CANIFFF) is kicking off in Calgary at the Glenbow Museum Theatre this Saturday, May 5th 2018.
Dozens of fashion films will be screened during the festival, selected from hundreds
of submissions from around the world. A panel made of an international
professionals the fashion and film industries including: Adrian Lazarus, Andy
Lee, Sara Maino, Branco Popovic, Caitlin Agnew, Niccolo Montanari and more are
involved in the judging process. With such high caliber, CANIFFF is perhaps one
of the most underrated festivals in Canada. It is rare to see an event like
this with such professionalism and expertise involved is not getting more
attention like it should. It makes some of us wonder, are we really ready to
push the boundaries and dap into realms of fashion films? The founder of
CANIFFF, Katrina Olson-Mottahed definitely
thinks this as an opportunity to open our doors to exchange ideas and promoting
Canadian talents with the rest of the world who shares the same passion for
fashion and film making. I sat down with her the other day to channel her
current and future perspective of CANIFFF.
Why did you start CANIFFF and what is the
initiative?
KO:
I saw that there was an opportunity in Canada to create a platform to profile
Canadian Fashion films, Directors, Designers, Composers and Stylists alongside
the international talents creating work in this genre. I have a deep running
love for experimental film and fashion film encompasses all the elements I love
(fashion, film and arts). Along with partners we worked to found The Canadian
International Fashion Film Festival otherwise known fondly as CANIFFF.
Was it difficult to out reach
international filmmakers to participate, since CANIFFF was still relatively new?
KO:
It was challenging at the beginning, but we have been very lucky to work with
some very talented directors who were instrumental in our growth within the
fashion film community. As you can probably imagine, fashion film is a niche
genre and the community is pretty small but very well connected.
What are some of the films we are
expecting to see this year at CANIFFF?
KO:
There is exciting work from the fashion house of Roger Vivier by Victor
Clarmont, Selfridges new film The Greatest Luxury by Kathryn Ferguson, Start
the Buzz a film by Milano Moda Donna directed by Blinkfish Film and Creativity
Factory (Giacomo Boeri & Matteo Grimaldi)- there are many more exciting
films but these are big international fashion films we are very proud to be
screening at our festival this year.
Do you have your top picks? Can you tell
us or is it hush hush?
KO:
There are directors I have come to love because there work is consistently
amazing.This is why it so important to have a strong jury so they can rule out
any bias'.
What was the biggest challenge your team
has running CANIFFF? How did you guys overcome them?
KO:
The biggest challenge for us, as I am sure for every film festival is finding
sponsors who align with our vision to keep our dream of Fashion Film alive in
Canada. We don't have a big sponsorship team like a powerhouse Canadian
festival like TIFF that has been running for 42 years. We are infantile in our
3rd year still learning so much while growing rather rapidly. This has been a
steep learning curve even though some of us has been fundraising for the arts
in our city close to a decade. The genre of fashion film is rather new as a
film fest genre in North America so I think it will take time to foster and
develop these relationships with the patrons and businesses who see our vision
into the future.
Are you receiving a lot of support
from both locals and national for CANIFFF?
KO:
Like I mentioned in the previous answer, it will take time. I believe we are
doing incredibly well for a 3rd year start-up in the agonizingly depressed
economy in Calgary as it has been in these 3 years we have been operating. The
businesses we have partnered with have been incredible and their unwavering
support is what has helped us grow. Internationally we have had screenings in
London, Istanbul, Berlin, Trinidad & Tabago as well as having our own
channel on M2M.tv the world's premier
fashion video network featuring original programming, classic fashion films and
documentaries, and runway shows. Internationally I feel like we have received a
lot more support for our festival which is a huge reason why were are
known internationally. In Canada however, aside from our local support of
businesses who we have partnered with, we need a new way to fund these kind of
creative endeavours. This is something we will definitely be working toward
in the upcoming year and moving forward.
How can we, as a community, help to
promote art and culture organization such as CANIFFF?
KO: I
think we just need more advocates of the arts in Canada. Patrons and
Organizations need to champion for arts initiative start-ups. Offer an
opportunity to partner with local artists or arts organizations to cross
promote good, services and local events. When we buy tickets to events it helps,
when we share events that may be of interest to our friends groups to spread
the word, it helps. Collaboration has really been the key to our success over
the part three years.
It
takes a lot of time and money to create and keep these projects on the rails.
The time people have volunteered and the money we have all put in is what keeps
it all up and running. You need to be like Drake and start from the bottom and hustle hard to become successful
internationally to make people recognize how many talented people there are
creating awesome work in Canada in the arts. We need more eyeballs looking
inward rather than outward at what the rest of the world is creating. It
creates a scarcity mentality amongst organizations locally when there are
very few funding opportunities and we are all after the same grants, sponsors
and patrons for support. When people are clinging to everything they have out of
fear of coming up short, it is really difficult to foster collaboration and
inclusion.
Tickets
to festival and the full schedule are available on http://Canifff.com/canifff-2018
Additional
article about this in the visual arts in Canada: http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/where-are-canadas-starring-artists/)
x Do the things you are passionate about; Learn from ones who inspire you; Strive to become an expert at what you do xx
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