Odesa International Film Festival is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in Eastern Europe, annually held in the cinematic capital of Ukraine - Odesa city.
OIFF was established in 2010 to promote high-quality intellectual cinema among Ukrainian audiences as well as to support the development of Ukrainian film industry locally and internationally. Over the years, the festival has managed to become the brightest film event of the summer in Ukraine, as well as firmly established itself on the world cinema map.
Catherine Deneuve, Christopher Hampton, Peter Greenaway, Cillian Murphy, Krzysztof Zanussi, John Malkovich, Rose McGowan, Eric Roberts, Claudia Cardinale, Daryl Hannah, Darren Aronofsky, Geraldine Chaplin, Aidan Turner and many others were among guests of the Odesa International Film Festival.
The nine days of the Odesa International Film Festival offer exclusive film premieres, master classes from leading world filmmakers, bright festival events and, of course, a unique festival atmosphere!
CONCEPT
Odesa International Film Festival is the main festival of national cinema. The OIFF hosts the premieres of the most anticipated national films, as well as the debuts of young talents.
In addition, the OIFF is a festival of premieres. In the non-competition programmes of the Odesa International Film Festival the audience have the exclusive opportunity to be among the first ones to see international festival hits ("Festivals Festival" section), as well as art hits that will soon be released in Ukraine ("Gala Premieres" section).
The OIFF programme focuses on so called art-mainstream films - films with high artistic quality, yet accessible to a wider audience.
COMPETITION PROGRAMMES
By 2021, the Festival featured three competition programmes: international and national competition, as well as European documentary competition.
In 2021, the Odesa International Film Festival celebrates the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence with a focus on national cinema. The only competition programme of the updated festival is the National Competition (both full-length and short films). The winners will be awarded in the Best Film, Best Directing and Best Acting categories.
The National Competition programme consists of the latest films produced in Ukraine or in co-production with Ukraine. Both full-length and short films are eligible for National Competition. Professional jury consisting of Ukrainian and international film professionals will assess the films in the National Competition.
Grand Prix Golden Duke is awarded based on the audience voting, as the OIFF is audience oriented film festival with viewers being the main jury.
OPEN-AIR SCREENING AT THE POTEMKIN STAIRS
Traditional open-air cinematic performance at the Potemkin Stairs is the greatest event of the Odesa International Film Festival. The whole world knows of this iconic cinematic place thanks to Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925). During the Festival the famous Potemkin stairs become a huge open-air cinema, screening silent classics accompanied by a live orchestra.
Over the years it featured the screenings of City Lights by Charlie Chaplin, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Blackmail by Alfred Hitchcock, Man with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov with musical accompaniment by Michael Nyman, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Berthelet, Au Bonheur des Dames by Julien Duvivier and, of course, Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein. In 2015, with the assistance from the Odesa International Film Festival, the European Film Academy awarded the Potemkin Stairs the title “Treasures of European Film Culture”.
PROFESSIONAL EVENTS
Development of Ukrainian film industry is one of the main missions of the Odesa International Film Festival.
OIFF is a major industry platform in Ukraine for communication and cooperation between film professionals. Professional weekend at the OIFF offers opportunities and tools for cooperation between talents, producers, film funds, festivals, cinemas, distributors as well as TB and other media representatives.
Ukrainian filmmakers with full-length films at different stages of production are eligible to participate in different sections of the OIFF Film Industry Office - Pitching, Work in Progress and First Cut Lab. Foer directors, producers, film managers and officials, the Film Industry Office offers thematic conferences and discussions as well as opportunities for networking with foreign film professionals.
In addition, Odesa International Film Festival hosts Ukrainian Film Market. It's the only professional platform in Ukraine for communication between distributors, representatives of cinemas, film studios and companies providing services in the field of film distribution.
EDUCATIONAL SECTIONS
Future film professionals attend the OIFF Summer Film School. This is one of the largest OIFF projects that offers master classes and creative meetings with world-renowned filmmakers.
Christopher Hampton, Christian Petzold, Peter Greenaway, Krzysztof Zanussi, John Malkovich, Roger Corman, Claudia Cardinale, Daryl Hannah, Marco Mueller, Darren Aronofsky, Peter Weber, Jos Stelling, Jim Sheridan, Michael Winterbottom, Jiří Menzel, Sergei Loznitsa, Kira Muratova, Todd Solondz, Stephen Frears, Geraldine Chaplin, Aidan Turner and others were among the lecturers of OIFF Summer Film School.
NON-COMPETITION PROGRAMMES
Non-competition programmes of the Odesa International Film Festival include thematic and personal retrospectives, gala premieres, award-winning films selections, premieres of the most anticipated series as well as special screenings and film performances.