Global Information2nd Odesa International Film Festival information
 | |
| Opening film | "The Artist" (Dir. Michel Hazanavicius), France |
|---|---|
| Closing film | "Brothel Lights" (Dir.Aleksandr Gordon), Russia |
| Location | Odesa (Ukraine) |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Awards | Grand Prix "The Golden Duke" - "Tomboy" (Dir. Céline Sciamma), France |
| No. of films | 14 (in Competition), 57 (out of competition) |
| Festival date | 15–23 July 2011 |
| Website | http://www.oiff.com.ua/old |
The second Odesa International Film Festival (Ukrainian: Одеський міжнародний кінофестиваль) took place in Odesa (Ukraine) from 15 to 23 July 2011.[1]
71 films were screened at the festival, and the total number of audience members was tallied at over 70 thousand.[2] Over 5 thousand guests were accredited at the festival along with over 450 journalists and other members of the press from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, the United States, Romania, Italy and other countries. A total of 175 hotel rooms were reserved for the guests of the festival in 5 central Odesa hotels. The opening ceremonies, which were broadcast live by the Ukrainian TV channel “Inter”, were watched by over 2 million viewers. In addition, nearly 7 thousand followed the online broadcasts of the festival through the official Festival site.[3]
14 new films from France, the UK, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, Israel, and Uruguay were part of the competition. The international film jury was headed by the well-known Polish actor and rector of the Kraków Film Academy Jerzy Stuhr,[4] who has a bond with Odesa with his role in Juliusz Machulski's film “Dejа Vu” filmed in 1988.
A list of guests of the festival included Hollywood star John Malkovich,[5] directors Nikita Mihalkov, Otar Iosseliani, Vadim Perelman, Sergei Solovyov, Nana Jorjadze, Yuri Kara, Alexander Mitta, Valery Todorovsky, Fyodor Bondarchuk, actors Bogdan Stupka, Maria de Medeiros, Ada Rogovtseva, Gosha Kutsenko, Dmitriy Dyuzhev, and others.[6] At the Opening ceremony in the Odesa Opera Theater, an honored guest of the festival – John Malkovich, awarded a special prize, the “Crystal Crystal” to his Russian colleague Nikita Mihalkov. This prize was awarded for input into the cinematographic development of Odesa. Weeks earlier, Mihakov presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Malkovich at the Moscow Film Festival.
The opening film of the Festival was Michel Hazanavicius's “The Artist” which received the award for the best male role at Cannes Film Festival-2011. The closing ceremony served as the venue for the world premiere of Alexander Gordon's Russian film “Brothel Lights.” This film was filmed in Odesa.
The festival employed three main screening venues. “Rodina” movie theater served as the festival center and two more theaters were added for afternoon and evening screenings – “Cinema City” and “U-cinema.” The “Cinema-City” venue also became the place for the “film-market.” At the other end of the downtown area, “U-cinema” theatre at the Odesa Film Studio once again served as the central location for the “Summer Film School.” Master classes this year were taught by many guests of the festival including John Malkovich, Otar Iosseliani, Vadim Perelman, Sergei Solovyov, Nana Jorjadze, Alexander Mitta, Valeriy Todorovskiy, Jerzy Stuhr, Maria de Medeiros, American screen-writing and directing consultant Mark Travis, and others. In the second year of the festival, a project called “Screen-writers Workshop” was added to the Summer Film School. This project included intensive and highly personalized seminars for a select group of screenwriters whose works were selected in a screen-play contest. The second Odesa Film Festival also included two new professionally geared events – The Film-market and the pitching of film projects.[7]
The Grand Prix of the festival went to the French Film -"Tomboy" written and directed by Celine Sciamma. At the closing ceremony, The Golden Duke statue was accepted on behalf of the filmmaker by Sophie Cattani who played one of the lead roles in the film.
On the very last day of the festival it received the great honor of being recognized by a well-known, international journalistic association – the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) who are responsible for awarding the Golden Globes. Hollywood Foreign Press member Gabriel Lerman presented the festival with a sign of this recognition.[8]
- ^ Odesa film festival underway, "Euronews" Archived 19 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine 19 July 2011
- ^ Second edition of Odesa IFF builds bridges to Europe, "FilmNewEurope.com" Archived 2 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine 25 July 2011
- ^ "Одесский кинофестиваль-2011: цифры и факты" [Odesa Film Festival-2011: numbers and facts]. ФОКУС (in Russian). 25 July 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas. "Jerzy Stuhr heads Odesa Film Festival jury". Screen. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
- ^ US actor and director John Malkovich and Odesa International Film Festival President Victoria Tigipko pose for a photo during their meeting in Odesa (Ukraine), "Yahoo.news" 14 July 2011
- ^ Today in the Odesa International Film Festival opens, "Ukraine-news" Archived 30 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine 15 July 2011
- ^ Pitching, OIFF official site Archived 19 April 2013 at archive.today
- ^ Odesa Film Festival is recognized in Hollywood, "News in Ukraine" Archived 30 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine 4 August 2011