Most of us consider the Oscars to be our ultimate guide for good and respected movies. Actually there are other film awards given at various film festivals that are more important and more prestigious than the Academy Awards. So, while the attention of most fans go to the oscars to see if their favourite film or actor will win, movie critics and film buffs are more concerned with other film festivals that are considered to appreciate the artistic achievements in cinema even when films are not produced by big studios or featuring celebrity actors or gaining wide public recognition.
In this list we present the top 5 film festivals (other than the Oscars). The festivals have a great importance in the film industry, are greatly recognised and appreciated by film critics and by the audience at the same time, and somehow these awards guide the results of the Oscars. This film festivals and awards in this list are not presented in any specific order since we are not judging their importance or popularity.
Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and most important film festival in terms of worldwide impact. Films that participate in this festival usually belong to the arthouse cinema while having a wide audience attention at the same time. Cannes Film Festival was founded in 1946, and is now considered the world’s most widely publicised events.
The most important award given in Cannes is the Palme d’Or award or the Golden Palm, and it is granted for the best competing film. Films that won this prestigious award include Amour (Directed by Michael Haneke, 2012), The Tree of Life (Directed Terrence Malick, 2011), The Pianist (Directed by Roman Polanski, 2002), Pulp Fiction (Directed by Quentin Tarantino, 1994).
Venice Film Festival
The Venice film festival is not only important because it celebrates the artistic achievements of filmmakers, but it is gets its prestige from being the oldest film festival. This film festival was founded in 1932 and it takes place annually in Venice, Italy. Several awards are distributed among competing films each year including a Grand Jury Award and The Silver Lion which is an award for the best director in the competing section. However, the highest prize in Venice Film Festival is the Golden Lion or Leone d’Oro. This award is the equivalent of the Oscar’s best picture and is awarded to the best film of the year. Some movies that won the Golden Lion are Roma (Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, 2018), The Shape of Water (Directed by Guillermo del Toro, 2017), and Brokeback Mountain (Directed by Ang Lee, 2005).
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival is also called Berlinale. This festival is on of the “Big Three” festivals. (the Big Three are: Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and Berlinale). Among the awards of Berlinale, the biggest prize that filmmakers wish to get is the Golden Bare. Movies awarded with the Golden Bare award include Sense and Sensibility (Directed by Ang Lee, 1996), A Separation (Directed by Asghar Farhadi and won Best Forign Language Film at the Acedemy Awards, 2012), and Magnolia (Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, 2000).
Toronto International Film Festival
Also known as TIFF or tiff. TIFF was founded in 1976 and since then the festival had a steady growth in prestige and popularity. Now it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world with around 500K attendees every year. TIFF is considered to be second to Cannes film festival in terms of exposure and market activity. The festival also is known to lead the Oscar results where films the win in TIFF are more likely to receive Oscars. Unlike all the festivals in this list, the most prestigious award that TIFF offers is an award based on the voting of the people who attended the festival and not based on the decisions of a jury. This award is the People’s Choice Award, and it has been awarded to movies like American Beauty (Directed by Sam Mendez, 1999), The King’s Speech (Directed by Tom Hooper, 2010), 12 Years a Slave (Directed by Steve McQueen, 2013) and Room (Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, 2015). You can see the direct effect of the People’s Choice Award of the TIFF and the winning movies at the Academy Awards through these examples.
Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival is the most prestigious festival in the United States for arthouse films, documentaries, short films, and episodic content. The festival is held yearly since 1978. What differentiates Sundance Film Festival from the rest is that the movies participating in the competition must be independently produced. Independently produced films are movies founded, produced and distributed by individuals or groups that are not major studios. So movies produced by Warner Bros, Paramount, and Disney… are out of the competition at Sundance Film Festival. Two major categories of prizes are awarded at this festival: the U.S. Grand Jury Prizes (for dramatic and documentary films produced in the U.S) and the World Cinema Jury Prizes (for international dramatic and documentary films). Movies that won the U.S Grand Jury Prize include Whiplash (Directed by Damien Chazelle, 2014), and Precious (Directed by Lee Daniels, 2009). International movies that won the prestigious prize include The Sovenir (A British film directed by Joanna Hogg, 2019), and Butterflies (A Turkish film directed by Tolga Karacelik, 2018).
