Top 5 Independent Film Festivals to Add to Your Bucket List

With hundreds of independent film festivals being hosted around the world, many of new and emerging talent is standing at the front of the stage and is attracting millions of new followers and fans every year. Beni Atoori, an industry giant and veteran producer, shares his personal new film festival bucket list, which features films from Berlin to South Korea.

1. Fantasporto Film Festival

Started in 1981, Fantasporto of Portugal is seen as the first film festival completely dedicated to sci-fi and horror films. This festival has been rated by Variety Magazine as “one of the 25 leading festivals in the world”. Fantasporto has an annual average of 110,000 attendees, where the festival is then divided into ten sessions, four of which are for competition purposes with international juries.

Each year, approximately 50 countries are represented with a total of 200 short films and feature films. Some famous names from the silver screen have been part of Fantasporto throughout its 35 years - including both actors and guest directors, such as Danny Boyle, Guillermo del Toro and Rosana Arquette. The festival takes place annually in February, so if sci-fi and horror are your genre, Beni Atoori definitely suggests adding this film festival to your bucket list next Winter.

2. Sundance Film Festival

Started in 1985 by Robert Redford, Beni Atoori explains that Sundance is more of a cultural institution than it is a run-of-the-mill film festival. Advocating for originality, authenticity, powerful storytelling and creativity, Sundance’s mission is to create a new generation of independent artists, who are willing to take risks in the name of art. This festival takes places at the end of January and beginning of February in Sundance, Utah.

3. New York Film Festival

The New York Film Festival was founded in 1969 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center to celebrate American and international films. The non-competitive festival is centered around a “Main Slate” of typically 20-30 feature films, with subcategories for experimental cinema and retrospectives. The festival has recently introduced documentary and trans-media sections. Beni Atoori explains that this highly curated event typically selects a number of films from the world’s top film festivals, while also adding a more finite number of lesser known important titles from emerging filmmakers. This juxtaposition of critically acclaimed and indie film titles takes place in September and October every year.

4. Busan International Film Festival

The Busan International Film Festival in Korea is one of the most popular film festivals in Southeast Asia. This year alone, the Busan International Film Festival screened 329 films from 79 countries. Beni Atoori states that the Busan International Film Festival is world-renowned and specializes in short films. The festival is growing rapidly each year and is up 17% from 2017 to a record 192,991 admissions in 2018. This film festival takes place in October and should be at the top of your to-do list when you are in Southeast Asia.

5. Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the world’s most established film events as it regularly attracts filmmakers and industry leaders from around the world. Attendees often praise the event for having the best venues of any film festival; Beni Atoori explains that it has long welcomed and celebrated the avant-garde, alongside slightly more mainstream Hollywood work. This mix between traditional and unconventional filmmaking makes it one of the must-stops on your bucket list tour of film festivals. Like many other festivals, this one takes place in February every year.