It is probably a festival you have not heard many hypes made for especially in Africa. However, the Chelsea Film Festival has been around and is waxing strong as it enters its fifth-anniversary edition set to hold in New York, October 2017. The Chelsea Film Festival is an international film festival that enlightens the works of emerging filmmakers, producers, and actors. With offerings for short films, documentaries, and feature-length pieces, the festival, seeks to give voices to the unheard by providing a platform to promote independent films and discover new talents.
Founded in 2013 by French actress Ingrid Jean-Baptiste and Sonia Jean-Baptiste, the festival has received widespread international acceptance and participation by attracting, and screening over 90 movies from 24 countries, in its 2016 edition. A total of seven awards would be given out, with the Grand Prix Award being the most coveted. Other awards include Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and the highly sorted Best Director Award. This year’s edition is slated to hold in the city of New York from 19th to 22nd October 2017. The official countdown for the festivals proper begun on 15th August, which was the deadline for all movie submissions.
Now established and embraced as an international event, the African community, which has somewhat not fully participated in this prestigious festival events, should now consider this festival as a reputable platform for exposing her ever growing movies and rare acting talents. In a bid to achieve this, ReportsAfrique.com owned by Social Metrics Limited has entered into a notable partnership with the Chelsea Film Festival, taking a step towards promoting the festival on the African continent, especially the buzzing Nigerian Nollywood industry and also to drive prospective African partners on the benefits of the international platforms provided by events slated for the festival. Activities have been lined up for this year’s edition. A fitness celebratory event, to be hosted in partnership with the CyC fitness studio, is scheduled to hold on Wednesday 17th October. It is to be led by a celebrity instructor and would serve as a teaser to the events proper. The festivals will come to an end in a grand style when the Climate Change Day activities, which is to be staged at FIT holds on Sunday 22nd October. The Climate Change Day events would be packed with exhilarating fun packages including panels, VR exhibition, brunch, and cocktails. This special event is done in partnership with FIT, Samsung, Oculus, and others yet to be announced. Tickets for the festival would go on sale anytime soon. In last year’s edition, the Grand Prix award went to the Best Featured Movie “Jessica,” which was starred by Scot Foley. The Petit Prix for Best Short Film was won by “PAPE,” and was starred by Nicolas Polixene. From a total of 90 movies screened from entries coming from 24 countries, last year’s edition was a made a memorable event as all the finalist entries were top movies. The 2017 Chelsea Film Festivals promises to be even bigger, more entertaining as greater entries are expected to dominate the final screenings. Stay tuned for your event tickets by following the Chelsea Film Festival official website.
Source: Reports Afrique News