2021 Cambridge Film Festival Report

40th
Cambridge
Film
Festival
Report

“Great choice of international
films and great value digital
pass.”
105 Titles
THE STORY OF CFF40
61 Features
“The festival has such a variety
of films, cultures, languages,
and topics. Amazing experience,
thank you!!”
The CFF Youth Lab
TOLD THROUGH THE FACTS, FIGURES, AND FACES OF THE FESTIVAL
44 Shorts
After a year away, (which we spent working
with Bath, Brighton and Cornwall Film Festivals
delivering the AMPLIFY! Virtual film festival)
CFF returned in 2021 for its 40th edition.
In the context of the huge uncertainties brought
about by Covid, we are proud to have delivered
an in-venue Festival, with the films, events, and
guests CFF is famed for, and thrilled to have
received such an incredible response from the
Cambridge audiences.
CFF40 opened with Clio Barnard’s now
BAFTA nominated ALI & AVA, and we were
thrilled to welcome star Claire Rushbrook for
an audience Q&A. The following 7 days were
packed with incredible films from around the
world, presenting the very best fiction and
documentary features alongside amazing
short films from both established and first time
directors.
New in 2021 were the CFF Gala Screenings,
showcasing the most exciting titles from
awards season, opening this year with Jessica
Chastain’s Oscar nominated turn in THE
EYES OF TAMMY FAYE and closing with Julia
Docounau’s incredible, multi award winning
TITANE.
As well as bringing amazing films back to the big
screen (and supporting the cinema venues we
all love) we wanted to learn from our year away
presenting an online Festival by offering those
audiences unable to get to CFF in person the
opportunity to experience the magic of the 40th
Cambridge Film Festival. CFF at Home streamed
more than 25 CFF features and the entire shorts
programme directly into peoples homes via our
CFF at Home online Screening Room.
As we look ahead to what we hope will be
the next 40 years of Cambridge Film Festival
we are excited to expand the Festival (it was a
little smaller in 2021) and to continue to bring
together residents and international visitors in a
joyous celebration of cinema, and contribute to
a uniquely vibrant city.

AWARD
WINNERS
Every year Cambridge Film Festival presents a range of audience
awards This year they were joined by Jury and Special Recognition awards.
GOLDEN PUNT : COPPELIA
Directors : Jeff Tudor, Steven De Beul & Ben Tesseur
SILVER PUNT : FILM, THE LIVING RECORD OF OUR MEMORY
Director : Inés Toharia
Since 2019 these audience awards
have been supported by the Cambridge
Film Festival Youth Lab Jury Award.
The CFF Youth Lab is a project started
in 2018 which is run by and for young
people (ages 16 - 24) who are passionate
about all aspects of Film, Cinema, and
Film Festivals. During the CFF they meet
to discuss a shortlist of films from the
Festival and select their winning feature.
for the audience awards, with the
winners decided by audience voting
after the screenings at the Festival.
The Golden Punt Award goes to the
Best Feature, the Silver Punt to the
Best Documentary, and the Crystal
Punt Award for the Best Short Film.
CRYSTAL PUNT : GEORGIA
Director : Jayil Pak
This year in honour of the 40th edition of the
Cambridge Film Festival, we welcomed Lena
Vurma and Thor Klein to review films from
across the Festival programme and bestow
a number of Special Recognition Awards for
Film, Director, Cinematography, and Actor.
Lena and Thor’s feature film Adventures of a
Mathematician, a German-Polish-British coproduction
was showcased in Cambridge’s
online festival programme in 2020 as part
of a UK-wide collaboration with three
other UK festivals. It has since played more
than 40 festivals, winning several awards.
All UK premieres are in competition
Darcey Bussell: Coppelia
YOUTH LAB JURY AWARD : NICO
Director : Eline Gehring
The Special Recognition Awards
Best Film : Karnawal : Juan Pablo Félix
Best Director : Allegra Pacheco : Salaryman
Best Actor : Hanno Koffler : The Seed
Best Cinematography : Roaring 20’s

THEDATA
8 Days 51 UK Premieres
992 Film Submissions
1.06M Social
Media Reach
61 Features
50% Female
Directed Films
51 Volunteers
195,551 Website
PAge Views
44 Shorts
48 Countries
Represented
116 Film Introductions
48,105 social
media followers
4,930 admissions
12,500 Festival
Brochures
967 CFF at Home
STreams
3947 Newsletter
Subscribers

Faces of the 40th
Cambridge Film
“The film was very different from
anything I’ve seen before, very
powerful and moving. I’m grateful to
have had the opportunity to see it.”
Festival
Wang Fen & Ai Weiwei: Producing During the Pandemic
“Very friendly, helpful staff &
volunteers. Great to be back!”
Claire Rushbrook: Ali & Ava
William Nunez: The Laureate
“This festival is incredible! By far, the best
film festival experience I have ever had! …
THIS festival is the real deal! They were
communicative, kind, professional and a
solid partner the whole way!
Rennik Soholt - Dir. Forced Change
Òscar Kapoya: The Belly of the Sea

A huge thank you to our Official
Partners
Principal Partners
Third Partners
thank you also to all our Funders, donors,
supporters, Patrons, and Friends
For more information about supporting Cambridge Film Festival please contact:
becky.mann@cambridgefilmtrust.org.uk
Telephone 07739 131820 / Festival Office: 01223 500082
www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk
cambridgefilmfestival
camfilmfest
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