The Forest City Film Festival (often abbreviated as FCFF) is a film festival located in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2016, the Forest City Film Festival centres on exhibiting the work of filmmakers from Southwestern Ontario in juried competition for features, shorts, documentaries, short animations and other categories, although it also screens a selection of other Canadian and International films out of competition.
The event is typically held in October each year, principally at the London Public Library's Wolf Performance Hall.
History
2016
The Forest City Film Festival was founded in 2016 by Dorothy Downs. The first festival was a collection of twenty-five films, screened over three days in November to an audience of 1200.
2017
In 2017, the festival added an animation category and an out-of-competition International Screening, totaling 48 films. The festival’s duration was expanded from three days to five in October, with 1800 audience members in attendance.
2018
In 2018, FCFF added a special Flashback Friday screening, a celebration of older films with a connection to the region. The Breakfast Club was screened, followed by a Q&A with special guest and London-native John Kapelos, who played Carl, the janitor in the film. The festival also held their first pitch competition for short films. FCFF 2018 offered 48 films once again, met by a 33% increase in attendees, totaling 2400 audience members in attendance that year.
2019
In 2019, the Forest City Youth Film Festival was introduced, offering a separate competition for high school student filmmakers in Southwestern Ontario. This year, the number of films increased to 64 films which were screened over a five day period. Attendance increased from 2400 to 3200.
2020
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Forest City Film Festival to offer their festival digitally. For an eight day period, 75 films were available for online on-demand viewing from anywhere in Canada, resulting in 4000 audience members in attendance. Additionally, a new Music Video category was added to the competition.
2021
In 2021, the film festival took on a hybrid model, returning to in-person screenings in downtown London while also continuing to offer nationwide online viewing. FCFF 2021 offered 92 films, viewed by 6100 in-person attendees and 4500 virtual views. 2021 also saw the festival’s Industry Sessions take on the name Ontario Screen Creators Conference, alongside expanding their offerings to a full weekend of events dedicated to education and networking for film industry professionals. Additionally, the pitch competition was rebranded to Project Pitch, a national competition to pitch a feature film for the opportunity to win a prize package with a value $60,000 in products, services, and cash grants. The Forest City Youth Film Festival also grew dramatically, screening 29 short films across seven categories.
2022
The 2022 edition ran from October 15 to 23, screening 70 films in competition. The festival included Indigenous films in two programs, as well as a new category, Best of the World Fests showcasing 14 films from around the world that had premiered and won awards at international festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, and TIFF.
2023
October 14 to 22
Film Categories
The Forest City Film Festival offers the following categories of competition for submitted films:
Narrative Feature, a feature-length film that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Short Narrative, a film under 25 minutes that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Feature Documentary, a feature-length non-fictional film. Short Documentary, a non-fictional film under 40 minutes. Short Animation, an animated film under 25 minutes. Music Video, a film of any length integrating a song or musical album. Screenplay, a screenplay between 75 and 120 pages.
In 2021, an Experimental category was also available.
Southwestern Ontario Connection
In order to be eligible for the Forest City Film Festival competition, there must be a substantial connection to Southwestern Ontario. This connection may be:
At least one member of the key artistic team must be from or resided in Southwestern Ontario for a portion of their life. The film is about a person, location, or event in Southwestern Ontario. The film was produced, in part or in full, in Southwestern Ontario.