Mission & history

Cinema Novo Film Festival is a ten-day event, which is annually held in March in Bruges, Belgium. It shows 65 to 70 films from Asia, Africa and Latin America to some 20,000 spectators. The overall idea hasn't been altered in almost thirty years: we want to promote films of the three continents and bring them to the Belgian market.

The Beginnings...

The Cinema Novo Festival was founded in 1983. It was then called the Third World Film Festival, an initiative of the Brugge Third World Council, which provided the town with advice in matters of development aid.
The aim of the 'founding fathers' - Jan De Clercq and Georges Micholt - was to use a film event, one of the most popular cultural expressions, to contribute to a new image of the developing countries. The first edition featured four films and attracted 700 viewers. During its initial years, the festival started growing steadily: more means, more staff and more visitors. The Third World Film Festival was officially recognized by the Ministry of Development Aid and received financial support from the Flemish Community, the province of West Flanders and the Brugge town council.

Expansion

The expansion of the festival and the ensuing financial implications, all the specific aspects inherent to the organization of a film event and the growing experience in the cinema environment led to the setting up of a separate and autonomous organization, the Third Film. The core of the original mission statement remained unchanged, but a few aspects, typical of film events, were added. Feature films from the developing countries were to be put in a wider context. The festival now encompassed the three continents: Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Since 1991...

... the festival has been organized under the name of the Cinema Novo festival.
In the mid-nineties the festival gained momentum: there were more volunteers; the amount of films and the number of times they were screened were raised considerably (we introduced screenings in the morning and in the afternoon); more financial means made more fringe activities and professional support possible; the number of visitors doubled etc. More attention was paid to the young: a jury of 16-to-18-year-olds was set up.

Growth

Today there is more emphasis on what we call our Focus on a certain aspect ( a country, a theme, a director etc...) and the range of fringe acrivities has grown considerably resulting in activities such as exhibitions, concerts, lectures, debates and workshops. Cinema Novo also tries to cater for specific genres and remarkable film talent. There is a more intense international cooperation with other film festivals (the Rotterdam film festival is a good example) and the event has been renamed : vzw Cinema Novo.
The festival has grown into a festive and wide-ranging film event featuring over 60 films (mostly feature films and a few documentaries), 180 screenings, which attract almost 20,000 visitors from Belgium and abroad.

Mission Statement

The main purpose is still to confront western audiences with southern and oriental cultural expressions and thus to enhance the understanding and the appreciation of these cultures. The festival wants to present the film directors from the three continents as skilled world artists and to offer them a platform. Due to the growing concentration in the world of film production and distribution it is increasingly difficult for independent film directors to reach large audiences. The film directors from the southern continents, who do not go in for American-style streamlined scripts, direction and casting, are especially affected. All the more so, as they do not have the financial means to set up huge promotion campaigns or to wait too long for the release of their films.
In its own modest way, the festival wants to contribute to the introduction and the promotion of films from Africa, Asia and Latin America in Belgian film distribution. That is why a competition section has been added to the festival: an independent jury awards a prize to one of a selection of nine films that have not been released in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. The prize consists of a grant awarded to the Belgian distributor who purchases the winning film and releases it in Belgium.

Education is an important part of our mission as well. Each year some 4,000 pupils (from 5 to 18 ) come and see a film from one of the three continents. In 2010 there were 10 films schools could choose from. The teacher can download a study aid.

And today...

The identity, vision and aims of Cinema Novo stand as firm today as ever before and consequently the festival is today considered to be a substantial asset in the Belgian film scene.

In 2008, we celebrated the 25th edition. There were lots of festivities, cooperation with various cultural actors in Bruges, and - last but not least - interesting films.