Festivals and Awards

“Movies Have a Memory”.
Well, movies have archives…but the screen itself has no memories except the ones an intelligent audience chooses to bring to it. The American Cinema Foundation is committed to remembering, to recognizing achievement with a conscience. Since 1994 ACF has conducted gala screenings and tribute events for all sorts of good work in film and television, but our major interest has always been the fictional depiction of current events and the major turning points of the twentieth century. History on screen will always be close to the heart of the ACF mission.

The Freedom Film Festival made its reputation in the late nineties and the early years of this century presenting films from the ex-Iron Curtain countries of eastern and central Europe. Freedom Film Festival screenings in Berlin, Moscow, Karlovy Vary and Baku received the cordial endorsement of Jack Valenti and the Motion Picture Association of America.

The Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize

The Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize The first ACF award presented to Andrzej Wajda himself in 1999, the tenth year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, became an annual prize given in Mr. Wajda’s name to filmmakers of outstanding artistic merit, civic courage and commitment to freedom, presented in east Berlin. In 2006 the city and film festival of Berlin fulfilled its role as the emblematic meeting point of East and West by awarding the Berlin International Film Festival’s highest award to Mr. Wajda.

Since those founding days, consumed with the aftermath of one particular 150 year old European experiment in universal utopia, the Freedom Film Festival’s interests have varied, presenting film, internet and television events as well as the occasional special screening witnessing the quest for freedom in other parts of the world. But recognizing the enduring importance of Europe’s newest democracies and a legacy of history that will last far into the future, ACF supports the developers of a new regular annual festival devoted to maintaining a watch on the progress of many of these countries, specializing in the Balkans.

SEEFilm Los Angeles: The South East European Film Festival
Los Angeles-based international cinema specialist Vera Mijojlic, who worked with ACF on Freedom Film Festival programs in Moscow and Belgrade, has created a new annual gala film event that continues to bring that Freedom Film Festival spirit to Hollywood under the greatly changed conditions of today’s world. SEEFilm is geographically based rather than based on the political history of the region, but where its interests and those of the traditional Freedom Fest overlap we are proud to support Vera and SEEFilm in their work to continue to bring these films to American audiences.

The Intelligent Use Of
Water Film Competition
IUOWFC. Could a more vital cause have a less-euphonious acronym? It’s doubtful. But if the name doesn’t easily roll off the tongue, the subject—everyone’s role in water conservation, planning and wise use—is of universal interest, and of particular interest in southern California.