The International Film Festival & Awards ‧ Macao (IFFAM) participated in the online event We Are One: A Global Film Festival, streamed online between 29 May and 7 June via YouTube. IFFAM, alongside major film festivals including those held respectively in Cannes, Berlin and Venice, came together to present a free 10-day programme, due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping audiences and film-makers confined at home, and the pandemic affecting the scheduling of cinema events around the world.
The digital global film festival was produced and organised by Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube, and was co-curated by 21 film festivals drawn from an aggregate of 35 countries and regions. We Are One: A Global Film Festival, aimed to give audiences an opportunity to experience the flavour of each participating festival, while also providing a global stage and voice to film-makers across different localities, with a focus on streaming films not already widely available online. The programming line-up presented over 100 films, including features and short films, documentaries and animations, as well as talks with major cinema industry names such as Francis Ford Coppola, Ang Lee, and others.
IFFAM was the only Chinese film festival taking part in the event, with its programming choices highlighting the profile of the young Macao festival that has been fostering the city’s film industry and promoting new voices in Chinese-language cinema. The film choices of IFFAM for We Are One: A Global Film Festival, were streamed between 2 June and 6 June. The selection offered productions from either Mainland China or Macao, namely three feature films, and two short films that were well received by the audiences in the past editions of the festival. They were: Sisterhood, a Macao film directed by Tracy Choi; Mainland China productions A City Called Macao, directed by Li Shaohong, and Wrath of Silence, directed by Xin Yukun; plus the Macao short films Dirty Laundry, directed by Maxim Bessmertny, and Lonely Encounter, directed by Jenny Wan.
The 21 participating festival partners were: Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, IFFAM, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Jerusalem Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival.
All the films and other programming were available free of charge during the festival. Nonetheless the event also aimed to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts, so viewers had the option to make donations for COVID-19 relief to organisations including the World Health Organization, among others.
For more on the festival, visit www.weareoneglobalfestival.com or www.youtube.com/weareone.