Greenwich International Film Festival

Compelling. Provocative. Thrilling. Empowering. These are the adjectives that describe the films that play in the minds of tomorrow’s great filmmakers. Greenwich International Film Festival aims to celebrate these gifted artists annually and to promote Greenwich, Connecticut, as a film and visual arts epicenter. Set in Greenwich, an affluent community of art enthusiasts located 45 minutes outside of Manhattan, this carefully curated Festival will connect an audience of prospective financiers, distributors and film lovers with rising stars in the film industry- virtually. MISSION & OBJECTIVE The mission of the Greenwich International Film Festival is to provide filmmakers with an effective platform to showcase their work with the goal of finding financing opportunities for future projects. Additionally, GIFF harnesses the power of film to serve the greater good by highlighting and supporting issues related to basic human rights, education, the environment, and health care. In 2015, GIFF supported OneMinutesJr, a UNICEF initiative, which provides underprivileged children around the world with the tools to make short films in order to have their voices heard. In our second year, GIFF supported The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Abigail Breslin, Rising Changemaker Honoree), The Rainforest Fund (Trudie Styler, Changemaker Honoree), Girl Rising (Freida Pinto, Changemaker Honoree), Kristin Davis Foundation (Kristin Davis, Head of GIFF Social Impact Film Jury), and Community Access (John Turturro, Spotlight On... Guest). In 2017, GIFF supported ALS Finding A Cure, ALSA, and the SIMS foundation (Renee Zellweger, Changemaker Honoree), Every Mother Counts (Christy Turlington Burns, Changemaker Honoree), and Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently (Matthew Heineman, Social Impact Award Winner). In 2018, GIFF's esteemed Changemaker Honoree was Actress and Activist, Ashley Judd. 2018 charitable partners and recipients of GIFF charitable contributions were The Waterside School, Americares (Spotlight On: Tony Goldwyn), UNFPA, The Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, The Breast Cancer Alliance, and The MLH Foundation (Ms. Lauryn Hill- performer). Our 2019 season celebrated Eva Longoria Bastón as our esteemed Changemaker for her philanthropic work founding the EVA LONGORIA Foundation. Actress and Activist, Connie Nielsen was our Social Impact Jury Head and was celebrated for her work with The Human Needs Project. In 2020, we celebrated journalist and activist, Will Reeve (Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation) and American broadcast journalist, author, female empowerment advocate, and activist, Gretchen Carlson (Lift our Voice). To date, GIFF has awarded over $150,000 in cash prizes to our filmmakers and raised over $600,000 in charitable support to various non-profit organizations. ABOUT THE FESTIVAL The Festival will showcase domestic and international film premieres and screenings, panels and workshops, and Interactive virtual Q & A’s. An award for the Best Social Impact Film will be presented to a narrative or documentary feature filmmaker this year with a cash prize of $10,000. The Festival, supporting workshops, events, seminars, and screenings throughout the year will continue to cultivate a burgeoning visual arts community in Greenwich and beyond. GIFF generates great media attention. The Festival has garnered tremendous coverage resulting in over 28 billion media impressions in news outlets around the world since inception. These include coverage from: The Hollywood Reporter, ABC's Good Morning America, People, Associated Press, Indiewire, Today Show, Access Hollywood, Forbes, Crains New York Business, US Weekly, New York Post, Variety, Deadline, Billboard, The Huffington Post, Town&Country, Greenwich Magazine, Greenwich Time, and many others. GIFF has a strong social media following including 9,149 Twitter followers, 4,305 Instagram Followers, and 13,353 Facebook followers. The GIFF team is dedicated to promoting its selected films leading up to and following the Festival weekend in order to maximize the exposure of its filmmakers. For more information about our Festival Sponsors, our esteemed Board Members, Jurors, and our past program highlights, please visit www.greenwichfilm.org