The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is the largest

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

outside

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Founded in 1987, it is held in November at various venues throughout

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. In 2015, the festival welcomed over 40,000 visitors and showed over 300 films from around the world, shorts and features, both

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

and

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. LIFF features five programme sections: Official Selection, Retrospective, Cinema Versa, Fanomenon and Short Film City. LIFF is a qualifying film festival for the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and the winning films in Short Film City's

Louis Le Prince Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (28 August 1841 – disappeared 16 September 1890, declared dead 16 September 1897) was a French artist and the inventor of an early motion-picture camera, possibly the first person to shoot a moving picture sequ ...

International Short Film Competition and World Animation Award may thus be eligible for the academy's Short Film Awards. The festival's British Short Film Competition is BAFTA qualifying. The festival is supported by

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

and the festival office is based in

Leeds Town Hall Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...

, together with Leeds Young Film Festival (LYFF) (formerly Leeds Children & Young People's Film Festival (LCYPFF)).

LIFF Programme Sections and Awards

Leeds International Film Festival's programme has five categories: Official Selection, Retrospective, Cinema Versa, Fanomenon and Short Film City. Fanomenon and Short Film City host various short film competitions, some of which qualify their winners for major film awards such as the

. Moreover, the festival audience votes for their favourite feature film from all screenings. These votes determine the winner of the festival's Audience Award, as well as the extra screenings of Film Festival Favourites towards the end of the festival.

Official Selection

The Official Selection hosts special previews and screenings of some of the most anticipated and acclaimed films of the year, as well as showcasing new discoveries from international independent filmmaking. Many of these have celebrated prizewinning successes at other major festivals such as

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

or the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

Retrospective

Every year, LIFF shows a broad array of retrospective programmes, giving audiences the opportunity to watch forgotten gems as well as celebrated classics on the big screen.

Cinema Versa

Cinema Versa is dedicated to the documentary and inspired by the underground festival aesthetic, showcasing low budget, independent features. The programme's Music on Film section shows a range of old and new musical and film styles. Underground Voices, another Cinema Versa section, provides a platform for

Human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

and activist films. Cinema Versa's Forum presents a series of special events.

Fanomenon

Fanomenon is the home of cult and fantasy cinema at LIFF. It presents new

genre films Genre Films, usually credited as Kinberg Genre, is a production company founded by screenwriter-producer-director Simon Kinberg. History Genre Films in April 2010 signed a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. ...

, cult-subject documentaries,

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

features, rarely-screened classics and movie marathons. Each year, beginning in 2001, the festival has played host to the Night of the Dead, an all-night horror-thon. The most recent festival introduced a single day of back to back

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

films at

, to be repeated in 2015. Fanomenon also hosts the Dead Short Competition for horror shorts.

Short Film City

Short Film City hosts the festival's

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

competitions and panoramas, as well as special events and exhibitions. The Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition is named after

Louis le Prince Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (28 August 1841 – disappeared 16 September 1890, declared dead 16 September 1897) was a French artist and the inventor of an early motion-picture camera, possibly the first person to shoot a moving picture sequ ...

, a French born film pioneer living in

who made the first ever moving pictures in 1888. The Louis le Prince Competition, as well as the World Animation award are qualifying competitions for the

. The festival's British Short Film Competition is BAFTA qualifying. Additionally, Short Film City hosts the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Short Film Competition and added three new competitions in 2014: The Leeds Screendance Competition, the Leeds International

Music Video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

Awards and the Leeds Short Film Audience Award.

Festivals by Year

The 2020s

*2020 festival The Leeds International Film Festival 2020 took place on line, due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2010s

*2019 festival The Leeds International Film Festival 2019 took place 6–21 November 2019. The opening film was the female-led drama '' Rocks'', and the closing film was Taika Waititi's comedy '' Jojo Rabbit'', which also won the Audience Award for fiction feature. The winner of the Audience Award for documentary feature was the Syrian film The Cave. The Retrospective strand ran under the title "Mother Cutter: Women Who Shaped Film", featuring films with female editors. *2018 festival The Leeds International Film Festival 2018 took place 1–15 November 2018. The opening films were the world premiere of ''Fighting for a City'', a documentary about the Leeds boxer Josh Warrington, and Boots Riley's satire ''

Sorry to Bother You ''Sorry to Bother You'' is a 2018 American surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut. It stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, Dav ...

''; the closing film was Hirokazu Kore-eda's Palme d'Or-winning drama ''

Shoplifters Shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters ma ...

''. The Retrospective strand ran under the title "Time Frames", featuring films that take place within 24 hours. The winner of the Audience Award for fiction feature was ''

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...

'' and for documentary feature was '' The Dawn Wall''. *2017 festival The Leeds International Film Festival 2017 took place 1–16 November 2017. The official selection opened with Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or-winning '' The Square'' and closed with Martin McDonagh's comedy-drama '' Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'', which also won the Audience Award. The Cinema Versa strand opened with '' Jane'', about the primatologist Jane Goodall, and closed with Frederick Wiseman's '' Ex Libris: The New York Public Library''. The Fanomenon strand opened with Yorgos Lanthimos's '' The Killing of a Sacred Deer'' and closed with Lynne Ramsay's ''

You Were Never Really Here ''You Were Never Really Here'' (released as ''A Beautiful Day'' in France and Germany) is a 2017 neo-noir crime psychological thriller film written and directed by Lynne Ramsay. Based on the 2013 novella of the same name by Jonathan Ames, it st ...

''. *2016 festival The 30th Leeds International Film Festival took place 3–17 November 2016. The festival opened with Jim Jarmusch's drama '' Paterson'', screened with the Spanish short film ''

Timecode A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...

'', and closed with the German comedy-drama '' Toni Erdmann''. The winner of the Audience Award was the comedy '' Mindhorn'', set and filmed on the Isle of Man. *2015 festival The 29th Leeds International Film Festival took place 5–19 November 2015 and attracted more than 40,000 visitors. It opened with John Crowley's period drama feature film ''Brooklyn'', which for the first time in the history of LIFF was joined by an opening short film, '' Sanjay's Super Team'', and closed with Todd Haynes's historical drama ''Carol''. The Audience Award for Best Feature Film was won by the Hungarian black comedy '' Liza, the Fox-Fairy''. *2014 festival The 28th Leeds International Film Festival took place 5–20 November. The festival opened with James Kent's First World War drama ''Testament of Youth'', which was filmed primarily in Yorkshire, and closed with the UK premiere of Alejandro González Iñárritu's black comedy ''Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)''. The New Zealand

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

'' What We Do in the Shadows'' won the festival's Audience Award for Best Film. *2013 festival The 27th festival took place 6–21 November 2013. The Opening Gala was two 3D screenings of Alfonso Cuarón's film ''Gravity'', two days ahead of its official release, and the festival closed with the romantic mashup film '' Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen''. ''The Rocket'' won the Audience Award for Best Film. *2012 festival The 26th Leeds International Film Festival took place from 1 – 18 November 2012, with a screening of Ben Affleck's historical thriller '' Argo'' for the opening gala, and Michael Haneke's drama ''Amour'' as the closing gala. The Retrospective category was added to the festival's programme. Moreover, LIFF's Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition and the World Animation Award have been

-qualifying since 2012. The festival's Audience Award for Best Film was won by '' The Hunt''. *2011 festival The 25th edition of the Leeds International Film Festival took place from 3 – 20 November 2011, with a screening of Andrea Arnold's ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent re ...

'' for the Opening Gala, and Steve McQueen's ''Shame'' as the closing film. In 2011, the Audience Awards for best feature films were given to each programme category individually. '' The Artist'' won the Official Selection Audience Award, ''Sound It Out'' won the Cinema Versa Audience Award and '' Juan of the Dead'' won the Fanomenon Audience Award. Koen Mortier won the Golden Owl Award for best independent filmmaking for his

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

'' 22nd of May''. *2010 festival The 24th Leeds International Film Festival took place from 4 – 21 November 2010, with some tickets on sale from April. The festival opened with a screening of

Tom Hooper Thomas George Hooper (born 5 October 1972)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005''. 5d: 2485. is a British-Australian filmmaker. Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short, ...

's ''

The King's Speech ''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ...

'', which also won the Audience Award for best Feature Film. Petter Næss's '' Elling'' won the Audience Award for best Archive Film. The overall Audience Award went to Piers Sanderson for his film ''High on Hope''. The Golden Owl Award for best independent filmmaking was won by

Radu Muntean Radu Muntean (; born 8 June 1971 in Bucharest) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. He is a central figure of the Romanian New Wave.

for ''

Tuesday, After Christmas ''Tuesday, After Christmas'' ( ro, Marți, după Crăciun) is a 2010 Romanian film written and directed by Radu Muntean. The film was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Paul, a banker in Bucharest, ha ...

''.

The 2000s

*2009 festival The 23rd Leeds International Film Festival took place from 4 – 22 November 2009, showing a range of films from all over the world, including the opening film '' The Men Who Stare at Goats'', directed by

Grant Heslov Grant Heslov (born May 15, 1963) is an American actor and filmmaker known for his producing and writing collaborations with George Clooney, which have earned him four Oscar nominations. As a co-producer of ''Argo'' (2012), he received the Academ ...

. Miyazaki's latest anime, '' Ponyo'', won the Audience Award. The jury awarded the Golden Owl Award to '' La Pivellina'', directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel. At Section "Paras International Documentary Short"

Documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

" The Wooden Carpet" was won. *2008 festival The 22nd Leeds International Film Festival was held from 4–16 November 2008. It opened with a screening of Dominique Abel's and Fiona Gordon's

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

Rumba The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba. ...

''. Short Film City was introduced as a distinct programme category in 2008. *2007 festival The 21st Leeds International Film Festival, held 7 – 18 November 2007, had five sections: Official Selection, Fanomenon, Cinema Versa, Nexus and a Kazuo Hara Retrospective. ''

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'', directed by

Vincent Paronnaud Vincent Paronnaud (born 20 February 1970), a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. Biography Paronnaud was born in La Rochelle. He is French comic book writer and artist. His works comprise one shots: ''Super negra'' (199 ...

and

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; fa, مرجان ساتراپی ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis'' a ...

was shown at the Opening Gala. *2006 festival The 20th edition of the Leeds International Film Festival was held 2–12 November 2006 and opened with a screening of the

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

'', directed by Roger Michell. *2005 festival The 19th Leeds International Film Festival took place 3–13 November 2005. At its Opening Gala, it showed '' Merry Christmas'' by Christian Carion. *2004 festival The 18th Leeds International Film Festival was held 28 October to 7 November 2004 and opened with a screening of '' Finding Neverland'', directed by Marc Forster. Several new competitions were launched in 2004. The Golden Owls Award for feature films was launched to support under-represented independent filmmaking. Additionally, animated short films could now enter their own World Animation Competition and all short films were eligible for the FilmFour Short Film Audience Award. *2003 festival The 17th Leeds International Film Festival was held 2–12 October 2003 and opened with

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

's ''

Bright Young Things __NOTOC__ The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemianism, Bohemian young Aristocracy (class), aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. They threw flamboyant costume party, f ...

''. *2002 festival The 16th Leeds International Film Festival took place 3–13 October 2002. The three opening films of the festival were '' Sweet Sixteen'', directed by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

(Ken Loach), ''

Lilo & Stitch ''Lilo & Stitch'' is a 2002 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 42nd Disney animated feature film, it was written and directed by Chris Sande ...

'' by

Dean DeBlois Dean DeBlois ( ; born 7 June 1970) is a Canadian film director, film producer, screenwriter, and animator. He is best known for writing and directing the Oscar-nominated animated films ''Lilo & Stitch'' for Walt Disney Animation Studios (with Chr ...

and '' Possession'', a romantic mystery drama directed by Neil LaBute. *2001 festival The 15th Leeds International Film Festival was held 27 September to 12 October 2001 and opened with a screening of '' Crush'', directed by John McKay. *2000 festival The 14th Leeds International Film festival took place 5–19 October 2000. ''

Purely Belter ''Purely Belter'' is a 2000 British comedy drama film directed by Mark Herman about two teenagers (Chris Beattie and Greg McLane) trying to get money, by any means necessary, in order to get season tickets for home games of Premier League football ...

'', a British comedy drama film directed by

Mark Herman Mark Herman (born 1954) is an English film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing the 2008 film '' The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas''. Life and career Herman was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...

was shown at the Opening Ceremony. In 2000, Fanomenon was introduced as an official programme category at LIFF.

The 1990s

*1999 festival The 13th Leeds International Film Festival took place 7 to 23 October 1999 and opened with a screening of ''Fanny & Elvis'' by

Kay Mellor The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own r ...

. This year, the festival was taken over by a festival director, Chris Fell, who is the director of the festival to this day. Moreover, the Louis le Prince Short Film Competition was introduced, as well as ‘Evolution’, a new programme strand for films between film, TV and the interactive (gaming) entertainment industry. *1998 festival The 12th Leeds International Film Festival took place 2–17 October 1998. ''

A Perfect Murder ''A Perfect Murder'' is a 1998 American crime thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. It is a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film '' Dial M for Murder'', though the characters ...

'', directed by Andrew Davis, was screened at the Opening Gala. *1997 festival The 11th Leeds International Film Festival was held 16–31 October 1997. The festival's theme was Science Fiction and the film screened at the Opening Gala was Tim Hurran's ''Girl’s Night''. *1996 festival The 10th anniversary edition of the Leeds International Film Festival was held 3–18 October 1996 and opened with a screening of ''

Brassed Off ''Brassed Off'' is a 1996 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mark Herman and starring Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure ...

'', directed by

. The festival had Conflicts of Interest as its central theme. *1995 festival The 9th Leeds International Film Festival took place 12–27 October 1995. It opened with a screening of

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as '' Top Gun'' (1986), '' Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''D ...

's '' Crimson Tide''. Liz Rymer became the new director of the festival, which had two major strands: the Western and Animation. *1994 festival The 8th edition of the Leeds International Film Festival was held 13–28 October 1994. At its Opening Gala, '' War of the Buttons'', directed by John Rogers, was shown. Also, the festival was taken over by a new director, Kath Baker, and the new short film audience award was introduced. *1993 festival The 7th Leeds International Film Festival took place 14–29 October 1993 and opened with a screening of '' The Secret Garden'', directed by

Agnieszka Holland Agnieszka Holland (born 28 November 1948) is a Polish film and television director and screenwriter, best known for her political contributions to Polish cinema. She began her career as assistant to directors Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda, ...

. The festival's main theme was The City in Cinema. A documentary strand was added to the programme and short films shown before nearly every feature. *1992 festival The 6th Leeds International Film Festival took place 16–31 October 1992. Peter Kosminski's film adaptation ''

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights ''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights'' is a 1992 feature film adaptation of Emily Brontë's 1847 novel ''Wuthering Heights'' directed by Peter Kosminsky. This was Ralph Fiennes's film debut. This particular film is notable for including the oft ...

'' was the Opening Gala film. The festival's central themes were Music and Spain. *1991 festival The 5th edition of the Leeds International Film Festival was held 11–26 October 1991 and had BODY and MIND, as well as ‘MAN’ and MACHINE as its central themes. The film shown at the Opening Gala was ''

Point Break ''Point Break'' is a 1991 American action crime film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The film's title refers to the surfing term " point break", wher ...

'', directed by

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...

. *1990 festival The 4th Leeds International Film Festival took place 12–27 October 1990. It opened with a screening of

John Badham John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an English television and film director, best known for his films ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), ''Dracula'' (1979), ''Blue Thunder'' (1983), ''WarGames'' (1983), ''Short Circuit'' (1986), and ...

's action comedy film '' Bird on a Wire''. Following the political upheavals of the recent months, Freedom and censorship were the central themes of the festival.

The 1980s

*1989 festival The 3rd Leeds International Film Festival was held 13–28 October 1989 and was also a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds. The festival opened with a screening of

Lewis Gilbert Lewis Gilbert (6 March 1920 – 23 February 2018) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter who directed more than 40 films during six decades; among them such varied titles as ''Reach for the Sky'' (1956), ''Sink the Bismarck!'' ...

's '' Shirley Valentine''. *1988 festival Following the great success of the first Leeds International Film Festival, the festival's second edition was held 13–29 October 1988. The second Leeds International Film festival was much bigger than the first and coincided with the centenary of

's first moving picture taking in 1888. The opening film of the festival was ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'', directed by

Luigi Comencini Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007)
''The Guardian'' was an Italian

. *1987 festival the first ever Leeds International Film Festival took place 7–19 March 1987, to great success. The British horror film '' Gothic'', directed by Ken Russell was shown at the Opening Gala. Director and co-founder of the festival was Janice Campbell.

Leeds Young Film Festival

Leeds Young Film Festiva

takes place every Easter and welcomes young people and their families to the largest film event of its kind in the Northern England, North of England. Now in its 16th year, the festival features a programme of new and unseen cinema for young people from around the world, as well as classic screenings, moving-image related workshops and masterclasses. The festival also hosts two young filmmaking competitions: The Leeds Young Filmmakers’ Golden Owl Awards'

celebrates the best of young people's filmmaking across the city. The INDIs (Independent Directions) Young Filmmaker Award'

a national competition to showcase the work of young filmmakers working without professional support or funding. The organisation works closely with a group of young consultants aged 14–19 called MediaFish, who help programme, design and deliver the festival, make films and shape the strategy of Leeds Young Film.

References

{{reflist

External links

LIFF Official Website

LYFF Official Website

Short Film City Facebook page
Film festivals in England Festivals in Leeds Film festivals established in 1987