CIFF

Our Story

The first Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) was held in 2000 for six days, and was attended by 8,000 people. Within three years, attendance had more than doubled to over 20,000 for the expanded 10-day festival.

This year CIFF celebrates its 21st year September 24 – October 4, 2020. The 11-day showcase of up to 200 multi-genre feature and short films from Canada and around the world also hosts gala events, screenings, special presentations, and a Behind the Screen series that emphasizes unique and exciting ways for filmmakers and fans to interact.

With steady growth over the past four years, in 2019 attendance hit over 35,000 attendees, our third-highest attendance in the festival’s twenty-one year history. 

Calgary International Film Festival is now the largest film festival in Alberta and is the sixth largest in Canada. It is also an Oscar-qualifying festival for short films, a Canadian Screen Award Qualifying festival, and was named one of “50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” in 2009, 2016, 2017 & 2019 by MovieMaker Magazine.

In addition to Calgary International Film Festival, we present three film series year-round: MoS Docs, a series dedicated to showcasing the year’s most talked and compelling music documentaries from around the world, Top Docs, a six-month screening series of award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary film and our third series introduced this year, Global Perspectives, a new contemporary world cinema series. We also host an Oscar-Nominated Shorts Weekend every February..

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To learn more about our most recent festival download our 2019 Festival Report.