About CIFF

The tenth anniversary of the Calgary International Film Festival was one of celebration and maverick idealism. With the perspective of ten years, CIFF in 2009 had a journey filled with bold new ventures, enlightenment, identity development, stakeholder maturation, and, of course, great alternative cinema.  The festival was fortunate enough to be acclaimed “one of the top 25 film festivals in the world worth your entry fee” by MovieMaker Magazine and did its best to live up to that reputation. Championing the finest in contemporary world cinema, 2009’s lineup was as relevant, topical, illuminating, and entertaining as ever before.  More than ever CIFF culled the newest gems from the world’s circuit and provided Calgarians with a bolder-than-ever platform of motion pictures , new ideas, and global visitors. With the unfurling of the Mavericks initiatives, and a catalogue of success to grow from, CIFF and its partners realized more than ever in 2009 the need for integration of Albertan creatives with international visionaries. With everyone collectively vested in the pursuit of a rich and diverse festival that reflects values Calgarians treasure and defend, CIFF feels ready to move into the next phase of its history and make it an amazing experience in 2010.

-2009 Mavericks Competitors (Juliette Garcias, Chris Chong Chan Fui, Zheng Wei, Damien Chazelle, Alexis Dos Santos, David Lee Miller, Maren Ade, Nicolas Perada, Ramtin Lavafipour, Mahmut Coskun)