Past Festivals
When the NYU International Student Film Festival (ISFF) began in May 1994, it was the first forum in New York featuring the best student films from around the world. The one-day event was created to expose students to the work of young international filmmakers and to provide an opportunity for students from around the world to share their ideas and experiences. This pioneering event involved 10 schools and laid the groundwork for the ISFF to become an essential part of the Tisch School of the Arts' programming.
| 1995 | Building upon its successful debut, the second festival was held in October 1995 with an expanded format. More than 20 attended the festival, and of the 100 films submitted, 60 were selected for screening. The festival was expanded to include a competition with a faculty jury awarding prize money to the top three films. A program of lecturers, seminars and workshops, featuring foreign and American faculty and students, also was added. The renowned Hoschschule fur Fernsehen und Film of Munich, Germany was chosen to be the featured school. |
| 1997 | Held at NYU’s Villa La Pietra in Florence, Italy, the third International Student Film Festival welcomed filmmakers from 35 film schools in 28 countries and offered unprecedented collaboration with the prestigious Centro Sperimentale Per La Cinematografia (CSC), the oldest film school in Western Europe. |
| 1999 | The festival returned to New York for its fourth run. Filmmakers at 33 film schools in 28 countries competed in the festival. Highlights included a master workshops led by Nancy Savoca and Gordon Willis, plus screenings of student films by Oliver Stone, Martin Brest, Chris Eyre, Spike Lee, and Martin Scorsese. |
| 2001 | In spite of the tragic events of September 11, the festival ran as planned with 96 films from 28 countries. Martin Scorsese, a graduate of NYU, participated in a Q&A following the presentation of his film, Il Mio Viaggio in Italia. Producer Susan Carnival also participated in a Q&A following a screening of Chutney Popcorn by Nisha Ganatra. |
| 2003 | Ninety young filmmakers representing 35 countries from around the world submitted films for the biennial festival held Oct. 25-31, 2003, in New York.
The ISFF plenary panel focused on the theme of "Silenced: International Perspectives on Censorship," bringing students, artists, and faculty together for an international dialogue on film which has been categorized as "censored" according to various political, cultural, and or socio-political standards. Costas Gavras, acclaimed director of Z, Amen, Missing, Mad Dog City and The Music Box; Kathleen Cleaver, executive producer of the Black Panther Film Festival; Bruni Burres, director of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and St. Clair Bourne, writer, producer, and director of A Great and Mighty Walk, Half Past Autumn, served as panelists. Each examined the role and impact of various types of direct and indirect censorship and the subsequent impact on audiences, the artist and the work. |