The International Film Festival Summit Europe -IFFS and filmfestivals.com  - fest21.com,  close observers of the festival circuit announced today that they will honor Michel Hazanavicius the  director of The Artist with the "Festival Film of the year Award"  which recognizes the outstanding artistic dimensions of the whole project and the extraordinary successful fare on the circuit from Cannes (best actor) to 5 Oscars (6 Cesar, 3 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAS)...

2011 saw France break all records (Admissions level topped 215 M, record percentage of cinema attendance 65.6% of French population saw a film: crisis what crisis?. Record 41% of Box Office take from local films, "cocorico",  Intouchables hitting 19 million admissions...
The Artist seemed to us the highlight and symbol for the amazing year for French Cinema, tribute to daring creativity.

The Prize will be given to Michel Hazanavicius in presence of his producers on April 3rd during the IFFS summit (which runs April 3-4, 2012 at Hotel du Louvre in central Paris.)

Bruno Chatelin, filmfestivals.com and fest21.com co founder, stated:  "Identifying the most wanted film on the festival scene is our daily mission, awarding them is a tradition for our company, and we wanted to take the opportunity of the Festival Summit to jointly honor Michel Hazanavicius and his producers.
Previous years we had asked our audience to designate the best festival film in the circuit. This year we thought a poll was not necessary. 
The Artist gathered over 100 prizes, our prizes honors them all."

Laurie Kirby, Executive Director of the IFFS commented : "We are so honored that director Michel Hazanavicius and his team will accept the award from IFFS-Filmfestivals.com as The Artist truly embodies the power and importance of independent film and the role of the film festival in conveying that message. "

About the International Film Festival Summit

The International Film Festival Summit (IFFS) is the largest international organization representing the film festival industry. The IFFS mission is to promote and strengthen the global film festival industry through education, networking, dissemination of information, and the cultivation of high standards for the industry. The IFFS was founded in 2002 and provides the only annual conference & symposium for film festival professionals and entertainment executives to network, learn from one another, establish partnerships, and understand the latest trends in festivals and independent film. http://www.filmfestivalsummit.com/

About Filmfestivals.com and fest21.com

M21 Entertainment edits the leading websites for news and professional services to festivals organisers and films producers : Filmfestivals.com (established 1995) & fest21.com (social network and promotion platforms for film & festival community)

The company maintains the most comprehensive online resource listing over 5000 festivals worldwide and thousands of festival films.

The site has over 60 000 pages of content, 20 000 festival contacts, 22 000 film contacts, 19 000 pictures... it receive 370 000 unique visitors/month and has  118 000 subscribers for its weekly newsletter.

Filmfestivals.com's mission is to be the premiere online entertainment destination dedicated to showcasing film festivals around the world and fostering new film and filmmaking talent.

Bruno Chatelin is advisory Board Member of IFFS Europe and serves as chair of the Paris edition

The full program can be found on http://filmfestivalsummit.com/iffseuropeagenda.html/

Contacts
 

Bruno Chatelin
bruno@m21entertainment.com
+ 33 1 72 74 71 79

Laurie Kirby
Laurie.kirby@filmfestivalsummit.com
+1 626-470-6043  PST