Odessa International Film Festival (OIFF) has chosen the members of its independent selection committee. The commission defines the competition programme of the festival.

This year the films will be chosen by the producer and ex-head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema Philip Illienko, journalist and film critic Yekaterina Slipchenko, program director of Arthouse Traffic Ilya Dyadik and curator of the Odessa Green Theater film section Olga Sidorushkina. The selection committee will be headed by the OIFF programme consultant Alik Shpilyuk.

The independent selection committee will define the programme of the National Competition (full and short films) and competition programs for the Film industry office sections. In addition, films presented in the National Competition can also be included in the out-of-competition sections by agreement: “Gala Premieres” or “Festival of Festivals”. Acceptance of applications for participation in the National Program will be opened in the near future.

This year, there will be two relevant changes:

• the month of the festival will change from July to August, in Odessa;
• the Festival will focus on Ukrainian cinema. Films from other countries can be seen only in "out-of-competition" sections.

The decision to reduce the festival to a national films competition is the reason why no foreign cinema personalities are in the selection committee, as in previous editions.

The 12th Odessa International Film Festival will take place on August 14-21, 2021.

Source: CULTUREMETER