Local Film Festival Awarded $400k, Virtual Edition Starts Monday
Left to right: Evelyn Pigott-Washington for Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky , OAC Media Arts Officer Barbara Gilbert, Windsor West MP Brian Masse, MCFF board member Greg Baise, MCFF Assistant Director Jeremy Rigsby, MCFF Artistic Director Oona Mosna, MCFF board member Forest Juziuk, MCFF founder Chris McNamara, OTF representative Tony Francis, MCFF board member Aaron Glasser, MCFF board member Cristina Naccarato (Photo by MCFF)
Windsor’s Media City Film Festival has received more than $400,000 in support from federal and provincial agencies, including funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. This funding ensures that MCFF can continue the amazing world-class activities it has undertaken in Windsor-Essex since 1994.
The Ontario Government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation provided Media City Film Festival with a $62,500 Resilient Communities Fund grant. Organizers say the grant will support the festival’s 27th online edition, upcoming December 9th to the 30th, 2024. The festival will provide the public with free access to more than 70 films, including over 50 world virtual premieres, from over 30 countries, featuring new works and restorations by local, regional, national, and international filmmakers and artists.
“Media City Film Festival is a world-renowned annual event that celebrates artist driven cinema and digital art,” said Lisa Gretzky, MPP for Windsor West. “For over 30 years, Media City Film Festival has consistently championed the works of emerging and established film makers, presenting barrier free programming to global audiences.”
Media City Film Festival Artistic Director Oona Mosna says the festival was able to reach over 320,000 local and global audience members between 2020 and 2023.
The Ontario Arts Council is also supporting the festival with a $121,325 grant over three years from the Government of Ontario’s Media Arts Festival program. That will allow the festival to present in-person activities. The festival has also entered into a new Market Development partnership with the Ontario Arts Council, which will support the festival with an additional $15,000 grant in 2024 to create new film productions.
The Canada Council for the Arts has also awarded the festival $208,000 from the Government of Canada through its Arts Festivals and Presenters program.
“Media City Film Festival is honoured to receive this vital support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts,” said Mosna. “In times of crisis, and these days there seem to be a lot of them, people require access to artistic expression and the community that art creates.”
“This funding will ensure that MCFF’s globally recognized contributions to film culture can continue to have impacts in Windsor–Detroit and around the world.”
Media City Film Festival’s 27th edition will be accessible on the festival’s website from December 9th to 30th, 2024 at mediacityfilmfestival.com.
