The Valdivia International Film Festival started as a very successful international film exhibition released in 1993 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cine Club of the Universidad Austral de Chile. A competition was included the following year, labeled as "Valdivia Cine & Video". That event became a milestone to cultural activity in southern Chile, promising at that time to become the greatest film event in the country. The early versions of the festival were oriented to ecological issues. From that point the characteristic trophy award emerged: the Pudú (The Pudú is a small kind of deer, typical of southern Chile). In 2001 the feature film competition category started, becoming the Festival into the most important film event in Chile.
Famous quotes containing the words film and/or festival:
“If you want to tell the untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you’ve got to find a language. Which goes for film as well as prose, for documentary as well as autobiography. Use the wrong language, and you’re dumb and blind.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1948)
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)