Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival

The Paris Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival grew out of dissatisfaction with the treatment of Lesbians in the Créteil International Women's Film Festival. Many lesbian women felt that in spite of the fact that lesbian films frequently won the Viewers Choice awards (prix du public), lesbian films, filmmakers and attendees were not given sufficient space or attention at the festival, and so they decided to create their own event,{{cite web |title=Why Cineffable? Why the Paris Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival? |url=https://www.cineffable.fr/en/c_assoEn.htm |website=Cineffable |access-date=5 May 2019}} which would not only provide lesbians with screening opportunities, but would also be a shared community for knowledge sharing, a way to increase lesbian visibility and combat lesbophobia, and a social outlet.{{cite web |title=Paris International Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival |url=https://www.thelesbianagenda.com/international-lbtq-event/2018/10/31/paris-international-lesbian-feminist-film-festival |website=The Lesbian Agenda |access-date=5 May 2019 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505163926/https://www.thelesbianagenda.com/international-lbtq-event/2018/10/31/paris-international-lesbian-feminist-film-festival |url-status=dead }}

The first event was held in 1989, as a "cinéclub",{{cite web |title=Cineffable : quand les lesbiennes se font du cinéma ! |url=https://cabinetsdecuriosites.fr/accueil/cineffable-lesbiennes-se-cinema/ |website=le Cabinet de Curiosité Féminine |date=26 October 2016 |access-date=5 May 2019 |language=fr}} with subsequent festivals in 1992 and 1993, all held at the La Clef Cultural Center in Paris. As the festival grew, it moved venues, first to the André Malraux Cultural Center (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre) until 2000, when the number of attendees grew to between 2000 and 3000,{{cite web |title=CINEFFABLE – Festival International du film lesbien et féministe: des femmes, rien que des femmes… |url=https://cabinetsdecuriosites.fr/au-fond-des-choses/culture-q/festivals/cineffable-festival-international-du-film-lesbien-et-feministe-des-femmes-rien-que-des-femmes/ |website=le Cabinet de Curiosité Féminine |date=26 October 2015 |access-date=5 May 2019 |language=fr}} and then to the Le Trianon theater.{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Moira |title=Special Report: 18th Paris Cineffable Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival, 2006 |url=http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/18thpariscineff-ms-237263203.html |website=Movie Magazine |access-date=5 May 2019}} Since 2010, the festival screens at l'Espace Reuilly.{{cite web |title=Venue |url=https://www.cineffable.fr/en/f_useful-informationEn.htm |website=Cineffable - Useful Information |access-date=5 May 2019}}

The festival is organized and produced by the Cineffable association. The association includes several thousand members, making it one of the more significant lesbian organizations in France. It is run according to feminist principles – it is non-hierarchical, based on knowledge sharing and transfer for continuity, and defines its mission statement as "we have to assume responsibility, to take control of our images, to become actresses in our own productions in order to break definitively with the oppressive system of representation that shuts us in, that shuts us up".Catalog of the 8th Festival, 1996

The festival is open to anyone who identifies as a woman, and is based on membership attendance; that is – attendance is free for members, and thus anyone desiring to attend the festival purchases a membership card, which provides access or discounts to other Cineffable events as well. The festival is self-funded, except for an annual grant from the city of Paris, as part of an official program for gender equality,{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Moira |title=Special Report: 18th Paris Cineffable Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival, 2006 |url=http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/18thpariscineff-ms-237263203.html |website=Movie Magazine |access-date=5 May 2019}} and works on the principle of "no one left outside" through discounts for marginalized communities and a ticket sharing program, enabling access for all to screenings.{{cite web |title=Ticketing |url=https://www.cineffable.fr/en/f_ratesEn.htm |website=Cineffable |access-date=5 May 2019}}

The festival includes several competition tracks, debates, an art exhibition, workshops and a gala or concert event.{{cite web |title=Paris International Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival |url=https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/travel-guide/paris/events-and-festivals/paris-international-lesbian-and-feminist-film-festival-e-143ahdg1534.shtml |website=Accor Hotels |access-date=5 May 2019}}{{cite web |title=Concert |url=https://www.cineffable.fr/en/f_concertEn.htm |website=Cineffable |access-date=5 May 2019}} Audience awards are granted at the festival in the following categories:{{cite web |title=CINEFFABLE (Paris) 2018: Submissions are now open |url=http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/04/cineffable-paris-2018-submissions-are.html |website=African Women in Cinema |date=4 April 2018 |access-date=5 May 2019 |language=fr}}

• Feature film
• Feature-length documentary
• Short fiction film
• Short documentary
• Experimental film
• Animation

In previous years, there were also awards for best screenplay and best film poster.

The festival has grown steadily since its inception.{{cite book |last1=Tarr |first1=Carrie |last2=Rollet |first2=Brigitte |title=Cinema and the Second Sex: Women's Filmmaking in France in the 1980s and 1990s |date=6 Oct 2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn= 9781474290784}} It screens more than 50 films each year.{{cite web |title=10 Feminist Film Festivals To Follow |url=https://www.raindance.org/10-feminist-film-festivals-to-follow/ |website=Raindance |access-date=5 May 2019}}

• List of women's film festivals

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.cineffable.fr}}
• {{IMDb event}}

{{Lesbian feminism}}

{{LGBT in France}}

Category:1989 establishments in France

Category:Feminism in France

Category:Film festivals established in 1989

Category:Film festivals in Paris

Category:Lesbian culture in France

Category:Lesbian events

Category:Lesbian feminism

Category:LGBTQ culture in Paris

Category:LGBTQ film festivals in France

Category:Women in Paris

Category:Women's film festivals