Festival International de Films de Femmes

What Festival International de Films de Femmes does

Festival International de Films de Femmes (FIFF) is a French non-profit cultural association founded in 1979 in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, operating under the legal name Association du Festival International de Films de Femmes (AFIFF). Its core activity is an annual international film festival dedicated exclusively to films directed by women, presenting approximately 150 films per edition across feature fiction, documentary, and short-film competitions, alongside retrospectives, themed events, and educational programs. The festival serves film enthusiasts, film industry professionals, and young audiences through screenings at its headquarters venue, the Maison des Arts de Créteil (MAC), and partner cinemas including La Lucarne, Cinémas du Palais, Le Forum in Boissy-Saint-Léger, and Cinéma Saint-André-des-Arts in Paris. The organization is led by founder and director Jackie Buet and operates with a headcount of 11–50.

The festival's product surface extends beyond the main competition into sub-products: 'Actions Éducatives' (including the 'Graines de cinéphage' youth jury), 'Projections Hors les Murs' (off-site screenings), 'Actions Culturelles' (themed cultural events), 'Podcasts' (produced with Sorocinéma), and 'Archives du Festival' (downloadable catalogues and director directories dating to 1979). Revenue is generated through ticket sales and festival passes, public funding from regional and national cultural institutions (e.g., CNC), partner sponsorships (notably ARTE for co-produced special programming), and donations. No specific pricing is publicly disclosed. Distribution is primarily physical across partner venues; the 2021 edition (43rd) was held entirely online via the third-party platform Festival Scope due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The 47th edition took place in April 2025, marking the festival's 46th year of continuous operation (the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the pandemic). The organization is currently operating under acute financial pressure: the 48th edition, planned for 2026, has been postponed, and the festival has issued a public 'appel à mobilisation générale', a petition, and a donation appeal via HelloAsso in response to budget cuts from partner institutions. ARTE remains a core partner, co-presenting a 2025 special evening with Margarethe von Trotta and the 'Génération Ukraine' documentary program.

Name

Festival International de Films de Femmes

Legal name

Association du Festival International de Films de Femmes (AFIFF)

Website

https://filmsdefemmes.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Festival International de Films de Femmes is a French non-profit founded in 1979 that runs an annual international film festival in Créteil dedicated exclusively to women directors, serving film audiences, industry professionals, and youth through competitions, screenings, and educational programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film Festival / Cultural Cinema Events

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Exhibition (51213), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Film Festivals & Festival Organizers (MPADAKAD)

Keywords

• Women's film festival
• International film screenings
• Women filmmakers competition
• Cultural film events
• Documentary film programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Créteil

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Festival admissions and screenings: Revenue generated from ticket sales and festival passes for screenings during the annual festival editions

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Festival International de Films de Femmes (FIFF) is an annual international film festival held since 1979 in Créteil, France, dedicated exclusively to films directed by women. Each edition programs approximately 150 films including feature-length fiction, documentaries, and short films competing for awards across the international competition section, accompanied by retrospectives, themed events, and educational programs for youth audiences. The festival operates from the Maison des Arts de Créteil and partner cinemas across the Val-de-Marne region, with screenings, exhibitions, and cultural actions extending the program beyond its main venue.

Product overview

Festival International de Films de Femmes is a single, unified annual film festival event that has run since 1979 in Créteil, France. The core offering is the main festival featuring the 'Compétition Internationale' section for competitive screenings of features, documentaries, and shorts. The festival extends through complementary sub-products: 'Actions Éducatives' (educational programs with youth juries), 'Projections Hors les Murs' (satellite screenings at partner cinemas), 'Actions Culturelles' (cultural events, exhibitions, and themed programs), 'Podcasts' (digital audio content), and 'Archives du Festival' (historical records and downloadable catalogues). The 2025 edition marks the 47th edition, with events spanning the main venue at Maison des Arts de Créteil and multiple partner cinema locations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Festival International de Films de Femmes (FIFF) Annual international film festival founded in 1979 and held in Créteil, France, dedicated exclusively to films directed by women from around the world. The festival programs approximately 150 films each edition across features, documentaries, and shorts, with competitions, retrospectives, themed events, and special evenings with filmmakers.
• Compétition Internationale International competition section of the festival, featuring fiction feature films, documentaries, and short films by women directors competing for festival awards and prizes.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ARTEcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerARTE is a key partner of the festival, co-presenting special evenings with filmmakers. In 2025, ARTE hosted a special evening with Margarethe von Trotta and presented the 'Génération Ukraine' documentary program featuring twelve documentaries coproduced with ARTE.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• ARTE: Public European broadcaster and existing core partner of FIFF; relevant as a strategic-partner and distribution channel that other comparable festivals rely on for reach and co-production support.
• Créteil Maison des Arts (MAC): Headquarters venue and principal physical distribution site for FIFF; relevant as the institutional venue infrastructure partner that anchors festival operations and exhibition capacity.

Direct peers

• International Women's Film Festival Dortmund | Frauenfilmfestival: Long-running European women's film festival with a similar thematic focus on films directed by women, comparable audience and programming model, making it the closest functional peer to FIFF.
• Athena Film Festival: New York-based festival dedicated to films by and about women, with a comparable programming, competition and educational-event structure to FIFF, though operating at a different scale and geography.
• Women Make Waves International Film Festival: Taiwan-based women's film festival operating competitions, retrospectives and educational programs for women filmmakers, making it a direct thematic and operational peer to FIFF.
• Cinéma du Réel: Paris-based documentary film festival with an international competition section; relevant peer because FIFF's international competition programs documentary features and shorts as a core part of its slate.

Broad incumbents

• Festival de Cannes: France's flagship film festival operates exhibition, competition and partner-venue mechanics at vastly greater scale; comparable as a French exhibition platform but not thematically specialized in women's cinema.
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): Large international film festival with industry programs and partner-venue distribution; useful as a benchmark for sponsor, accreditation and broadcast-partnership mechanics relevant to FIFF.

Regional players

• Annecy International Animation Film Festival: Major French regional film festival operating competitions, partner venues and educational programs; comparable in scale and operational model to FIFF even though genre-specialized in animation.
• Festival Lumière (Lyon): Major French regional film festival with similar exhibition-and-partner-venue distribution across a French city-region; relevant as a domestic French scale benchmark even though its programming is not women-focused.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fiffemmes

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Festival International de Films de Femmes