Aruba International Film Festival
Aruba, "One Happy Island" will host the Annual Aruba International Film Festival, screening award winning and critically acclaimed films from around the world. AIFF's mission is to connect to the international film community and Aruba while raising public awareness for Aruban culture and showcasing regional filmmakers and productions. The preceding year's Aruba International Film Festival was a true Aruban success story. The professional film community gathers to celebrate the finest in new and independent films along with the incomparable beauty of Aruba.
The AIFF was founded in 2010 by film producers Jonathan Vieira and Giuseppe Cioccarelli, with artistic direction by 30-year industry veteran Claudio Masenza. Previous editions of the festival have showcased a diverse array of critically acclaimed fiction films and documentaries from every corner of the globe, and have attracted such notable industry names as:
- Hollywood leading man Richard Gere (Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman)
- Multi Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, The Aviator)
- Mexican writer/director Guillermo Arriaga (The Burning Plain, Babel)
- Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia)
- Rapper, producer and actor Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (Things Fall Apart)
- Dutch director/cinematographer Sander Snoep (Curacao, 900 Days)
- Actress and television star Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City, Meet Monica Velour)
- Costume designer Michael Kaplan (Fight Club, Star Trek Into Darkness)
- Venezuelan television and film actress Ruddy Rodriguez (Venezzia)
- Artist, filmmaker, and poet Lech Majewski (The Mill and the Cross)
- Puerto Rican writer/director Sonia Fritz (The Kiss You Gave Me, America)
- Uruguayan-Mexican actress and model Babara Mori (Kites)
- Dutch-Surinamese film pioneer Pim de la Parra (Wan Pipel, Odyssee d'Amour)
- Indian choreographer Longinus Fernandes (Slumdog Millionaire)
- Cuban-American actor Steven Bauer (Scarface, Traffic)
- Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen (Candyman, Sideways)
- International award-winning filmmaker Milcho Manchevski (Before the Rain)
- Two-time Oscar-winning editor Pietro Scalia (Prometheus, JFK)
- Acclaimed Hollywood actor Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Hannibal)
- Korean-Dutch film producer/director In-Soo Radstake (Parradox, Made in Korea)
- Oscar-nominated actress Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April, Shutter Island)
- Australian actor Xavier Samuel (A Few Best Men, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse)