CANIFFF Brings the Expression of the World’s Creatives

CANIFFF Brings
the
Expression
of the
World's Creatives

Together Through One Shared Medium of Fashion Film.

All Images Courtesy of CANIFFF

Roger Gingerich; Keysi Sayago; Shayne Stephens | Photography Brogan McNab

No city in the world offers the cultural diversity of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, making it the ideal city for the Canadian International Fashion Film Festival (CANIFFF)– A film festival that curates a unique experience for both Fashion and Film by bringing the world’s creatives closer together to collaborate, inspire and share their vision and their work.
They showcase the most creative international content at the Festival, events, programming and their online platforms throughout the year. CANIFFF has increased and continues to make Fashion and Film accessible in new ways for brands and businesses who want to engage directly with those working in Fashion, Film, and creative disciplines.

“I feel the virtual revolution we are currently going through has pushed fashion films front and center as the medium for storytelling. After so many decades in Fashion, coupled with my love of film and cultural influences, it’s exciting to now have Canada as a leader on the world stage of Fashion Film Festivals. Toronto is uniquely situated to be the Canadian home for this unique creative platform, as it is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world,” remarks CANIFFF CEO Roger Gingerich.

CANIFFF 2021 celebrated the concept of “Community” this season which goes beyond the festival event itself. With programs that contributed to the dialogue around supporting each other in various aspects of the Fashion and Film industry, they successfully brought together a diversity of brands covering as wide as forty-four countries. CANIFFF proposes a new understanding of the film festival in relation to the current virtual revolution and how Fashion transcends the sartorial object by creating fashioned worlds in which profoundly emotional engagement becomes integral to Fashion. The festival promoted a sense of emotional longevity in Fashion, enhanced sustainable consumption, engaged professionals from the fashion and film industries and a more general audience, and helped push a mentality of collaboration, self-expression, and ethical and sustainable consumption. FORWARD honours CANIFFF’s success in their continued collaboration and for bringing together the feelings of the community from around the world through a common shared way of creative expression. We bask in the afterglow of CANIFFF 2021’s accomplishment as we get an inside look with the man who creates one of the biggest celebrations of Fashion as a form of art—Roger Gingerich, the CEO of CANIFFF.

Best Music Video 2021 – HEROE with CAROLINA LOPEZ (CANADA)

Best Set Design 2021 – DEENA LYNCH X CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN (AUSTRALIA)

Best Canadian Fashion Film 2021 – HOW TO FALL IN LOVE with PAMELA ANDERSON (CANADA)

Best Brand 2021 – GUCCI X KEN SCOTT EPILOGUE – METAMORPHOSIS (INDIA)

Best Fashion Film 2021 – KILL-BURN (TAIWAN)

CO-HOST 2021 Keysi Sayago | Photography Martine Gingerich

On the Inspiration of the Festival

Creative markets inspire me. Design, visual mediums and Fashion are something that never ceases to change, adapt and impress.
It was this inspiration that allowed us to focus on our curation to target specific market groups. Costume Design was a key target for us in 2021, along with Film and Dance. We explored the costume design through interviews with some notable Canadian experts–Designer at Joe Fresh, Joe Mimran; President of CAFT CAD, Deanna Sciortino; Designer Kyriakos Caras; and Henk van der Kolk, co-founder of TIFF. CANIFFF also learned more about the merging of Fashion and Dance in Film with Skylar Campbell, the Principal Dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and his wife Jackie Oakley, Corps de Ballet with the National Ballet of Canada.

On the objective of the existence CANIFFF

Our focus is to highlight global talent in the Fashion Film industry and inspire and motivate creative markets. We bring the world’s creatives closer to collaborate, inspire, and share their vision and work through the filmmaker’s and designer’s eyes.

On fashion film and its relation to Fashion as a creative process and industry

Fashion Film has gained popularity as a medium through which creatives– brands, designers, storytellers and artists–can express a message and promote their products or services while representing the aesthetic of Fashion. The story they tell and their role in the viewer’s/consumer’s decision-making process is significant. Fashion films, which showcase mostly shorts, are quickly growing as the key channel for products and brands to tell their story, with film/video dominating as the most popular content medium.
CANIFFF is uniquely positioned in North America–given that Toronto is the Canadian hub for Fashion and a global hub for Film, CANIFFF has advantaged to gather these two industries under one Festival.

CO-HOST Shayne Stephens | Photography Brogan McNab

INTERVIEW GUEST – Deanna Sciortino – CAFT CAD | Photography Brogan McNab

INTERVIEW GUEST – Kyriako Caras | Photography Brogan McNab

MUSICAL GUEST – Dani Doucette | Photography Brogan McNab

MUSICAL GUEST – Carolina Lopez | Photography Brogan McNab

INTERVIEW GUEST – Skylar Campbell (PRINCIPAL DANCER, NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA) ; Jaclyn Oakley (CORPS DE BALLET, NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA) | Photography Brogan McNab

On how fashion film relates to the increasing public awareness of the industry’s impacts on the environment and the exploitation of workers

As the consumer has an ever-increasing appetite for digital content, the Fashion Film medium provides excellent diverse content with messaging going from sustainability, body acceptance, music videos, dance to brands–it fits perfectly in feeding that hunger. Brands, Designers and change-makers have been implementing unique ideas for a long time but can now use fashion films as a medium to share them with other creatives and industries around the world.

On sustainability and how CANIFFF integrates sustainability within its programs/events

In an accurate and concise sense, sustainability is the ability and willingness to keep the planet in the same state of balance as we received through our ongoing choice of behaviour.
Our ECO MESSAGE category is dedicated to that very purpose – It focuses primarily on Fashion Films’ promotion of sustainability through reusing, recycling, and Slow Fashion. Several of these films also represent brands. CANIFFF uses its platform to feature these films as part of our Official Selection and various playlists, along with our Award Show; we promote the concept of sustainability through information and awareness. Further, we run the Festival with staff that work from home.

CEO – Roger Gingerich | Photography Brogan McNab

On the importance of fashion film/festival

Fashion film festivals have grown over the last decade, expanding to around fifty Festivals worldwide. Meanwhile, some have specialized submissions, such as focusing on brands, while others are more open through a larger theme such as “Lifestyle.” Fashion film festivals are important as a medium towards pushing sustainability matters within Fashion–they are an ideal platform to showcase what others are doing around the world and to inspire both individuals and brands to reflect and nudge them towards taking growing sustainable actions.

On the future of CANIFFF

We endeavor to be recognized globally as the leading Fashion Film Festival for creative expression, vision and inspiration for creative industries. CANIFFF’s goal is to create increased opportunities for Fashion and Film markets to collaborate.∎