Frameline Film Festival

Last but not least I want to tell you something about Frameline Film Festival. Frameline is a nonprofit organization that produces the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. It’s the oldest film festival that pays attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). With annual 60.000 to 80.000 visitors it is the largest LGBT film exhibition event in the world. Frameline’s mission statement is: ‘to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and further its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts.’

The festival makes four awards:

-          The ‘Frameline Award’

-          The ‘Best Documentary Award’

-          The ‘First Feature Award’

-          The ‘Audience Award’

The first time was in February 1977 at the Gay Community Center at 330 Grove Street, was called ‘Gay Film Festival of Super 8 Films’. The founders are Daniel Nicoletta, David Waggoner and Marc Huestis. From 1977 to 1980 the festival was at the Roxie Theater.

The festival had different difficulties through its lifetime. Most noticeable was the suicide of director Mark Finch in 1995. Finch jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge, an event that inspired Jenni Olson’s film: The Joy of Life.

In 2004 the festival changed its name into Famelin28 (it was the 28^th event). Frameline34 took place in June 2010, at the Catro, Roxie and Victoria Theaters in San Francisco, and at the Elmwood Theater in Berkeley.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is a 16-18 day festival held each year in Munich, Germany. It’s from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world’s largest fair, with more than 5 million visitors every year. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture. Visitors eat traditional food: Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödel (potato or bread dumplings) or Sauerkraut (red cabbage).

The original ‘Oktoberfest in Munich was on October 12, 1810. Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen organized a great horse race. The event was so successful that it was decided to renew it in 1811. The horse race persisted until 1960. Oktoberfest celebrated its 100^th birthday in the year 1910. 12.000 liters of beer were poured.

During World War I and World War II the celebration of Oktoberfest were prevented. The two years after both wars, Munich celebrated only an ‘Autumn Fest’. The sale of Oktoberfest beer (2% stronger than normal) was not permitted.

The Oktoberfest has been cancelled 24 times due to war, diseases and other emergencies.

The Oktoberfest had turned into an enormous world-famous festival by 1960. There are many problems every year with young people using too much alcohol. Many forget that beer has 5.8% to 6.3% alcohol. 2010 marks the 200^th anniversary of Oktoberfest. For the anniversary, there was a horse race in historical costumes on the opening day. A specially brewed beer, horse races and a museum tent gave visitors an impression of how the event felt a century ago.

Oktoberfest nowadays

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the place to be! So I want to tell something more about great festivals & events in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Roots Festival

For more than ten years the Amsterdam Roots Festival is one of the leading international music festivals. The festival has different ethnic backgrounds and music styles.

It’s a large-scale, free, open-air festival staged in one of Amsterdam's parks. Performances, presentations and workshops of Dutch and foreign music groups will take place on different stages

In 2008 more than 50,000 people of all cultural backgrounds visited Roots Open Air.

The Holland Festival

The Holland Festival is the largest performance festival in the Netherlands. Every year it offers impressive projects from all over the world.

Theatre, music, dance, opera, film and visual arts, Western and non-Western – it’s all about: high artistic quality and an international dimension.

Since 2005 the Holland Festival has been directed by Pierre Audi. Since 1947 the Holland Festival has built up his traditions. It’s the oldest performance-arts festival in the Netherlands.

It takes place in Amsterdam's most prestigious cultural buildings, for instance the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, the Muziektheater (Music Theatre), the Stadsschouwburg (City Theatre) and the Westergasfabriek.

De Parade

Every summer the mobile theatre festival De Parade visits Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Amsterdam. It transforms parks and squares into cultural streets with dozens of colorful theatre tents.

This festival has theatre and dance performances, films, music, catering establishments and attractions such as a miniature wheel. It has something to please everyone's tastes. There is also a special Children's Parade every day of the festival.

The Hague Jazz Festival

I want to tell you more about a popular festival in The Hague: The Hague Jazz Festival. The Hague Jazz Festival made some important decisions. The sixth edition of the festival will take place at a different location. The Hague Jazz 2011 will be organized in and around the Kyocera Stadium The Hague. Besides the new location, the festival will also add an extra day to the festival.

They move to the Kyocera Stadium The Hague, because of the rapid growth of the festival. The World Forum The Hague (festival location during the past five editions) doesn’t offer enough space anymore. Ruud Wijkniet, festival director said: ‘Last edition, a few areas at the festival became too crowded and that does not suit us. The festival grounds and the venues should be accessible to everyone’.

Besides the change of location, a third day will be added to the festival. This year, the festival will take place from Friday June 17th to Sunday June 19th. The extra festival day provides more space for a varied program. So there is more time and attention for different styles of music, art and experiments. Eight of the existing stages, will move with the festival to the new location, including the names and program style. The biggest stage will have a capacity of 5,000 visitors. The organization wants to attract up to a maximum of 12,500 visitors each day.

Next image shows how the Kyocera Stadium during the jazz festival:

Diwali Festival India

This Hindu Festival usually takes place in Mid-October/November and is celebrated by Hindus worldwide. It is most famous in India.

The word Divali (or Diwali) comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali meaning a row of lights. Deep means light or lamp and avali means row. If you would like to wish someone a happy diwali, the expression is 'shubh diwali'.

It is celebrated on the 'Kartika Amavasya' or New Moon. The festival lasts for five days the most popular day includes a light nightime display of candles, lamps and fireworks. It should be noted that this Hindu festival is celebrated differently in different areas of India. In some places it is only a 1 day festival and in other Indian areas it is celebrated over 6 days.

Day 1: Vasu Baras Baras means 12th day and vasu means cow. The cow and calf are worshipped on Vasu Baras.

Day 2: Dhanvantari an incarnation of the God of health and welfare: Vishnu, is worshipped. During this day people buy new clothes, new vessels, gold and silver etc.

Day 3: Naraka Chaturdashi signifies the fourteenth day on which demon Narakasura was killed by god Krishna. It also signifies the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. In much of Southern India this is the main day of the festival.

Day 4: Lakshmi Puja is the most important day of Diwali celebrations in Northern India.

Day 5: Bali Pratipada/Govardhan Puja is celebrated as the day Krishna defeated the god Indra.

Day 6: Bhaiduj is a day for families across India and other Hindu areas to meet and rejoice in life.

Types of festivals

A festival is an event, usually organized by a local community, which celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival. Festivals serve to meet specific needs and provide entertainment. Most of the time festivals are anual.

There are numerous types of festivals in the world. Many of them are originally religious and others have some cultural significance. There are also seasonal festivals.

Seasonal festivals are based on the solar and the lunar calendars and by the cycle of the seasons. The changing of the season was earlier celebrated because of its effect on food supply.  For example the Egyptians would celebrate the seasonal flood caused by the Nile River, which make the food supply better. A recognized winter festival, the Chinese New Year, is set by the lunar calendar, and celebrated from the day of the second new moon after the Dongzhi (solar term).

I have found a list of all kind of festivals. Most festivals are related to specific cultures or countries.

List of all kind of festivals:

-          Arts festival

-          Beer festival

-          Comedy festival

-          Japanese Cultural festival

-          Esala Perahera festival

-          Film festival

-          Fire festival

-          Folk festival

-          Food festival

-          Literary festival

-          Mela Festival

-          Music festival

-          Peanut Festival

-          Ribfest

-          Religious festival

-          Renaissance festival

-          Rock festival

-          Science festival

-          Sindhi festivals

-          Storytelling festival

-          Theatre festival

-          Wine festivals

-          Winter festivals

Summerfest

World's biggest festival is Summerfest (also known as ‘The Big Gig’). It is a yearly music festival held at the 300.000 m² Henry Maier Festival Park along the lakefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The festival lasts for 11 days, has 10 stages with performances from over 700 bands. Summerfest attracts between 800.000 and 1.000.000 people each year.

Summerfest was started in the 1960s by Henry W. Maier. Inspired by his visit to Oktoberfest in Munich, Maier organized a similar ethnic-themed festival in Milwaukee. It started with the name ‘Milwaukee World Festival’ which changed to ‘Juli Spaβ’ and then to ‘Summerfest’.

Summerfest is run by the non-profit organization Milwaukee World Festival. You can see local and nationally known music talent from a variety of music genres. The event also has a wide variety of food from many Milwaukee-area restaurants. Other Summerfest attractions are comedy acts, shopping vendors, fireworks (including "The Big Bang" on opening night), family activities and more.

Live acts are performed on the 11 stages from noon to midnight. You can also visit the Marcus Amphitheatre. The Marcus Amphitheatre was built in Henry Maier Festival Park after an extremely overcrowded concert in 1984. It is also the venue for headlining acts performing at Summerfest. All shows are free with an admission ticked. Admission is between $8.00 and $15.00, depending on the time of day. There are also a lot of promotions for free tickets.

Woodstock

Pop festivals became into existence during the flower power movement in San Francisco. These people, also called hippies, are most of the time idealistic students. Terms of this movement like: back to the nature, love-ins, drugs, lightshows, underground radio etc. manifest into (free) pop festivals. The San Francisco movement had changed the traditional music festivals. Music festivals became multimedia festivals, also writers and artists perform.

The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was a rock festival during the weekend of 15, 16 and 17 August in 1969. It takes place in a meadow of the farmer Max Yasgur in Bethel, New York about 65 km of Woodstock. Woodstock, with the slogan: ‘Three days of peace and music’, is one of the most important music festival ever.

They first expected 200.000 people by Woodstock, but the official number of visitors was more than 400.000. Most of the visitors hadn’t pay for admission. Owing to this the festival itself wasn’t lucrative for the organizers. But thanks to selling albums and the earnings of the movie it became after all lucrative.

In spite of the use of alcohol and the use of drugs there was relative little crime and violence on Woodstock. However there were too little facilities for this unexpected great number of festival visitors.  

During this festival three people die: one died by an overdose of heroin, one man died because was sleeping while he was driving over by a tractor, and another festival visitor died because he had an appendicitis. There were also born two babies during the festival and four women had a miscarriage.

Love Parade

Festivals are not always going right. By the Love Parade in Duisburg at July 24 2010 it goes totally wrong. This year 1, 4 million visitors came to this festival, almost three times too much for the capacity of the festival area. During the German dance festival a lot of visitors panic in a tunnel which leads to the main entrance. In the afternoon some visitors wanted to leave the festival and some people wanted to enter the festival. These two groups met each other by the tunnel. This situation leads to massive panic. A lot of people started screaming and wanted to go as fast as possible out of this tunnel. Hundreds of people were injured and 19 people died in this situation. Later in the hospital two more people had died by their injuries.

For security reason the organisation did not end the festival abruptly, because they wanted that the visitors slowly leave the festival area. The emergency exits of the area were opened so that people could leave the area in different ways.

Love Parade had visitors from all over the world. A lot of international top DJ’s are performing on this event. The Love Parade started in 1989 as a peace demonstration, but became a big open-air festival. It was not sure if the Love Parade 2010 would continue. Sponsor McFit offered 3 million euro. Duisburg had to pay 850.000 euro, but Duisburg hadn’t enough money. Just in February they found a solution.

After this ‘Drama in Duisburg’ the organisation had decided that there won’t be new editions of Love Parade any more.

ID&T

ID&T is one of the largest event organizations for dance festivals in the Netherlands. ID&T stands for the names of the founders Irfan van Ewijk, Duncan Stutterheim en Theo Lelie. They started in 1992 with a party in Utrecht: The Final Exam.

For years ID&T is responsible for different events in the Netherlands and events in other countries. Irfan, Duncan en Theo started also a radio station ‘ID&T Radio’ (now Slam! FM), a magazine ‘ID&T Magazine’ and catering facilities ‘Cineac’ in Amsterdam. The beach club Bloomingdale in Bloemendaal/Overveen is also started by this three. Nowadays ID&T only creates events and C.D.’s and DVD-complications of these events.

ID&T organizes about twenty events every year. These events are for different target groups and distinguish their self trough different music styles, decoration, location, price and tone of voice.

The current concepts of ID&T are:

-          Thunderdome (hardcore music)

-          Dirty Dutch (house music)

-          Trance Energy (trance music)

-          Welcome to the Futere (techno music)

-          Mystery Land (different styles)

-          Tomorrowland (different styles)

-          Indian Summer Festival (house music)

-          Sensation (clubhouse)

-          Black (harder styles)

Sensation started in 2000 and is every year a different show. Nowadays Sensation is in 21 different countries and all visitors have to dress white. Sensation, Mystery Land and Thunderdome are the well known events of ID&T.

Sensation

ID&T had won different prices. In Germany they get Best European Festival Award and the LEA-Award. ID&T also gets Best International Club Event from Denmark. In November 2009 ID&T received the Marketing Excellence Award for the campaign of Sensation: ‘Wicked Wonderland’.