This spring, prepare to be wowed! Thought you’d had your fill of movie hype this year courtesy of Awards Season? Think again: Festivals Season is upon us. Of course Festivals Season can no longer be defined by the quantity of festivals taking place at any particular time as there are more film festivals now than ever before – of all sizes, durations, locations, themes and motivations under the sun. Among the more distinct festivals you’ll find in Europe in the coming months are Catalonia’s Environment Film Festival (29^th May-7^th June) and Italy’s Trento Film Festival<(21^st April-3^rd May). Both eco-centric festivals specialises in films about nature, mountains and ultimately, adventure! Paris also focus the lens on adventure films with the Jules Verne Film Festival from 24^th-26^th April, meanwhile Turkey’s fancifully-titled ‘Flying Broom’ festival devotes itself to the work of women filmmakers (Ankara: 7^th-14^th May).

The ‘Festivals Season’ warmed up with Berlin with the Berlinale back in March– one of the Holy Trinity of European Film Festivals, alongside Cannes and Venice. In its 62^nd edition, Cannes will make its annual debut appearance on newspapers fronts around 14^th May – the day after the opening gala.

For the first time in Cannes’ history, the 2009 Opening Film is an animation: ‘Up’ is the hotly-anticipated latest offering from Pixar (Pixar has been whetting appetites with short online ‘Upisodes’ in recent months), a 3D tale of an old man who flies his house to South America by balloon with an unknown stowaway on board. The Opening Film won’t be in competition – we’ll have to wait until the end of April to learn which films are. One hot tip is Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Los Abrazos Rotos’ (Broken Embraces) – another of Almodovar’s infamous heady mixes of love, lies, tears and melodrama, starring Penelope Cruz.

One of the more controversial screenings this year will be Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Basterds’, which documents a group of Jewish American soldiers on a mission to hunt down and kill Nazis as brutally as possible. Tarantino’s take on the Holocaust is sure to incite an international debate that you will not be able to escape. Cannes played a key role in launching Tarantino’s career in 1994 when it awarded top prize to Pulp Fiction. Cannes may just jump start it again this year when Tarantino and leading-man Brad Pitt hit the red carpet on the Croisette.

Isabelle Huppert is this year’s President (only the fourth woman to be appointed Jury President in 6 decades) and she will oversee the team deciding between the films in the Official Competition at Cannes.

A number of festivals are devoted exclusively to short film; Oberhausen (30^th April-5^th May) is a highlight– devoted to showcasing the best in international experimental and avant-garde short film (including music video, and anything that doesn’t quite fit into either category). In a similar vein, Ghent, Belgium will play host to Courtisane from 23^rd-26^th April. For its 2009 edition, the wittily-dubbed festival concentrates around the theme of ‘Memory’ while embracing new media and performance in addition to narrative and non-narrative short film.
Other gems include Krakow in Poland (29^th May-4^th June), the Zlin Festival in Czech Republic (31^st May-7^th June) and Turin’s International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, entitled for 2009 ‘From Sodom to Hollywood’ (23^rd-30^th April).

If you aren’t in a city that hosts a film festival, and are not a cinema-spurred jetsetter, then keep your eyes peeled for ‘satellite film festivals’ near you. On such occasions, festivals send their programming to various different locations around the world. It’s a relatively recent and steadily increasing phenomenon and events, often supported by the Cultural Institute of the festival’s original country. For example, the Berlin Film Festival comes to Paris’ Goethe Institut for the second year from 16^th-24^th April, while the Spanish Film Festival is sending its programming on a tour of Australia throughout May.

If you’re in the UK, you can catch some of the best cinema from the Far East at the Tibet Film Festival in various cities until 31 May and a taste of the Orient is also available in Udine in Italy at their Far East Film Festival (24^th April-2^nd May). There is also the UK’s Italian Film Festival (17^th-30^th April) and a superb showcase for Japanese film at Nippon Connection in Frankfurt (15^th-19^th April).