I attended the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival a couple of weeks ago. This was the second time I attended a Fashion Film Festival, but the first time in North America. Fashion Film is a relatively new genre of film in Film Festivals, and I see it growing exponentially into the future with the was we contemporarily consume video media. Especially when they feature brands and products in a creative new way.

La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival is the first international fashion film festival founded in North America and with the scenic sea scape behind the auditorium the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary art, I can easily see why it has been called the “Cannes of fashion film festivals”. Hundreds of fashion filmmakers from around the world were in attendance, packing the auditorium of 500 seats to see the top 1% of fashion films produced worldwide in the 6th year of the festival.

There was a lot of discussion in and around the festival on defining “what is a fashion film?’ Is it the same as fashion photography? Does it have to have a narrative? What other genres of film does “Fashion Film” fit into? I throughly enjoyed all these discussions because the dialogue itself is what makes film festivals so worth while in attending. The deeper exploration of the art medium. Everyone has different answers depending on where within the industry they are coming from.

The second day of the festival was filled with a mediated directors panel discussion, a producers panel discussion, and an ethical fashion initiative seminar where we learned what the ITC (international Trade Centre) is doing world-wide with their ethical fashion initiative. Personally I found this seminar the most interesting. Especially considering the majority of the work they do is with women in developing countries world-wide. After I recently watched the film The True Cost, I have been seeing the world of “fast fashion” in a different light.

The red carpet and awards ceremony was another great opportunity to hear industry professionals speak and see a number of sensational fashion films, as well as some that were completely off-the-wall, but entertaining nonetheless.

Special thanks the Fred Sweet, for hosting our team 🙂

Here is a look at my favorite films at the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival 2015:

Stella McCartney x ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative, Kenya, 2014

The Chase, Jam Patel

The New Sovereignty, Ace Norton

Velvet Karma, Alfonso Campos

The Great Escape, Michael Mohan

“g”, Esther Loewe

Special thanks to Canadian jewelry designer Ellinor Stenroos for the beautiful red carpet jewels.