The Chelsea Film Festival - thumbs up for their reel's inclusive cultural dialogue

“In these crazy times, the only fitting way to open this year’s film festival is with a comedy like NOT MY WEEKEND,” remarks Ingrid Jean-Baptiste, founder, artistic director, and CEO of the Chelsea Film Festival.

Now in its thirteenth year, the festival runs from 15–19 October and will feature 150 films from 15 different countries, including seven Israeli ones.

“We have always included films from Israel, and there is no reason not to do so now,” she says, in opposition to the open letter, signed by a large group of film industry professionals, including Hollywood stars Emma Stone and Javier Bardem, to boycott them. “We are not changing who we are,” she says. “We won't let politics dictate our lives.” We don’t follow trends. We show films that encourage dialogue. It can also be Russian content, as long as it reflects the authentic voice of our filmmakers through their cinematography. This is the main criterion that informs our artistic choices.”

It is Jean-Baptiste’s international, Caribbean, and European background that informs her particular sensibilities towards these choices, she claims.

Having grown up in Paris, in the creative milieu of actors, filmmakers, and producers, she had started to pursue an acting career after graduating from the esteemed Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City, when a terrible car accident stopped her in her tracks.

Coming out of the existential experience, she decided to instead create an environment in support of emerging talent behind the scenes, leading her to the festival’s inception, which she founded together with her mother, Sonia Jean-Baptiste, a former actress herself and now the festival's CEO, and

Programming Director.

Following suit, many more film festivals have since opened their doors to showcase independent movies. But loyal audiences and critics alike have kept the offerings of the Chelsea Film Festival, including its professional panel discussions and choice awards, highly relevant and in demand for its vibrant multitude of audiences.

“Chelsea Film Festival is truly there for everyone,” underlines Ingrid Jean-Batiste, describing the broad spectrum of the festival’s audience outreach. “Even though we had some sponsors pull out, our mission remains to make the world a better place one film at a time,” she says, with a rare conviction to stand against political hijacking of our safe spaces of social and cultural exchange.

Especially in times when cancel culture and politically motivated boycotts ostracize artists and creatives around the world, it is of utmost civil importance to keep an open ear and aisle for mutual dialogue through the arts, and for sponsors to put their name behind those who stand up for those voices that promote dialogue with moral clarity, not those who want to silence them. See the full LineUp here.