Flickers’, a nonprofit organization, was established in 1981 and is now stronger than ever at the age of 37. Flickers later gave way to the Rhode Island International Film Festival in 1997, which has now been around for 23 years and is one of the top ten film festivals in the world.

Generating 42 million followers and a festival that consolidated an audience within the greater public, Flickers’ is a force to be reckoned with. As New England’s only Oscar and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) qualifying film festival, the organization takes in thousands of films of year, that of which have to be reviewed and rated. The best films will find a place within one other organization’s festival, and there, if the films are good enough to receive a grand prize, they are submitted to awards shows like the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards and The Canadian Screen Awards. This year, two films that received the grand prize at RIIFF 2018 are in the running for Oscars this month, including “Marguerite” and “One Small Step.” 

To date, 72 films from RIIFF have been nominated since it has become a qualifying festival. This year, nine RIIFF films have received nominations. RIIFF is New England’s only qualifying Festival in all short film categories: live action, animation and documentary short. There have been ten Academy Award® wins, most recently with “The Silent Child,” a film that held its World Premiere at RIIFF in 2017.