Ljubljana International Film Festival can be classified as a specialised competitive festival that features an overview of contemporary world film production, but also focuses on emerging directors and new trends in contemporary cinema.
With close to 50,000 tickets sold LIFFe is one of the biggest cultural events in Slovenia. One of the reasons for the growing interest are also the international guests (directors, actors, producers, etc.) who are visiting the festival each year in bigger numbers.
As many similar film festivals around the world the Festival focuses on young film makers in its main competitive section – the Perspectives section. Namely the section offers a thoughtful selection of first and second feature films from emerging young directors who have had their international première at important film festivals. The best film from that section, selected by the three-member international jury, is bestowed with the Kingfisher Award.
Other sections of LIFFe are: the Avant-premières section – the most commercially-oriented section since it includes major international productions from established directors that will be screened later in the commercial distribution; the King and Queens section – bringing a variety of works by renowned and awarded masters of contemporary cinema; the World Film Panorama – meant for festival favourites from all over the world; the Extravaganza section – bringing the so-called 'midnight cinema' to fans of daring, bizarre and titillating contents of diverse genres; the Focus section – offering an insight into one (or more) of the hottest national cinematographies; the Retrospective section – offering an overall presentation of the work by an important contemporary filmmaker; the Tribute section – bringing a short, condensed presentation of an author who has received a fair share of festival and media attention. The last two sections of LIFFe are the youngest ones since they were introduced only recently: the Kinobalon section – dedicated to the youngest audience as it offers a selection of films for children aged 7 to 14, carefully selected with the help of the Kinodvor Cinema staff; and the World in Short – a competitive section for short films by young film makers.
From 2008, when the World in Short section was introduced, a three-member international jury (each award has its own jury) bestows the Best Short Film Award. At the LIFFe the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) also has its own three-member jury and it selects the best film from all the works in the programme. Their award is called the FIPRESCI Award and with it they usually promote a fresh and innovative approach mostly (but not exclusively) among young or unknown film makers. The audience award is called the Dragon Award (first introduced in 2000 as the Golden Reel Award) and can be bestowed to any film on the programme; the winning film is later also commercially distributed in Slovene cinemas. Between 2005 and 2007 LIFFe also presented the Amnesty International Award (granted by Amnesty International Slovenia) but it was moved to the International Documentary Film Festival.
For several years now the number of screened films exceeds 100 and approximately 10 % of those are shorts. Around 250 official screenings take place each year (at least in recent years) – a large majority of them in Ljubljana and just some 10 % in Maribor – while just a little less than 50,000 tickets are sold.
The festival is followed by around 180 domestic and foreign journalists.