Monaco Film Festival

Monte Carlo is proving to be quite the leader in hosting world-class events and is fast making a name for herself that transcends its reputation for James Bond film settings and one of the hottest vacation spots in the world.

Within the last decade, Monaco has set her sights on producing and sponsoring one-of-a-kind international events like the Monaco Charity Film Festival, the Monaco Grand Prix, and the Top Marques Monaco car show. Their efforts have paid off in spectacular and growing numbers of visitors, sponsors and participants.

The year 2007 offers the second Monaco Charity Film Festival, a venue that brings worldwide attention to new, emerging filmmakers as well as raising money to help impoverished and abandoned children around the world. This dual-focus event transcends the Cannes Film Festival in its humanitarian efforts and scope, and provides a wide variety of film workshops to gifted men and women from around the globe.

The Monaco Charity Film Festival 2007 will take place May 14-19 in multiple locations around the delightful principality, including the Casino de Monaco and the Hotel de Paris, providing elegant backgrounds for the hopes of international talents. Directors, actors, writers and the creative talents of those who transform ideas into film from around the world are converging on Monaco for the second annual film festival that has already taken the entertainment industry by storm.

In the span of two short years, the festival has grown in reputation and loyalty. Founder Vincent-Andres Zaragosa says of the second upcoming anniversary festival, "We are fortunate that our festival takes place in such a culturally dynamic principality… and with this in mind, our intention is to ensure that the festival continues to consolidate its position as a vibrant, world-class event."

Offering independent films, documentaries, and full length features, the Monaco Charity Film Festival offers visitors and viewers from around the world a glimpse into the untapped talents of film makers from around the world, and awards for best film, director, actor and promising film makers of the future. Awards are presented this year at the Charity Gala Dinner at the Hotel de Paris, Salle Empire, while His Royal Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco hosts the entire event.

As both an entertainment and economic forum, the event serves to attract the eyes of the world to the educational, medical and housing needs of children everywhere. This year, heads of state from around the world have been invited to attend the festival, including those from the United States, Bahrain, Rwanda, Jordan and the Philippines, as well as Ambassadors from dozens of other countries around the globe. Participants of the Monaco Charity Film Festival can expect the event to continue to grow in both scope and size while at the same time remaining grounded in its prime efforts to address serious global issues that affect every nation in the world.

Closing night festivities will include a charity auction and a fashion show by Italian designer Mirco Giovannin, of Yoon Couture. The seven-day film festival events will also include opening night festivities as well as live performances, parties galore and, of course, multiple film screenings and workshops.

Money earned at the festival is donated to charities led by the Prince of Monaco, who focuses his efforts on the plight of poor children of the world. This unique approach helps to address world poverty, and proceeds are donated to ISS (International Social Services UK), the Fonds Méditerranéen pour la Culture et l'Environment, Project Artist, a prisoner's rehabilitation program, and the Pentium Fund Foundation.

Visitors who arrive for the second anniversary festival event will more than likely remain to witness another world-class event that takes place in Monaco the following week on May 25-27, the Monaco Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious Formula One racing events in the world.

So move over, Cannes, the Monaco Charity Film Festival has made its presence known and is here to stay.

For a guide to Monaco and Monte Carlo including Monaco banks and hotels in Monte Carlo visit YourMonaco.com