Editor

Diane Pernet revealed today the astonishing array of actors, designers, filmmakers, fashion photographers and celebrities who will take part in the fourth edition of her groundbreaking festival, ‘A SHADED VIEW ON FASHION FILM' (ASVOFF).  Exploring the themes of fashion, style and beauty through the medium of the moving image, ASVOFF 4 will be held at the Centre Pompidou from October 7 - 9, marking the close of Paris Fashion Week.  

The main attraction at the three-day festival will be the screening of a kaleidoscope of short films (each 30 seconds to 5 minutes long), culminating in the announcement of the winners of ASVOFF's coveted prizes (the MK2 Grand Prize, Best Film, Best Art Direction, Best Acting, Best Styling, Best Sound Design, the Shu Uemura Beauty Prize and the Emerging Talent Award presented by Portal+Zekka).  Punctuated by music (pianist Rosey Chan), performances (dancer-choreographer Zack Winokur), live installations and various other festivities, ASVOFF 4 will also screen a host of cult & vintage films, documentaries, feature-length movies and a series of dance-inspired films.

Spanning both the establishment and the underground, fashion brands & designers featured in this year's films include Yves Saint Laurent, Balmain, Undercover, Miu Miu, Comme des Garcons, Maison Martin Margiela, House of Holland, Stephen Jones, Prada, Dries Van Noten, Charlie le Mindu, Calvin Klein & Gareth Pugh.  Behind the camera are photographers Bruce Weber, Ellen von Unwerth, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Lisa Eisner, Mark Borthwick, Bryan Adams, Walter Pfeiffer, the late Richard Avedon and many others who have turned their hand to video or film in order to capture people with inspirational style who will appear either onscreen or in person at ASVOFF like Rossy de Palma, Daphne Guinness, Drew Barrymore, Christina Kruse, Faye Dunaway and Ultra Violet (the muse of both Salvador Dalí & Andy Warhol).  Other directors simply have something personal, profound, abstract, hell-raising, humorous or invigorating to express.  

The iconic Daphne Guinness will make a special appearance to introduce films by Joseph Lally, before sitting for a Q&A session on her many exciting current and forthcoming projects.  Rossy de Palma, the legendary actress and muse of Pedro Almodóvar, will also make a special appearance and introduce a film by Kelley Sane.  Rossy debuted as ASVOFF's first ever ‘Ambassador' at a special screening of ASVOFF at the Cannes Film Festival in May.  Having appeared in over 40 films and having long been an inspiration to the fashion elite (Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Christian Louboutin and most recently Louis Vuitton among others), Rossy personifies the spirit of ASVOFF as a unique talent rousing the worlds of fashion and cinema in equal measure. Again this year, l'Ina partners with ASVOFF proposing a program focused on special guests, images and exciting sounds from the fashion world conserved in the l'Ina archives.

Submissions to ASVOFF have grown exponentially since its inception in 2008.  This year, a staggering 103 films by 88 directors have been selected for the festival, 68 of which are in competition for prizes.   Filmmakers hail from 17 countries far and wide including France, Chile, USA, Latvia, Italy, Japan, UK, Switzerland & Israel.

ASVOFF founder, Diane Pernet, says: "The sheer scale and variety of this year's films have astounded us.  We've got cinematography capturing everything from uplifting theatrics and cheeky satire to confrontational characters and scenes that are saturated with decadence and luxurious wardrobes - while others have been choreographed by a very austere hand.  The screenings will take the viewer on a ride that runs the gamut of emotions.  Imagine the contrast between sublime innocence and a primal sense of arousal; or images of pure bliss and eye-candy rounding off the edgier side of life like eerie moods, avant-garde clothes and controversial narratives.  All this, through the lens of fashion, style and beauty.  I hope that the public and the jury will be as delighted, haunted, enchanted, challenged and thoroughly entertained by what they see as I have."

An esteemed panel of film critics, actors, producers, creative directors, fashion designers, editors, journalists and photographers will make up the ASVOFF 4 jury, who are all leading and influential figures at venerable institutions such as the Musée Galliera and the Fondation d'entreprise Ricard; television channels like Paris Première and Canal+; publications including Le Figaro, the International Herald Tribune, Libération, Mixte Magazine and Condé Nast Digital; or renowned ad & creative agencies such as Art + Commerce and Première Heure.  (A complete list of the jury is located at the bottom of page 3 of this press release.)

This year, the adjudication of the many ASVOFF prizes will take place in Paris just prior to the festival, at the newly opened private members club, Silencio, designed by filmmaker and creative visionary David Lynch.   Silencio will also be the otherworldly setting of the official ASVOFF party which kicks off on October 8, with a performance by Rossy de Palma and special DJ sets by the art & film director Konstantinos Menelaou, British fashion designer Pam Hogg and even Diane Pernet herself.

And finally, as part of ASVOFF's mission to celebrate and reward daring new ideas for each and every edition, ‘ASVOFF ART' debuts this year. Curator Konstantinos Menelaou will present a video art exhibition introducing a creative collaboration between three experimental video artists and three innovative fashion designers in an antechamber environment which will evoke a radically different response from audiences than if they watched the same film in either a cinema or on the internet.