Editor

Diane Pernet will welcome a host of iconic and inspirational figures from the creative industries as well as several exciting stars-in-the-making to the fifth anniversary edition of her festival, ‘A SHADED VIEW ON FASHION FILM’ (ASVOFF).  Actors, designers, filmmakers, artists, critics, entertainers, fashion photographers and celebrities will gather to celebrate ASVOFF's pioneering spirit, leadership and stamina as the world’s first and foremost film festival dedicated to fashion, style and beauty.  ASVOFF 5 will take place at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from November 9 – 11. 

Opening this year's festival will be a scintillating performance by Rossy de Palma, the legendary actress and muse of Pedro Almodóvar, who debuted as ASVOFF’s first ever ‘Ambassador’ at a special screening of ASVOFF at the Cannes Film Festival last year.  The main attraction at the three-day event will be the screening of a panorama of short films (each 30 seconds to 5 minutes long), in competition for ASVOFF’s coveted prizes (the MK2 Grand Prize, Emerging Talent Prize, Best Art Direction, Best Acting, Best Styling, Best Sound Design, the Beauty Prize and, for the first time ever, the Best Documentary Prize awarded by Portal+, a contemporary art gallery in Perth, Australia).

Fashion brands & designers featured in this year’s final selection of films include Alexander McQueen, Christian Dior, Christopher Raeburn, Louis Vuitton, Costume National, Charlie Le Mindu, Agent Provocateur, Fabergé, Gianfranco Ferre, Manish Arora, Diesel, Richard Nicoll,  Cassette Playa and Marni for H&M.  Behind the camera are directors Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Johan Renck, Alex Turvey, Joseph Lally; photographers Ellen von Unwerth, Solve Sundsbo, Alasdair MacLellan 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 Charlize Theron, Daphne Guinness, Faye Dunaway, Donatella Versace, Bip Ling, Anna Dello Russo, dancer Lil Buck, Coco Chanel biographer Edmonde Charles-Roux, supermodels such as Lara Stone, Lindsey Wixson & David Agbodji and model muse from the 70s, Viviane Fauny.  

The inimitable Daphne Guinness, whose birthday coincides with the opening of ASVOFF's fifth anniversary edition, has decided to mark both occasions by recording her first-ever song.  The highly anticipated release will be on a soundtrack for a film by Joseph Lally in which Guinness stars.  Rossy de Palma, who has appeared in over 40 films and has long been an inspiration to the fashion elite (Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Christian Louboutin and most recently Louis Vuitton among others), will also act as hostess for some of ASVOFF 5's attractions.  Mystery guest performers of live music and dance will add a rousing atmosphere to the installations, cult & vintage film screenings, documentaries and a selection of feature-length movies.

This year an astounding 500 fashion film submissions were made from 50 countries to ASVOFF 5, showing phenomenal growth and interest in ASVOFF since its inception in 2008

ASVOFF founder, Diane Pernet, says: "ASVOFF is witnessing the beginning of a real metamorphosis in the genre this year.  The motives for making fashion film and the resulting creations are becoming much more diverse, nuanced and mature.  Until recently, the approach to fashion film was quite polarised.  Some were engaging with the medium as purely an artistic endeavour rather than as an applied art.  Others tackled the genre with a flagrant commercial impulse and only considered artistry as an afterthought.  After pouring over thousands of submissions in the past five years that we've been doing ASVOFF, I'm now seeing more and more films that successfully marry both art and commerce—much in the same way that fashion photography did all those years ago when it also finally came of age as a distinct genre.  There's no doubt in my mind that this has been a watershed year for fashion film and that we'll see it boom and blossom in the year ahead."

An esteemed panel of film critics, actors, producers, directors, fashion designers, musicians, journalists, photographers and entertainment industry veterans will make up the ASVOFF 5 jury, who are all leading and influential figures at:  venerable institutions such as the V&A Museum and the The Film Society of Lincoln Center; television channel Arte and film distributor MK2; publications including W Magazine and Style.com.  The renowned Hollywood film critic and prolific author, Emanuel Levy, who has served on the jury of over 40 international film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Rome, Montreal, San Francisco, Taormina and Shanghai will also be on this year's ASVOFF jury. (A complete list of the ASVOFF 5 jury as of day of release is located at the bottom of page 3).

To mark ASVOFF's fifth anniversary Diane Pernet has also launched a special project, which involves highly influential figures in art, music and cinema who choose their five favourite "fashion film moments" of all time as part of the ASVOFF F5 Series.  All will be revealed during the forthcoming ASVOFF 5 festivities in what Pernet only hints will be "a feast for the eyes and food for thought too".

ABOUT ASVOFF
Since its launch in 2008, ASVOFF (www.asvoff.com) has gained critical acclaim for encouraging both emerging and established artists to reconsider the way that fashion is presented and for challenging the conventional parameters of film.   ASVOFF debuts in Paris during fashion week and tours the globe with subsequent screenings at prestigious institutions and events like the Guggenheim, the Barbican, Art Basel Miami, CaixaForum Barcelona and the Cannes Film Festival in a host of creative capitals such as New York, London, Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Mexico City.  ASVOFF is not only a competition of short fashion, style and beauty films but also a travelling international event showcasing feature films, documentaries, conferences, performances and installations – making it a must-see on both the fashion calendar and the film circuit.  Genre-bending and groundbreaking, it has already brought together such illustrious names as Chris Cunningham, Tilda Swinton, Nick Knight, Erwin Olaf, Róisín Murphy, Nobuyoshi Araki, Steven Klein, Mike Figgis, Chloë Sevigny, Max Vadukul, Bruce Weber, Dita Von Teese, Ryan McGinley, Steven Meisel, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Lisa Eisner, Mark Borthwick, Ellen von Unwerth,  Bryan Adams, Walter Pfeiffer, Rossy de Palma, Daphne Guinness, Drew Barrymore, Christina Kruse, Faye Dunaway and Ultra Violet as well as fashion heavyweights Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Comme des Garcons, Maison Martin Margiela, Lanvin, Stephen Jones, Gucci,  Prada, Miu Miu, Dries Van Noten, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Yohji Yamamoto, Rodarte, Charlie le Mindu, Gareth Pugh, House of Holland, Balmain, Undercover, Sergio Rossi, Hussein Chalayan and Mr. Pearl.

ABOUT DIANE PERNET

Diane Pernet is a world-renowned fashion critic and video journalist based in Paris. Previously a photographer and fashion designer, she now acts as documentary filmmaker, talent scout and fashion blogger on her site, A SHADED VIEW ON FASHION (www.asvof.com), which since its inception in 2005 has become a ‘must-read’ in fashion and creative industry circles.  Pernet was recognised in 2008 for being a pioneer in digital media when she was chosen as one of three influential global bloggers to take part in a panel celebrating a seminal fashion exhibition at New York’s venerated Metropolitan Museum of Art.  As one of the most recognisable faces in fashion, she has also been captured on the other side of the movie camera through cameo appearances in Robert Altman’s film, ‘Prêt-à-Porter’ and in Roman Polanski’s ‘The Ninth Gate’.  While contributing to some of the most highly-acclaimed fashion magazines and pioneering online media, Pernet launched ASVOFF in 2008.  As the founder of the world’s first film festival dedicated to fashion, style and beauty, she is widely considered to have incubated the ‘fashion film’ from its infancy to the popular genre that it is becoming today.  Pernet is not only credited with providing the first platform of its kind for the ‘fashion film’ genre to evolve and flourish, but also with helping ‘fashion film’ fulfil many of its early promises which were to revolutionize the fashion industry, breathe life into static photography, offer a new outlet to filmmakers – and to trigger several important commercial, business and digital media opportunities across the fashion and movie industries.

ASVOFF 5 COMPLETE JURY LIST (at time of press release)

Emanuel Levy, Ph.D., Film Critic & Author of Nine Books on Film; jury member for over 40 international film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Rome, Montreal, San Francisco, Taormina, Shanghai, etc.
Tim Blanks, Style.com, Editor-at-Large

Glenn Adamson, V & A Museum, Head of Research

Colin McDowell, Fashion Writer & Author

Elisha Karmitz, Multimedia Director of MK2
Stefano Tonchi, W magazine, Editor-in-Chief
Marian Masone, Associate Director of Programming, The Film Society of Lincoln Center

Fabrice Rebois, Co-director of Arte television network

Maria Luisa Poumaillou, Fashion Buyer, Maria Luisa in Printemps

Marc Audibet, Fashion Designer

Joseph Ghosn, Obsession magazine, Editor-in-Chief

Philippe Cohen Solal (aka Gotan Project), Musician
Emmanuel Asmar, Entertainment Lawyer

Michel Gaubert, Sound Designer & DJ
Rossy de Palma, Actress

Rain Li, Director

Orlan, Artist

Benedetta Barzini, Actress & Model

Dominique Issermann, Photographer