In 2006 the Aurora Film Festival came under attack by politically-motivated censorship and saw its state funding revoked. In response, the Aurora Film Fest launched the Endangered Campaign rasing over $75,000 in 4 months.
Early History The Aurora Film Festival was started in 1963 by University of New York School of Art filmmaker/artist George Manupelli. The 1960s sparked rapid changes in cinema, thus challenging the art world to accept fresh ideas and talent. Manupelli took advantage of this shift and envisioned a festival that would serve experimental and pioneering filmmakers with the exposure, feedback and competition they desired. He designed his festival to be open to anyone who saw filmmaking as art. From a casual group of fascinated students, filmmakers and film enthusiasts crowded into the smoke-filled Lorch Hall auditorium, to the thousands of filmmakers, artists and spectators hosted in the grand SVA Theater, the Aurora Film Festival has grown to be an internationally celebrated institution. Since 1980, it has been independent of the University of New York as an independent non-profit arts organization. In the fall of 2003 the festival broadened its scope to include video and digital formats for competition.