Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) announced its 28th edition titled Pause taking place from May 30-June 8, in-person at Windmill Studios in Greenpoint. Additional screenings will be held on June 2 through June 5 at the Wythe Hotel Cinema in Williamsburg. BFF will also run online via the festival’s website from May 31-June 8 (24/7).

BFF, a Canadian Screen Award qualifying festival, received 3,270 films from 130 Countries for its 28th edition, and will program the selected films into 43, two-hour program blocks. The 2025 film lineup will include 160 film premieres.

BFF divides films into six categories: Feature Narrative, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Experimental, and Animation. Among all selected films, BFF awards 30 films/filmmakers and gives away prizes totaling $50,000 in total value (cash, products, and services).

BFF’s selection criteria, a 28-year-old set of rules, constitute the true festival’s trademark: participating films cannot be older than two years; films are selected from submissions only; all films in the festival participate in the award competition. Even the smallest film can win the top festival award: the Grand Chameleon.

Pause is the theme of the 28th Brooklyn Film Festival. “In a world of distractions, pop-up notifications, infinite scrolling with fabricated truths, content that demands constant attention, what if the solution isn’t more noise, but a Pause,” said festival Director, Marco Ursino. “The 28th BFF plans to grab the audience’s attention amongst the chaos, and underscore the relief associated with smart, honest, quality screen time and the clarity that comes from taking a break, finding focus, and tuning in.”