Brooklyn Film Festival’s 22nd edition: THE GATHERING, wrapped on Sunday with Sanctuary directed by Andrea Cordoba picking up the coveted best of the fest Grand Chameleon Award. Anas Tolba’s Between Two Seas won Best Narrative Feature and Andrea Cordoba’s Sanctuary took home the award for Best Feature Documentary.
The thriller Use Me from award-winning film maker, director and actor Julian Shaw will have its world premiere at this year’s Brooklyn Film Festival. Use Me will World Premiere on Sunday, June 2nd with a second screening on Monday, June 3rd.
RocKabul directed by Australian filmmaker Travis Beard examines the counter culture campaign that the US government waged in Afghanistan, told through the eyes of a young band in the war torn capital of Kabul, where rock music is forbidden.
The World Premiere of Claudia Myers’ Above the Shadows starring Olivia Thirlby, Alan Ritchson, Jim Gaffigan and Megan Fox will kick off the 2019 Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) on Friday, May 31st. Over the course of the 10-day festival, the film lineup for the 22nd edition: THE GATHERING will showcase 133 features and shorts from over 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica.
After receiving a record number of 2,659 films from 100 countries, Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) has closed submissions for its 2019 edition: THE GATHERING. The festival will select 120 film premieres to be announced in May. The films are divided in six categories: Feature Narrative, Feature Doc, Short Narrative, Short Doc, Experimental and Animation.
Breach directed by Lorenzo Monti[/caption]
Breach directed by Lorenzo Monti picked up the coveted best of the fest Grand Chameleon Award, as well as Best Experimental Film at the Brooklyn Film Festival’s 21st edition: THRESHOLD, which wrapped on Sunday. Felipe Vara de Rey’s Nosotros won Best Narrative Feature and Sarah Menzies’ Afghan Cycles took home the award for Best Feature Documentary.
“It has been a wonderful festival. Everything we were hoping would happen, actually did,” said Marco Ursino, Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director. “We envisioned this edition as a sanctuary where people of different backgrounds and cultures could have an honest and civilized conversation stimulated by 119 projects which, I feel, did bring back interest in politics and in the social condition of people who live so far away and yet experience the same things we are going through here in the U.S.”
This year’s festival was comprised of 119 features and shorts from 30 countries spread over six continents. The lineup included 19 world premieres, 21 USA bows, 37 east coast debuts and 30 first-time screenings in NYC.
Nosotros[/caption]
Best Narrative Feature – NOSOTROS by FELIPE VARA DE REY
Best Documentary Feature – AFGHAN CYCLES by SARAH MENZIES
Best Short Documentary – GIVE by DAVID DE ROZAS
Best Narrative Short – COUNTERFEIT KUNKOO by REEMA SENGUPTA
Best Animation – LA MORT, PERE & FILS by PARONNAUD VINCENT and WALTGENWITZ DENIS
Best Experimental – BREACH by LORENZO MONTI
Best New Director – BROTHERS by BRAM SCHOUW
Best Brooklyn Project – ONE BEDROOM by DARIEN SILLS-EVANS
Following a new generation of young Afghan women cyclists, the documentary Afghan Cycles uses the bicycle to tell a story of women’s rights – human rights – and the struggles faced by Afghan women on a daily basis, from discrimination to abuse, to the oppressive silencing of their voices in all aspects of contemporary society. These women ride despite cultural barriers, despite infrastructure, and despite death threats, embracing the power and freedom that comes with the sport. Afghan Cycles will have its East Coast premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival, screening on June 7 and 8, 2018.
Focusing on local impact, Afghan Cycles is partnering with local organizations Women for Afghan Women, Get Women Cycling, Bicycle Habitat, BikeStyle and Girls on Bikes. On Thursday, June 7, Get Women Cycling will be hosting a group ride to the screening, and following the screening on Friday June 8, the partner organizations will join Afghan Cycles Director Sarah Menzies for a panel discussion following the film.
“The women in this film represent the positive impact that sports can have in oppressive societies. Cycling has empowered these women to get around more freely and independently when they would otherwise have to rely on a man. This is not unique to Afghanistan. In fact, in many countries women do not have the freedom of mobility and are dependent on men to travel safely,” says Menzies. “This brave group of Afghan women are challenging that type of traditional thinking that is quite prevalent throughout the world, and by telling their story, we hope that it inspires more women to get on bicycles internationally.”
The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) will kick off the 2018 festival with a selection of short documentaries from The New York Times’ Times Documentaries co-presented with a mix of BFF’s animated and experimental films for the opening night program of the festival’s 21st edition: THRESHOLD. The event will take place on Friday, June 1st at Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the BFF and the Times Documentaries filmmakers, and will be moderated by Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director Marco Ursino.
“This will be an evening truly experimental in nature,” said Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director Marco Ursino. “The catch is that we are inviting, and at times, forcing the audience in and out of reality. And at times it is a painful reality. The emotional rollercoaster this strategy will trigger is both fun and harsh, but certainly unforgettable. Our goal is to offer in one single evening as many nuances our mind can conceive and to provoke a meaningful conversation between the filmmakers and the audience. 2018 must become the time of healthy, intense and real communication among people of different backgrounds and cultures. We all need that and look forward to it.”
“It’s a cool and somewhat unexpected mix of subjects and film styles, which speaks to the breadth of video journalism at the Times and what it means to favor story over format,” said said Mona El-Naggar, Senior Producer of enterprise video at the Times and one of the filmmakers whose work is showing on opening night. “It’s always a privilege to be able to engage directly with your audience, to be in the same room and have a conversation. There’s a quality to that experience, which is often lost in the scattered space of online consumption.”
The opening night film program comes on the heels of BFF announcing its film lineup last week. Like an aircraft entering the threshold on runway “21,” BFF takes off on Friday, June 1st at returning venue: Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. Over the course of the 10-day festival, BFF proudly presents film programs at Wythe Hotel, nearby returning venue Windmill Studios in Greenpoint, and five more screening venues throughout Brooklyn.
This year’s festival is comprised of approximately 125 features and shorts from 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica. The lineup includes 19 world premieres, 21 USA bows, 37 east coast debuts and 30 first-time screenings in NYC. The festival will present in total 36 short narrative films, 16 short documentary films, 25 animated films and 20 experimental films.
Birds Without Feathers[/caption]
The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) today announced the film lineup for its 21st edition: THRESHOLD which kicks off on Friday, June 1st at returning venue: Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. This year’s festival is comprised of approximately 125 features and shorts from 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica. The lineup includes 19 world premieres, 21 USA bows, 37 east coast debuts and 30 first-time screenings in NYC. In addition to the feature narratives and documentary films highlighted in this release, the festival will present 36 short narrative films, 16 short documentary films, 25 animated films and 20 experimental films.
“Division, bigotry, the wall, Trump. WTF? But luckily, some great things usually come from bad times,” said Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director Marco Ursino. “The Spanish Civil War gave us the Guernica; the NYC defaults in the 70’s gave us the best graffiti in the world. Even the Great Depression gave us swing dancing. It doesn’t matter how bad it looks, art always wins. In the middle of this undeniably appalling time in American history, Brooklyn Film Festival aims to amplify the voices of its films and filmmakers by shedding light, spreading love and celebrating diversity.”
https://vimeo.com/268424122
The festival will run from June 1 through June 10 at two main venues: Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg and Windmill Studios in Greenpoint. Additional programming will be presented on June 5 at Syndicated in Bushwick and on June 8 at UnionDocs in Williamsburg. On June 6 and 9, BFF will present a total of five shows at Made in NY Media Center by IFP in Dumbo, where it will also present the 14th annual kidsfilmfest on June 2.
https://vimeo.com/268439683
On June 4, BFF welcomes CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism with a block of short documentaries at the Alamo Theater in downtown Brooklyn. The evening starts at 6pm with a special presentation and mixer on the Alamo’s rooftop deck for filmmakers and audience members interested in learning more about the documentary program at CUNY. Showtime starts at 8:30 pm with a special screening of student work from CUNY followed by the block of short documentaries curated by BFF Short Doc Programmer Brandon Harrison. Stick around after the screening for the presentation of the inaugural CUNY Best Short Doc Award.
On June 9, the 7th annual BFF Exchange (BFFX) program will be hosted at Kickstarter in Greenpoint. Join us for an afternoon of informative and interesting panels of, by and for filmmakers. This year, the festival will host two discussion panels, Women Working “Below the Line” and Film Finance in the US and Latin America. BFF will continue the “Lunching with Lawyers” session and the ever-popular BFFX documentary pitch session. And in an effort to bridge the city of Brooklyn with Mexico, BFFX will feature as special guest Mexico City’s film commissioner Mauricio Aguinaco. All BFFX events are free of charge, but require an RSVP.
Below is a partial line-up of films from the Narrative and Documentary Features sections. To view the full film line up.
Brooklyn Film Festival has officially closed submissions for its 2018 edition: THRESHOLD. The 2018 festival will run from June 1 through June 10, 2018, at two main venues: Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg and Windmill Studios in Greenpoint.
In addition to the two main venues, additional programming will be presented on June 5 at Syndicated in Bushwick and on June 8 at UnionDocs in Williamsburg. On June 6 and 9, BFF will present a total of five shows at Made in NY Media Center by IFP in Dumbo, where it will also present the 14th annual kidsfilmfest on June 2. On June 9, the 7th annual BFF Exchange program will be hosted by Kickstarter in Greenpoint and on June 4, BFF will be hosted by Alamo Drafthouse in Downtown Brooklyn. Additional programming and networking events will be announced at a later date.
BFF Executive Director Marco Ursino said of the 2018 edition, “This will be a special year: we are finally 21! We start seeing things for what they really are, although it doesn’t take a genius to see that we are living in pretty challenging times! Division, bigotry, the wall, Trump…but luckily, some great things usually come from bad times. For example, the Spanish Civil War gave us the Guernica; the NYC defaults in the 70’s gave us the best graffiti in the world. Even the Great Depression gave us swing dancing. It doesn’t matter how bad it looks, art always wins. And this year’s festival is not going to be the exception. In the middle of this undeniably appalling time in American history, directors, actors, producers and the festival want their voices heard. Bad times make great art. And if so, this year’s Brooklyn Film Festival should be amazing.”
BFF received a total of 2,584 films from 120 countries and will select roughly 130 film premieres to be announced in May. The films are divided in six categories: Feature Narrative, Feature Doc, Short Narrative, Short Doc, Experimental and Animation.
In each of the six film categories, BFF’s judges will select Best Film, Spirit Award and Audience Award winners. From all the six categories combined, BFF will award one of each of the following: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Composer, Best Editor, Best Cinematographer, Best Screenplay Writer, Best Producer, Best New Director and Best Brooklyn Project. BFF will assign to the winning filmmakers over $50,000 in prizes (products, services and cash).
LUPE UNDER THE SUN by RODRIGO REYES[/caption]
Lupe Under The Sun, a film inspired by the life of the director’s own grandfather and shot with a cast of non-actors in real locations won the top prizes at the Brooklyn Film Festival. The film directed by Rodrigo Reyes, won the Grand Chameleon Award and the prize for Best Narrative Feature. A Cambodian Spring by Chris Kelly , and An Insignificant Man by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla shared the award for Best Documentary.
Catherine Eaton’s The Sounding received the Audience award for Feature Narrative while the East Coast premiere of Kyle Eaton’s Shut Up Anthony grabbed the Spirit award for Feature Narrative.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better 20th anniversary! Everything fell into place as if it was always meant to be great from the start. A perfect combination of solid practical experience and pure magic,” said Marco Ursino, BFF Executive Director.
The Brooklyn Film Festival awarded the winners a total of $60,000 in prizes (products, services, and cash).
