Buffalo International Film Festival

The Buffalo International Film Festival was founded in 2006, and takes place in October of each year in Buffalo, New York. It is also known as the Buffalo Film Festival.

History

The film festival became a 501c3 not-for-profit charity in January 2005.

In 2007 it was responsible for the discovery of the Vitascope Theater, part of Edisonia Hall, the first purpose-built movie theater in the world which opened in 1896. The festival now sponsors a yearly event celebrating the creation of the Movie Theater in Buffalo.

It also made Buffalo the first city in the world to declare UNESCO World Day for Audio-Visual Heritage.

In 2013 the BIFF hosted a meet and greet book signing with children's author Keith White Jr. for the screenings of Magic Camp and Dear Mr. Watterson. White was again present at the 2014 BIFF.

Board

Current board members include: Tammy McGovern (Chair), Paige Sarlin (Vice Chair), Keith Poplawski (Secretary), Meg Knowles (Treasurer), Michael Faust (Member), LeRoi Johnson (Member), Annette Daniels Taylor (Member), and Renee Russell (Emeritus), Renée M. Saracki (Emeritus).

Previous board advisors have included: Tom Fontana, Lauren Belfer, Lawrence Block, A.R. Gurney, Nancy Kress, Herbert Hauptman, Jim Steranko, Howard Bloom, Edward Summer, Lloyd Kaufman, David Shire, Mort Walker, Bill Prady and others.

Staff

Staff members include: Anna Scime (Executive Director), John J. Fink (Artistic Director), Ana Grujić (Marketing + Outreach Coordinator), Myari Ware (Platform Strategist), Elizabeth Dunning (ASI Springboard Fellow).

Not-for-profit activities

Its other activities include: The Buffalo Film Society (founded 2008) along with the Niagara Falls Film Society, Buffalo-Niagara Film Society; the New York State Movie Theater Corridor (founded 2006); The Buffalo Walk of Fame (founded 2006); The Buffalo Movie Hall of Fame (founded 2006); The Buffalo; and the Buffalo Cinematheque.

Awards and screenings

2007

The inaugural festival was June 13, 2007 and included "Student Films Across America."

2008

In 2008, it screened more than 25 films including regional and national premieres. These screenings included a Harold Lloyd Film Retrospective (with personal appearance by Suzanne Lloyd) and "Hollywood 39" a retrospective of great Hollywood movies from 1939.

2009

It holds a Spring Gala and Fall Festival. In 2009, the Spring Gala was a celebration of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse arranged through The Walt Disney Company.

The third annual festival, Buffalo Film Festival 2009, ran from October 9–27, 2009 and included 18 films from all over the world and 16 guests who presented them including Abigail Disney, Rick Schmidlin, Charles Band, Dwayne Buckle, David Heeley, Ray Bradbury, J.B. Kaufman, Mary Pat Kelly It included the First Annual Al Boasberg Comedy Award given in honor of famed comedy writer Al Boasberg who was born in Buffalo.

• World Premiere: Kate and Fred: Hepburn and Astaire directed by David Heeley and Joan Kramer
• Western New York Premiere: The Minority directed by Dwayne Buckle
• Western New York Premiere: Pray the Devil Back to Hell co-directed by Abigail Disney
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Writing - Larry Gelbart
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Writing - Joseph Stein
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Writing - Everett Greenbaum
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Performance - Kathleen Howard
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Art and Writing - Harvey Kurtzman

2010

The fourth Annual Buffalo International Film Festival ran from October 1–10, 2010. 60 films were screened.

• World Premiere: God's Land directed by Preston Miller
• New York State Premiere: Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture directed by Mark Richard Smith
• New York State Premiere: Hard Four directed by Charles Dennis
• New York State Premiere: Superstonic Sound directed by Raphael Erichsen
• Western New York Premiere: La Soga directed by Josh Crook
• Western New York Premiere: Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang (World Day for AudioVisual Heritage Screening)
• Western New York Premiere: Waking Sleeping Beauty directed by Don Hahn
• Special Screening: Temple Grandin directed by Mick Jackson (exclusive theatrical, benefit screening)
• Al Boasberg Comedy Award—Lifetime Achievement in Comedy Performance Sid Caesar

2011

Approximately 80 films were screened. Audience Awards were given for the first time.

• World Premiere: ' directed by Katina Dunn

Audience Award

• Winner: '

2012

In 2012, 70 films were screened at three locations including The Screening Room, Amherst, NY; Historic Lockport Palace Theatre, Lockport, NY; Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, Buffalo, NY.

Audience Awards given.

Best of Festival

• TIE – Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (UK, France) Gilles Penso, Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation
• TIE – Starry, Starry Night (Taiwan) Tom Lin Shu-yu, ChinaLion

Best Drama

• First Place: Starry, Starry Night (Taiwan) Tom Lin Shu-yu, ChinaLion
• Second Place: Extraterrestrial (Extraterrestre) (Spain) NachoVigalondo, Arsenico Producciones/Tugg
• Third Place: A Case of Deceit (Canada)

Best Documentary

• First Place: ' (UK, France) Gilles Penso, Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation
• Second Place: Somewhere Between (USA) Linda Goldstein Knowlton, Longshot Factory
• Third Place: ' (work-in-progress) (USA) Michael Rossato-Bennett, Ximotion Media

Animation

• First Place: My Neighbor Totoro (Japan) Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli

Foreign Language Film

• First Place: Starry, Starry Night (Taiwan) Tom Lin Shu-yu, ChinaLion
• Second Place: Extraterrestrial (Extraterrestre) (Spain) Nacho, Vigalondo, Arsenico Producciones/Tugg

Best Science Fiction

• First Place: Extraterrestrial (Extraterrestre) (Spain) Nacho Vigalondo, Arsenico Producciones/Tugg

Best Short Film – International

• First Place: Behind the Concrete (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)

"2012 Best of Buffalo"

(all films in this category are made by filmmakers from Buffalo and Western New York)

Feature Film

• First Place: Zeus

Short film

• First Place: Take It Off – Anna Van Valin
• Second Place: Viral Video
• Honorable Mention: Feeble Attraction; Exit 7A

2015

Best Narrative Feature

• Gold Bison: Oblivion Season (Iran) directed by Abbas Rafei
• Special Jury Prize: Abby Singer/Songwriter (USA) directed by Onur Tukel

Best WNY Feature

• Gold Bison: Emelie (USA) directed by Michael Thelin
• Special Jury Prize: Prescient (Singapore, USA) directed by Hann-Shi Lem

Best Feature Documentary

• Gold Bison: A Courtship (USA) directed by Amy Kohn
• Special Jury Prize: Aspie Seeks Love

Audience Award

• Gold Bison: ...In The Dark (USA) directed by David Spaltro

Best Short Film

• Gold Bison: I Scream Your Name
• Special Jury Prize: Royal Women's Association

Best WNY Short

• Gold Bison: Long John
• Special Jury Prize: Aleatories From an Echo

Best WNY Student Film

• Gold Bison: Mer Depre
• Special Jury Prize: Locomotion

Supersnipe Award

• Gold Bison: Detectives of Noir Town

2021

Best Narrative Feature

• Beans directed by Tracy Deer

Best WNY Feature

• Catch The Fair One Directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka

Best Feature Documentary

• Workhorse Queen directed by Angela Washko

BIFF Boundary Breaker Award

• We Burn like This directed by Alana Waksman
• This Bank of The River directed by Shoaib Sultan

Audience Award

• 100 Years From Mississippi directed by Tarabu Betserai Kirkland

Best WNY Short

• directed by Dorothea Braemer & Steve Peraza

Best WNY Student Film

• Bond directed by Simon Yahn

Best Documentary Short

• Ancient Sunshine directed by Jason Livingston

Best Narrative Short

• Feeling Through directed by Doug Roland

Best Episodic

• Cary in Retrograde directed by Philipp Yaw & Priya Domfeh

Best Animated Film

• Nuevo Rico directed by Kristian Mercado

2022

Best Narrative Feature

• Relative directed by Michael Glover Smith

Best WNY Feature

• Bunker directed by Adrian Langley

Best Feature Documentary

• Terrible Children directed Shanti Thakur

BIFF Boundary Breaker Award

• A Rising Fury directed by Lesya Kalynska and Ruslan Batytskyi
• Bashira directed by Nickson Fong

Special Jury Prize

• The Rules of LaCrosse directed by Joanne Storkan

Best Episodic Project

• Mashed directed by Stacey Maltin

Best Animated Film

• Lock the Gate directed by Sarah Lynn Galasso

Best Short Film

• Colony Collapse Disorder directed by Amos Hozman

Best WNY Short

• I'll Find a Way or Make One directed by Rebecca Fasanello and Teresa Castillo

Best Documentary Short

• Winter 1984 directed by Tony Buba

Best WNY Student Film

• Falling Up directed by Davis Cameron Chu

Tilke Hill Work-in-Progress Award

• Diane Jones

2023

Best experimental film

• Maria Schneider,1983 directed by Elisabeth Subrin

Best narrative feature – domestic

• Fancy Dance directed by Erica Tremblay

Best narrative feature – global

• Alien Food directed by Giorgio Cugno

Best wny feature

• 98 Degrees West - Zamir Discovers Bourdain's America directed by Stephen R. Powell

Best wny short

• The Cookbook directed by Pedro Chaves

Biff audience award

• If You Were the Last directed by Kristian Mercado

Biff boundary breaker award – feature

• Only The Good Survive directed by Dutch Southern

Biff boundary breaker award – short

• Boiling Over directed by Paulo Miranda

Best narrative short – domestic

• Gone Before Your Eyes directed by Cara Yeates

Best documentary feature – domestic

• A Thousand Pines directed by Sebastián Díaz + Noam Osband

Best documentary feature – global

• Aurora's Sunrise directed by Inna Sahakyan

Best documentary short – domestic

• Blue Room directed by Merete Mueller

Best documentary short – global

• ISTÉN:'A directed by KJ Edwards

Best animated film

• Not So Ordinary directed by Jessica Millace Fisher

Best episodic

• Nanny directed by Olzhas Ermerbaev

Best wny student film

• A Life In Boxes directed by Tayton T. Troidl

Tilke hill w.i.p. award winner

• MEREDITH VIVIAN

2024

Best experimental film

• Adidas Owns Reality directed by Keil Orion Troisi + Igor Vamos

Best wny feature

• A Witch Lives in the Attic directed by Lilith Crimi

Best wny short

• Portland is the New Portland directed by Christopher Scamurra

Best narrative feature – domestic

• Tallywacker directed by Brendan Boogie

Best narrative feature – global

• Just a Farmer directed by Simon Lyndon

Best narrative short – domestic

• Hello Goodbye directed by Chris Lee

Best narrative short – global

• The Masterpiece directed by Àlex Lora

Best documentary feature – domestic

• Demon Mineral directed by Hadley Austin

Best documentary feature – global

• A Picture to Remember directed by Olga Chernykh

Best documentary short – domestic

• How to Sue the Klan directed by John Beder

Best documentary short – global

• Enchukonoto / The Return directed by Laissa Malih

Best animated film

• Birds of A Feather directed by Katie Cobos

Best episodic project

• Cinching Saddles directed by Aman Pannu + Kevin Sengara

Best wny student film

• The Waiting Room Directed by Jahaad Shairi

Biff boundary breaker award – short

• Lip Virgin directed by Shimrit Eldis

Biff boundary breaker award – feature

• Tre Regole Infallibili / Three infallible Rules directed by Marco Gianfredi

Biff audience award – narrative

• Skeet directed by Nik Sexton

Biff audience award – documentary

• Songs From The Hole directed by Contessa Gayles

References

External links

• The Buffalo International Film Festival