Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) returns for its 27th edition: Immersion, from May 31-June 9, in-person at Windmill Studios in Greenpoint with additional screenings being held on June 3-June 6, at the Wythe Hotel Cinema in Williamsburg.
BFF, a Canadian Screen Award qualifying festival, received 3,351 films, a festival record, from 103 Countries for its 27th edition, and will program the selected films into 42, two-hour program blocks. The 2024 film lineup will include 150 total film screenings, of which almost all are premieres.
BFF divides films into six categories: Feature Narrative, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Short Documentary, Experimental, and Animation. BFF’s selection criteria, a 27-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.
“Immersion is the theme of the 27th Brooklyn Film Festival. A theme that reveals the festival intention and the desire of our selected filmmakers to tell stories in a vertical fashion. Stories that dive way beyond the surface to force the audience to consider not only the obvious outcomes and meanings, but also the hidden and secret ones,” said the festival director, Marco Ursino. “In the extremely complex historical and political moment that we are experiencing, we need to understand the truth of things. BFF believes in the truthful spirit of indie filmmakers, and this year we offer the opportunity of a collective immersion, triggered by the film programs, the Q&As at the end of the screenings, the various networking parties, and the infinite chats on social media. We look forward to share with the filmmakers, the media, and the audience our true hopes and inner dreams. Enjoy the immersion.”
BFF also announced that the 20th Annual KidsFilmFest (KFF) will be staged on-line only for this year’s festival. All KFF films will be available online for almost the entire festival (June 1-Jun 9). The program is rated “G” and consists of numerous animated shorts, documentaries, and live-action films.
The Programmers
Feature Narrative Programmer: Michael Barringer is a writer, director, and educator based in Brooklyn. Michael was the narrative shorts programmer for BFF 2022/2023, and he couldn’t be more excited to join the team again for 2024 as the narrative feature programmer. He teaches screenwriting and film production at ESRA International Film School and Atlantic Acting School. He recently successfully pursued an MFA in directing at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College.
Feature Documentary Programmer: Sam Plakun has over a decade of experience in the documentary film space, working primarily in programming, festival management, marketing and outreach. For seven years, Sam served as the Program Manager for The DC Environmental Film Festival, and has held positions with DC/DOX Film Festival and the DC Shorts Film Festival. Her industry experience has earned her a spot on award juries for numerous festivals, including the Bozcaada International Festival of Documentary, Indie Street Film Festival and the Green Film Network. Sam earned a degree in Media Arts for Social Justice from Pitzer College, a member of the Claremont Consortium in Southern California, now a proud resident of Washington, D.C.
Short Narrative Programmer: Aniko Kovecsi is a New York-based film programmer and festival manager. She has worked with film festivals internationally as managing director, programmer, grant evaluator and screening committee member, including at Verzio Documentary Film Festival(Hungary), NewFest (New York), and New York Film Festival, among others. Aniko studied and holds qualifications in human rights, liberal arts and arts management from Central European University, Bard College and New York University. She has a passion for shorts and nonfiction film and is interested in the correlation of visual arts, difficult history, and memory, particularly in Indigenous and LGBTQ+ contexts. Aniko is also an art educator and has taught courses at the New York Historical Society and Blinken Open Society Archives.
Short Documentary Programmer: Nanor Vosgueritchian is a writer and film programmer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an M.A. in Cinema Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. from the American University of Beirut. She has worked in film distribution, literary editing, and programming for various festivals, including the Arab Film and Media Institute’s Arab Film Festival, Indy Shorts Film Festival, and Heartland International Film Festival. She is interested in stories of migration, nostalgia, and diasporic memories and hopes to see more of them in film and other media. Her work can be found in Rusted Radishes and the International Journal of Communication.
Experimental Programmer: Sarah Bex Rice is a media archivist, writer and video artist that has worked in many different capacities with filmmakers and festivals both local and worldwide, including the Edinburgh Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival and Indie Street Film Festival
Animation Programmer: Julia Cowle, is an independent filmmaker, illustrator, and comedy writer based in New York City. Her animation work has screened throughout the US and internationally, and her illustrations have appeared in various magazines and exhibits. She designed company-wide concert blasts for Columbia Records artists such as Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Little Mix, Russ and Leon.
KidsFilmFest Programmer: Lisa King has been involved with KidsFilmFest for the past 20 years. She started by watching BFF entries that were perfect for children and families. She is a public relations specialist with over 25 years of experience. Lisa is also an actress and filmmaker, and loves working with, and programming films for children. She has been with BFF for over 20 years as a KFF director and programmer, and BFF publicist.