2016 BFF Award Winners Announced and Festival Photos Posted!
Brooklyn, New York (October 7, 2016) – Last weekend the 9th Annual Bushwick Film Festival (BFF) opened at the House of Yes with a glitter-studded red carpet, live performers, stilt walkers, and a sold-out screening of I Am Gangster! The night was presented by festival sponsor Brooklyn Fire Proof. Bushwick’s Council Member Antonio Reynoso, along with the 83rd Precinct’s Deputy Inspector Maximo A. Tolentino and Sergeant Damarys Franco, joined the red-carpet festivities; their attendance demonstrated their continued support of the festival, its founder, Kweighbaye Kotee, and the Bushwick community.
Sold-out screenings continued throughout the four-day weekend, resulting in the festival’s ninth year achieving its highest attendance numbers to date. In addition to the filmmakers and attendees from around the world who flew into Bushwick for the festival experience, a large majority of filmmakers and audiences were from Bushwick and other NYC neighborhoods, making the festival feel like a true home-grown event.
The BFF weekend boasted 27 screenings total: 11 Documentaries, 10 Narratives, 4 short film screenings, a web series screening, and an art house film selection. Audiences also had the opportunity to attend a series of panels and events including a Women In Film & TV Day, featuring leading women in the industry and films highlighting women's stories. In addition, Tribeca Film Institute® hosted a panel during the festival’s Industry Series, and other panels were seated by industry professionals from ESPN, Vimeo, BRIC TV, Kickstarter, HBO and more.
The festival wrapped on Sunday, October 2nd with an awards ceremony at Syndicated Theater in Bushwick, where award ceremony sponsor LightHouse Films announced festival winners and- for the first time in the festival’s history - runners-up! I Am Gangster, directed by Moritz Rechenberg, won Best Narrative Feature; Arlette: Courage Is a Muscle, directed by Florian Hoffmann, won Best Documentary; Smoke That Travels, directed by Kayla Briet, won Best Short Film; and Undone, directed by Lili Lopez, won Best Web Series. The festival winners received up to $2,000 in rentals from LightHouse Films, along with mentorship opportunities and consideration for future funding from The Tribeca Film Institute®.
The runners-up for each category were You Can’t Escape Lithuania, directed by Romas Zabarauskas, for Feature Narrative; The Giant’s Dream: The Making of The Iron Giant, directed by Anthony Giacchino, for Documentary; There's Too Many Of These Crows, directed by Morgan Miller, for Short Film; and No Strings Attached, directed by Emma Watts, for Web Series.
The BFF was extremely proud to have produced another successful festival and is already incredibly eager to start planning for its upcoming landmark year—The 10th Annual Bushwick Film Festival.
The full listing of this past year’s festival program and trailers for all of the participating films can be found at www.bushwickfilmfestival.com.