Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) is proud to announce the film line up for its 2012 festival, themed DECOY. The competitive event will run from June 1st through 10th at indieScreen and Brooklyn Heights Cinema.
BFF will present 104 films from 29 different countries, including 28 World Premieres, 28 USA Premieres, 25 East Coast Premieres and 21 New York Premieres. These films were selected from over 2,000 submissions coming from 111 countries.
The films will be combined in 64 film programs (each film will be shown twice). BFF will operate two screening rooms throughout the festival. On June 1st, the opening night films “Brooklyn Castle” and “Rose” will be screened at Brooklyn Heights Cinema at 8pm and the after-party will be celebrated at The powerHouse Arena from 10pm to 1am.
Opening Night Films:
Brooklyn Castle (New York Premiere)
The heartwarming story of I.S. 318, an inner-city school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that has the most winning junior high school chess team in the nation. “Brooklyn Castle” documents their struggles to win in the face of nationwide education budget cuts.
http://www.
Rose (New York Premiere)
This intense story of life and death in post-World War II Poland marks the major arrival of Brooklyn Film Festival alumni Wojtek Smarzowski (“The Dark House” – BFF 2010). “Rose” swept the top prizes at the Polish Film Awards before coming to the USA.
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Feature Film Highlights:
Labyrinth (US Premiere)
A secret Turkish anti-terrorism squad races to stop suicide bombers from destroying Istanbul in this riveting and timely action drama.
http://www.
I Am Nasrine (US Premiere)
A brother and sister flee from the harsh realities of life in Iran. Arriving in England, they struggle to survive in a foreign culture.
http://www.
Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty (World Premiere)
Three friends from Park Slope, Brooklyn face the precipice of middle-age in this charming romantic comedy about refusing to grow up.
http://www.
Cat Scratch Fever (World Premiere)
Two young women in Williamsburg, Brooklyn become obsessed with observing their lives in parallel universes in this quirky story about the countless possibilities of modern technology.
http://www.
Documentary Film Highlights:
My Brooklyn (World Premiere)
Traces the dramatic transformation of Downtown Brooklyn and the Fulton Street Mall over the course of several years, as government policies and corporate development join forces to displace small businesses and longtime neighborhood residents.
http://www.
Dear Mandela (US Premiere)
A group of friends from one of South Africa’s vast shantytowns battle government plans to “eradicate the slums” that they call home, taking their fight to the highest court in the land.
http://www.
Mark Lombardi: Death-Defying Acts of Art and Conspiracy (US Premiere)
Investigates the life of a Brooklyn-based artist whose work investigated contemporary power structures and whose untimely death left many questions.
http://www.
The Rock (US Premiere)
The epic Romeo and Juliet love story between the Rock of Gibraltar and its neighboring Spanish city of La Linea. An emotional tale of an important but little known chapter in world history.
http://www.
Special Events:
Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) is proud to announce two special events at the 2012 festival:
BFF Exchange and the 8th annual kidsfilmfest.
BFF Exchange will take place at indieScreen in Williamsburg on June 9th from Noon to 6pm. The Brooklyn Film Festival Exchange is a mini-conference designed to make the BFF a destination for filmmakers and film industry people, and to expand the scope of the festival. This year’s inaugural BFF Exchange will feature a pitch session for documentary filmmakers, at which works-in-progress will present a brief pitch to a panel of industry professionals. They will then get valuable feedback from the group on their presentation. Confirmed projects for the pitch session include Hillevi Loven’s Radical Love, and Deidre Schoo & Michael Nichols’ Flex is Kings. Additionally, we will be hosting a distribution panel, featuring top industry professionals who will share their expertise on distribution outlets for filmmakers. Both events will be open to the public.
The 8TH annual kidsfilmfest (www.kidsfilmfest.org) which will be staged at indieScreen, BFF’s space in Williamsburg: June 2nd at 1pm. Since 2004, kidsfilmfest has followed its mission to promote children’s filmmakers and to educate young movie-goers about the art of film production. The program will be tailored for children of all ages (films will be rated “G”). It will consist of numerous short animation and narrative films from North America (USA and Canada), Europe and Australia. There will be a Q&A with the directors and actors as well as an interactive workshop following the screening. Children can get acquainted with the filmmakers while discussing and exploring the background of their production.
With BFF Exchange and kidsfilmfest, BFF continues to expand its demographic outreach and further its commitment to bring to Brooklyn and the surrounding areas the best films the world has to offer.
BFF Screening times:
Saturdays & Sundays:
Brooklyn Heights Cinema: 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 10:00 pm
indieScreen: 3:00, 5:30, 8:00, 10:30 pm
Monday through Friday:
Brooklyn Heights Cinema: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 pm
indieScreen: 6:00, 8:00, 10:00 pm
BFF’s primary goal is to connect filmmakers to distribution companies and expose them to the media and will award the winners with prizes totaling over $50,000 in film services and products.
For full film lineup and general info please visit www.brooklynfilmfestival.org
