Film buffs and Brooklynites — unite! Brooklyn Film Festival returns with its 2019 edition, “The Gathering,” which takes place May 31 through June 9 with main venues at the Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Avenue) in Williamsburg and Windmill Studios (300 Kingsland Avenue) in Greenpoint.
This year’s festival is comprised of 133 features and shorts from over 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica. The lineup includes 37 world premieres, 15 USA bows, 29 east coast debuts and 34 first-time screenings in NY. Individual film tickets will go on sale soon while festival passes are already on sale here. A four-pack pass is just $45.
“We are calling the upcoming festival: The Gathering,” said BFF Executive Director Marco Ursino. “The theme-statement is essentially a call to all those people who are searching for clarity and intelligent exchanges. On the programming side this year, more than ever before, we wanted to empower all those filmmakers who are thinking and working in critical systems, outside of the box, and against all odds. Understanding that for women the ‘system’ is always critical, and inspired by the acceleration of the women’s movements, this year BFF will feature the largest presence of female directors within a single festival edition to date. I’m also proud to say that four out of our six festival programmers are women and the festival is run mostly by women.”
In each of the six film categories, BFF’s judges will select the Best Film while the festival will select the Spirit Award and the audience the Audience Award winners. Among all the six categories combined, BFF will award one of each of the following: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Composer, Bet Style, Best Editor, Best Cinematographer, Best Screenplay Writer, Best Producer, Best New Director and Best Brooklyn Project. Through the resources of our sponsors, BFF will assign to the winning filmmakers about $50,000 in prizes (products, services and cash). To view the full film line up, which also includes Narrative and Documentary Shorts, Experimental and Animated films, visit here.