Brooklyn International Film Festival BIFF June 3-12

Established in 1998 for independent film makers as the ‘first international competitive film festival in New York” the BIIF has the mission to “connect film makers to distribution companies” and to “draw worldwide attention to Brooklyn as a center for the arts”. The 2005 edition presented 115 films originating in 80 countries from the about 1700 productions which had been submitted, including for the first time a one day children’s film screening. The program presented
a large selection of short films, documentaries, animation and eleven feature films. Partnership with the public Brooklyn Museum, its main venue, and sponsorship by the Time Warner Cable, thus media exposure, provided an ideal context for an indie film fest BIFF’s guiding theme OPINION-8 “a sharp, analytic. compilation of opinions from all continents” addressing current socio-political conflicts was promising.
Yet somehow the fest fell short of expectations. Even though the borough of Brooklyn has 2.5 million residents including much college educated residents and a growing influx of artists and film makers no longer able to sustain a Manhattan life style, few of the screenings were sold out. The festival remains relatively unknown among Brooklyn based artists and seemed to have limited appeal to cinephiles. BIFF seemed to be lacking the cutting edge innovative indie productions which set of controversies. Instead the fest came across as a homely community affair serving a supportive and well mannered audience of Brooklinites. It generated little press attention, admittedly difficult to achieve in New York City, reflecting BIFF’s underdeveloped media and marketing efforts.
The charming laid back atmosphere of the fest without competitive and controversial overtones was certainly appealing, specifically since BIFF featured some intriguing productions. CRICKETS, a rather original short by Israeli film maker Matan Guggenheim depicts young people betting on suicide bombings to cope with their parents’ death by terrorists. John Cernak’s computer animated JOYRIDE from Out of our Minds Animation Studios maintains the high standards set by that company’s famed DEAR, SWEET EMMA short. Propelled by the fabulous Queen’s hit “Bicycle’, JOYRIDE moves the viewer through a satirical spaced out US American landscape. The fast moving German feature KEBAB CONNECTION by Anno Saul centered on ethnic relations between young Turks and Germans as depicted through fast food, passion, and kung-fu. Among documentaries fitting the ‘Opinion 8’ lens, two stood out, but also fell short of reflection. Questions essential for understanding the problems depicted were nott addressed. Ali Samadi Ahaidi and Oliver Stoltz feature length documentary LOST CHILDREN from Germany, shows in vivid images the savagery, mutilation and murder caused by Uganda’s Lords Resistance Army. But apart from perfunctory allusions the film fails to look into the role neighboring countries and the West are having in this continued mental and physical slaughter of children. PURPLE HEART by the Dutch documentary maker Riel van Broekhoven depicts civilian life of severely wounded young Americans after returning from Iraq. The meaning of their stated desire to rejoin the army or of their silence about US foreign policies that left them crippled is not explored at all.
Since the Brooklyn International Film Festival has the necessary backing and venues, it should expand its media and marketing efforts.

Claus Mueller, New York Correspondent
cmueller@hunter.cuny.edu