Belfast Film Festival

Belfast Film Festival
Opening film	1 April 2020
Closing film	9 April 2020
Location	Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Founded	1994
Language	English, Irish, mixed
Website	http://www.belfastfilmfestival.org

The Belfast Film Festival is Northern Ireland's largest film festival with a total audience of 24,000 last year, 10,000 attending BFF19 and 14,000 at year round events.

History

Founded in 1995 by writer Laurence McKeown, in its early stages of development the film festival was an element of Féile an Phobail, and operated as the West Belfast Film Festival between 1995 and 2000. In its third and fourth year WBFF ran as independent event and included venues throughout the city. Under the stewardship of Michele Devlin and Laurence McKeown, it became the Belfast Film Festival in the year 2000 and ran as a citywide event, including venues in the North, South, East and West of Belfast.

In 2004 event, the festival's offices in the Art Deco North Street Arcade were destroyed by fire. Despite losing their base and all their records, the festival recovered, relocated to Donegall St, and was able to stage the event again the following year. The 2005 festival was launched by award winning actor Stephen Rea.

The Festival's activities are entertaining and provocative, and in many instances provide an important platform for debate across the religious, social and cultural divides in Northern Ireland.

Site-specific and Summer Programme

The inclusion of people and the fabric of the city in the programme is an important aspect of the BFF's work. Since the early years they have been trailblazers in the presentation of site specific events and innovative ways to screen films. In 2004 they hosted the first ever drive-in movie event in the city in Talbot St car park screens The Shining. Since then they have supported and inspired numerous groups across Ireland and the UK to stage drive-in movies and other outdoor events. They have screened films in used and disused swimming pools including Jaws and Session 9; on a boat in the River Lagan (Piranha); with live piano accompaniment in St Anne's Cathedral (16mm original version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and shown Carol Reed's Odd Man Out beside the iconic Albert Clock, which featured heavily in the film. They have profiled unique architectural sites by hosting screenings in them including the US political drama The West Wing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Oh, Mr Porter! at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, The Warriors in a dystopian landscape beneath a city centre motorway flyover, and Stanley Kubrick's cult sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey in the historic dry dock in the city's old shipyards where the RMS Titanic last sat on dry ground.

Music has also featured strongly in their programming; some highlights include the collaborations with local talent such as Duke Special and David Holmes on audio visual performances, hosting the internationally acclaimed band Goblin to perform a live score to Dawn of the Dead, Cercueil (Coffin) the fantastic French duo performing to David Lynch's Eraserhead and a synchronised swim team (Aquabatix) performing live in a pool to alongside a compilation of aquatic and swim themed films and music.

Outreach Programme

BFF’s Outreach Programme aims to engage, inform and empower local communities through the medium of film and film related activity. It delivers events and provides resources and practical support for communities who want to participate, and increases community understanding of specialised film and digital media platforms.

The outreach team works with a wide variety of local people across NI, in particular with those who are marginalised. They are continually developing and providing a range of projects and training opportunities, to enhance access and engagement for disadvantaged sections of the communit

Examples of Outreach work includes working with - RRCANI (Romanian Roma Community Association Of Northern Ireland) to screen a series of films in their native language; Belfast Trust - Belfast City Hospital to pilot a programme of screenings in the hospital environment; Short Strand Special Needs Groups. Helping Hands Autism Support Group, to organise autism friendly screenings; WANDA Feminist Film Festival, to launch its first festival; Tí Scannán, screening Irish language film; Pride Festival, annual programme of film celebrating LGBT Pride; Hydebank Young offenders Unit, bringing a film programme into the prison.

In 2017 they had a special focus on reaching out to communities based in NI from Eastern Europe, North Africa, and South America, and programmed a series of 12 films under the banner Landforms. They also worked with BFI to deliver the Neighbourhood Touring Cinema to rural communities throughout NI. They participated in the BFI UK wide BlackStar programme, an initiative to highlight the BME talent in the British Film industry.

The Belfast Film Festival Board & Team

Festival Director: Michele Devlin

Programmer: Stephen Hackett

Documentary Programmer: Stuart Sloan

Shorts Programmer: Rose Baker

Marketing Manager: Mary Lindsay

Inclusion / Audience Development Co-ordinator: Sara Morrison

Finance Admin Manager: Laura McKeown

Technician: Jason Mills

Board of directors: Mark Cousins (Chair), Brian Henry Martin, Lisa Barros D' Sa, Laurence McKeown, Louise O'Meara, Kevin Jackson, Lucy Baxter & Yan Liu.

Patrons: Terry George, David Holmes, Pat Murphy, William Crawley and Stephen Rea.