With the summer blockbuster season still weeks away, movie buffs and aspiring filmmakers in Buffalo rejoiced as the glitz and glamour of the fifth annual Buffalo Niagara Film Festival rolled into town on Friday.
The Buffalo Niagara Film Festival is a 10-day event celebrating all aspects of film. It fashions itself as a marketplace to facilitate conversations between industry professionals and up-and-coming artists, as well as providing a platform for filmmakers, buyers, and distributors to network and conduct business.
The film festival will run until Sunday, and movie screenings will take place all over the Western New York region. Starting in downtown Buffalo at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center, the festival then moves on to the historic Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda and culminates on the final day with an awards presentation and after-party celebration at the Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls.
Themes and subject matters of the entering films are diverse and eclectic. A vibrant list of submissions in categories spanning student films, documentaries, features, shorts, and music videos offers both serious and lighthearted fares that will entertain and educate the audience in equal measures.
Buffalo is represented in this year's festival by Barbara J. Irwin, Ph.D., chair of Canisius' communication studies department. Irwin's film, On That Road: Reliving the Civil Rights Movement, is her third directorial effort to be included in the festival's lineup.
On That Road follows a group of Canisius College students on their journey down to the deep South, visiting landmarks and talking to activists associated with the civil rights movement. The film is co-produced by communication studies/digital media arts majors, Emily Marciniak, and recent grad Sarah Zamer.
"We hope to educate and enlighten viewers about the civil rights movement through this film, and to have viewers leave with the idea that they can make a difference in the world," said Irwin, who is also co-director of the Canisius College Video Institute.
Aside from movies championing social causes, there is plenty of sex appeal at the festival, too. Among them is Canadian director Charles Wahl's feature Webdultery, a film about the increasing popularity of online dating websites created specifically for people looking to cheat on their partners.
"After checking out how staggering the numbers were, I thought there might be a very interesting story there," Wahl said. "Taking a married couple who both go onto these websites, without each other knowing, had the makings of a great story."
This year's festival is truly an international affair that will cater to the wide-ranging interests of the general public. American directors are joined by their Canadian, European, Asian, and Australian counterparts.
"Just being accepted into a festival is a great achievement; it is very competitive. I'm hoping the festival lineup we're embarking on now will help the film find its audience," said Wahl, who was born in London, England, but raised in Toronto, Canada.
The prestige of Buffalo Niagara Film Festival might scare off most first-time directors, but there are some who seize the opportunity to expose their work to a wider audience.
"I hope to meet other filmmakers and exchange thoughts on improving ourselves," said director Ray Pang in an email interview from Singapore. "Also, because of my Asian background, it will be interesting to have a cross-cultural experience, which might result in an East-meets-West collaborative effort in the near future."
Pang's submission, BREAK, a semi-autobiographical tale about the meaning of love, is entered in the student films category. It was completed while Pang was still an undergraduate student in Australia one year ago.
Interested parties wanting to attend the festival have a selection of an individual film pass, a day pass, a week pass, or a VIP pass.
Ticket prices range from $5 a piece for senior citizens and students to $250 a pop for the all-inclusive VIP package, which allows unrestricted access to every event on the program book, from screenings and seminars to panel discussions and VIP receptions.
All proceeds from ticket sales will go toward autism-related projects. Visit www.buffaloniagarafilmfestival.com for more information.
Email: arts@ubspectrum.com
