24th Brooklyn Film Festival runs as a Virtual Fest June 4-13, Indoor Fest at Windmill Studios June 5-13

Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) announces the film lineup for its 24th edition, “The Clearing.” The 2021 edition will feature 36 World Premieres, 28 USA bows, 34 east coast debuts, and 25 first-time screenings in NY. In total, BFF will show in competition 147 features and shorts from 35 countries. The full lineup includes 13 narrative features and 9 documentary features highlighted in this release. The festival will also present 39 narrative shorts, 23 documentary shorts, 25 animation and 21 experimental films. On June 5th, BFF will begin its in-person screenings at Windmill Studios in Brooklyn at 3pm, with the feature documentary film Queens of Pain. At 6pm, there will be a short narrative program, led by the world premiere of Until by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, and at 9pm, BFF will present the world premiere of the feature narrative, American Desert.

Over the course of the 10-day festival, BFF will present 37 film programs online, and a partial line up of 22 programs in-person, indoor at Windmill Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The online lineup will be available 24/7 for the entire 10 days, and the indoor event will feature three programs a day on weekends, and two on weekdays. Each program is two-hours long. To find out both the online and indoor schedule, check BFF’s website.

Along with the film screenings BFF will offer parallel events, such as pre-recorded filmmaker introductions and Q&A sessions on the festival website. Live interviews and get-togethers will be staged on Facebook and other social media.

BFF’s films are divided in six categories, along with the KidsFilmFest. In each category, BFF’s judges will select the Best Film Award in each category, while the festival will select the Spirit Award and the audience, the Audience Award winners. Through the resources of our sponsors, BFF will assign to the winning filmmakers $50,000 in total prizes (cash, products, and services). BFF’s list of sponsors for 2021 includes ALL ARTS, created by The WNET Group, Havas NY, Brooklyn Film Society, Windmill Studios, PRG, Sobre Vista Resort, Blue Table Post, Xeno Lights, AbelCine, Be Electric, Final Draft, MPE, Yelp, Big Screen Plaza, Broadway Stages, Media Services, Papapietro Perry, and Noble Jewelry.

Tickets are available on the BFF website. Tickets for indoor screenings must be purchased in advance, online. All tickets and passes purchased online for BFF indoor programs can be picked up at Windmill Studios. Online, BFF will sell each film category for $10 and a Full Festival Pass for $24. All passes will be valid 24/7 from June 4-13.

For the first time working with BFF, Havas New York created the 24th BFF promotional campaign. BFF’s TV commercials can be seen here.

Below is a partial line up of feature films playing in competition this year listed in alphabetical order. For further info on all the films, passes, and tickets, please check the BFF website.

FEATURE NARRATIVES:

AMERICAN DESERT

Dir: Adrian Bartol, United States, 82 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere
It’s 2010, US Army veteran Matt Benning has returned from Afghanistan to a wrecked economy. Demons of war haunt him, a romance blossoms.

BONE CAGE

Dir: Taylor Olson, Canada, 89 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere
Jamie works operating a wood processor, clear-cutting for pulp. At the end of each shift, he walks through the destruction he has created.

CORRAL

Dir: Marcelo Brennand, Brazil, 84 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, US Premiere
Corral is a political drama that takes place in rural Brazil, in the city of Gravatá, where during the mayoral elections.

GOSSAMER FOLDS

Dir: Lisa Donato, United States, 95 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere
In 1986, nine-year-old Tate Millikin is uprooted and unwillingly moved to the suburbs of Kansas City. As his parent’s marriage unravels.

HELL IS EMPTY

Dir: Jo Shaffer, United States, 98 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere
A self-styled messiah initiates a teenage runaway into his cult of sister-wives. Her rebellious nature upends the community.

KALOKHACHYA PARAMBYA [PROP SHOOTS OF DARKNESS]

Dir: Makarand Anaspure, India, 98 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, East Coat Premiere
Prop shoots of Darkness is conflict of young orphan Alif about spirituality and material world. Industrious and helping everyone in the village.

KRINGLE TIME

Dir: Matthew Lucas, United States, 103 min, 2021, Narrative Feature, World Premiere
After becoming the unlikely star of a children’s show, a public access TV station manager grapples with the problematic legacy of his predecessor.

MOVING IN 2008

Dir: Calogero Carucci, United States, 78 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, East Coast Premiere
A family tragedy during the recession of 2008, catalyzed by unemployment, personal crisis, and illness.

ONE NIGHT IN KATHMANDU

Dir: Mohan Rai, Nepal, 70 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, US Premiere
A GIRL, 26—together with a BOY, 33, who is a stranger to her– take an injured man to a hospital when an accident take places near them.

TANGO SHALOM

Dir: Gabriel Bologna, United States, 116 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere
“TANGO SHALOM”: Moshe Yehuda (Jos Laniado), a Hasidic Rabbi and amateur Hora dancer, enters a big televised Tango competition to save his Hebrew school.

TWO IS A MAGIC NUMBER

Dir: Holger Borggrefe, Stefan Hering, Germany, 85 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, US Premiere
A day at the lake. Andrejs ex-girlfriend Nadia pays him a visit. Nadia and Andrej’s former best mate Claudius are a couple now.

UNDER THE LANTERN LIT SKY

Dir: Michelle Bossy, United States, 75 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere
The story of Blanche DuBois and her husband, who in different ways are coming to terms with their sexuality in 1920s Mississippi.

WALK WITH ME

Dir: Isabel del Rosal, United States, 112 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere
As she braves life after divorce, a young mother must challenge herself to take some personal risks after finding love in an unexpected place.

FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES:

AND SO I STAYED

Dir: Natalie Pattillo, Daniel Nelson, United States, 90 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, World Premiere
And So I Stayed is an intimate story of domestic violence survivors who killed their abusers in self-defense.

INTO THE LIGHT

Dir: Benjamin Schwartz, United States, 74 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, NY Premiere
In the 1980’s Chuck Connelly was recognized as a key figure among the New York-based Neo-expressionist painters.

LIFE & LIFE

Dir: NC Heikin, United States, 80 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, East Coast Premiere
Life & Life focuses on pressing criminal justice issues in America as seen through the life of recent parolee Reggie Austin.

LITTLE PAKISTAN – FUTURE HISTORIES

Dir: Sana Akram, United States, 120 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, US Premiere
Little Pakistan – Future Histories is a dérive—a drifting in an online environment illustrating an immigrant neighborhood of Pakistani-Americans.

MAYOR MOHAMED

Dir: Jeffrey M., United States, Syria, Turkey, 86 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, World Premiere
In this quintessential film about the Muslim-American immigrant experience, Mayor Mohamed Khairullah risks his life to bring humanitarian relief into Syria.

QUEENS OF PAIN

Dir: Cassie Hay, Amy Winston, United States, 75 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, NY Premiere
One of the most successful teams in New York sports history, Gotham Girls Roller Derby is a feminist powerhouse of elite athletes, misfits, and renegades.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

Dir: Hannah Jayanti, United States, 103 min, 2020, Documentary Feature
Truth or Consequences is a speculative documentary about time and how we weave the past into the present and our possible future.

THE WISDOM OF TRAUMA

Dir: Zaya Benazzo, Maurizio Benazzo, US, Canada, 88 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, World Premiere
Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world.

About BFF

The organizers of the Brooklyn Film Festival have been staging International, competitive film events since 1998. BFF’s mission is to provide a public forum in Brooklyn in order to advance public interest in films and the independent production of films; to draw worldwide attention to Brooklyn as a center for cinema and to encourage the rights of all Brooklyn residents to access and experience the power of independent filmmaking; to promote artistic excellence and the creative freedom of artists without censure. BFF, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
 

BFF Social Media Links: www.brooklynfilmfestival.org/follow.