Above: Still from "A Plastic Ocean," shown at the Berkshire International Film Festival
Around the World in 80 Films
Nowadays, with film festivals sprouting in every town, village, and burb like dame’s rocket on our roadsides – and with the mother of them all, Cannes, just winding down in France – it’s nice to know that the Berkshire International Film Festival, or “BIFF,” has established itself as a serious and thoughtful presenter of top-notch work.
Besides, for the independent filmmakers whose work is usually passed over by the big Hollywood studios, every festival is a golden opportunity; and for the culture-hungry audience of the Berkshires, there’s nothing better than a weekend immersion in quality film and the chance to interact with the filmmakers themselves.
The festival will be held June 1 to 4 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, Mass. In all, 80 films will be screened: 30 documentaries, 29 narrative features, and 21 short films.
Kelley Vickery, BIFF’s founder and director, takes pride in the festival’s longevity: “Something like fifty percent of festivals don’t make it past their second year. Many more don’t make it past their fifth.” Now in its twelfth year, BIFF has not only settled in, but also helped propel some auteurs’ careers.
“Matthew Heineman, whose first film was ‘Escape Fire,’ about the American healthcare system, won our jury prize for best documentary in 2012. He used the $5,000 prize money toward his next film, Cartel Land, which was up for an Academy Award two years ago,” Vickery said.
Heineman’s new documentary “City of Ghosts,” about the Syrian conflict, is on this year’s festival program.
“We have another contest, the ‘Next Great Filmmaker Award,’ sponsored by Berkshire Bank, for makers of shorts. You can go online and vote for your favorite, and the winner is announced on opening night," Vickery continued. "The winner several years ago put her prize earnings into a feature-length film that ended up winning the grand jury prize at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival.”
This year’s BIFF features the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the great Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, several first-time directorial debuts, including “A Tree a Rock a Cloud” (based on a Carson McCullers story) by popular Berkshire-based actress Karen Allen, and “Lucky,” directed by character actor John Carroll Lynch (see accompanying interview).
The festival also features a new series of “Tea Talks” with filmmakers, sponsored by Harney & Sons Tea. Allen is a participant in the talks, as are legendary documentary film producer Sheila Nevins, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who will be discussing a screening of 1976's “All the President’s Men."
Plummer will be in a conversation onstage with New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein on June 3. His latest movie, “The Exception,” a WWII drama in which he stars as Kaiser Wilhelm II, is being shown.
In spite, or perhaps because of, “the crazy world we’re living in now,” Vickery “made a conscious effort to find lighter fare” to show. “We have a lot of films about music and culture,” she says. “There’s one about a competition for young orchestra conductors in Germany (“Conduct! Every Move Counts”); another on composing for film that has John Williams in it (“Score: A Film”); and documentaries about dance (“Mr. Gaga,” “The Dancer”). “We have more funny films than in the past,” Vickery added.
Nevertheless, BIFF will also tackle “the tough subjects” with films on environmental topics (“A Plastic Ocean” and others), the Iraq War (“Nowhere to Hide”), and the post-9/11 struggles of a Wall Street banker to start a new life on an Upstate New York farm (“The Bullish Farmer”).
Vickery sees herself as a sort of international guide: “I’m taking people to Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Syria – that’s a pretty extraordinary way to experience a whole different culture. Plus, it’s fun, and it’s a weekend.”
Besides, for the independent filmmakers whose work is usually passed over by the big Hollywood studios, every festival is a golden opportunity; and for the culture-hungry audience of the Berkshires, there’s nothing better than a weekend immersion in quality film and the chance to interact with the filmmakers themselves.
The festival will be held June 1 to 4 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, Mass. In all, 80 films will be screened: 30 documentaries, 29 narrative features, and 21 short films.
Kelley Vickery, BIFF’s founder and director, takes pride in the festival’s longevity: “Something like fifty percent of festivals don’t make it past their second year. Many more don’t make it past their fifth.” Now in its twelfth year, BIFF has not only settled in, but also helped propel some auteurs’ careers.
“Matthew Heineman, whose first film was ‘Escape Fire,’ about the American healthcare system, won our jury prize for best documentary in 2012. He used the $5,000 prize money toward his next film, Cartel Land, which was up for an Academy Award two years ago,” Vickery said.
Heineman’s new documentary “City of Ghosts,” about the Syrian conflict, is on this year’s festival program.
“We have another contest, the ‘Next Great Filmmaker Award,’ sponsored by Berkshire Bank, for makers of shorts. You can go online and vote for your favorite, and the winner is announced on opening night," Vickery continued. "The winner several years ago put her prize earnings into a feature-length film that ended up winning the grand jury prize at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival.”
This year’s BIFF features the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the great Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, several first-time directorial debuts, including “A Tree a Rock a Cloud” (based on a Carson McCullers story) by popular Berkshire-based actress Karen Allen, and “Lucky,” directed by character actor John Carroll Lynch (see accompanying interview).
The festival also features a new series of “Tea Talks” with filmmakers, sponsored by Harney & Sons Tea. Allen is a participant in the talks, as are legendary documentary film producer Sheila Nevins, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who will be discussing a screening of 1976's “All the President’s Men."
Plummer will be in a conversation onstage with New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein on June 3. His latest movie, “The Exception,” a WWII drama in which he stars as Kaiser Wilhelm II, is being shown.
In spite, or perhaps because of, “the crazy world we’re living in now,” Vickery “made a conscious effort to find lighter fare” to show. “We have a lot of films about music and culture,” she says. “There’s one about a competition for young orchestra conductors in Germany (“Conduct! Every Move Counts”); another on composing for film that has John Williams in it (“Score: A Film”); and documentaries about dance (“Mr. Gaga,” “The Dancer”). “We have more funny films than in the past,” Vickery added.
Nevertheless, BIFF will also tackle “the tough subjects” with films on environmental topics (“A Plastic Ocean” and others), the Iraq War (“Nowhere to Hide”), and the post-9/11 struggles of a Wall Street banker to start a new life on an Upstate New York farm (“The Bullish Farmer”).
Vickery sees herself as a sort of international guide: “I’m taking people to Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Syria – that’s a pretty extraordinary way to experience a whole different culture. Plus, it’s fun, and it’s a weekend.”