BIAFF 2024 - yes or no?

[Jill Lampert]

I see in FVM that BIAFF will be online from the Monday to Thursday, but then for the weekend it will be live at the Crescent ONLY - no zoom for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows. Interesting...I hope it leads to a big attendance!

[Michael Slowe]

Jill, I suspect that is the general idea!

[Howard-Smith]

Yes I think this is a VERY good move to encourage more people to attend the weekend event in person. I’ve long suspected that too many were taking the lazy way out and staying at home to watch the event on Zoom, people who would otherwise have attended.
Another good thing is that we are assured of a better quality meal for the Gala Dinner, which was very disappointing (self service) during the past two years.
I’ll be there. I’ve already booked my accommodation at the Travelodge in Broad Street.

[John Simpson]

I don't think there were very many people watching on Zoom last year. I hope booking is made simple. In the past it has been hard for me to understand.

[Howard-Smith]

John it’s simple booking via TicketSource:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/biaff-the- ... 1125463597

An all film show ticket is £30.
There’s optional fish & chips on the Friday evening for about £15.
There’s the Gala Dinner plus special awards on the Saturday night for around £41.

You have to sort out your own hotel accommodation. There are plenty of nearby hotels (Broad Street) including Premier Inn, Travelodge and Novotel, the cheapest being Travelodge.

Hope to see you there!

[Dave Watterson]

Some people are taking the line that they will wait for their results before deciding whether or not to attend BIAFF.

That seems sad to me.

If your film does not get shown, go to the festival and see what is chosen. What do the judges rate higher than your work? Can you learn from that?
If your film does get shown, see what company it is in and how the audience reacts when it is screened with others of similar quality.

But even non-film-makers like me enjoy BIAFF because film enthusiasts are such good company. The chat outside the screenings is fascinating, varied and often thought-provoking. The variety of films screened is exciting and enjoyable. There are usually some visitors from overseas and they have interesting tales of how their clubs and contests go.

Granted it is not a cheap weekend ... but it is inspiring, uplifting, fascinating ...

[John Simpson]

Could the reason people don't feel a yearn to go to BIAFF is because so many of the top films chosen are so depressing!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave Watterson]

They are not ALL depressing ... but I take your point.

Is it that top-class film makers tend to gravitate towards serious subjects? There are usually lots of club comedies in the 2 and 3 star awards.

[John Simpson]

Ha Ha! LOL, did I say they were all depressing? Sounds a bit patronising towards what few clubs there are left to me!

[Jill Lampert]

Could the reason people don't feel a yearn to go to BIAFF is because so many of the top films chosen are so depressing!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t know why some people don’t yearn for BIAFF, John? I know that for me whether the films are on joyful subjects or serious subjects doesn’t necessarily affect my engagement. In fact I think making comedies is really hard, because people’s senses of humour are so different – I can sometimes not see jokes that others can see – or be doubled up with laughter when no one around me is!!! And I get huge satisfaction from films which explore the serious side of life and relationships in interesting/novel ways. Sometimes I go on thinking about them for ages afterwards. But of course I like to laugh too - and I can't remember a BIAFF were I didn't see some fun stuff.

Anyway, I love BIAFF. I’ve gone every year since I heard about the IAC i.e. since 2009. I love watching the films. The standard is generally very high. They are incredibly varied. And I love the social aspect. I like meeting up with friends from far away and discussing the films and discussing filmmaking with others who are passionate about it. And just being with like minded people! Michael Slowe, I hope you'll be there to help Grandma down the steps this year?

[Howard-Smith]

I must say that I echo and endorse everything that Jill says about BIAFF. I’ve attended every one since 2008 and for me it’s one of the main highlights of the year. There’s a wide variety of films on show, something for everyone, and I don’t personally consider a film as “depressing” if it’s well made, I enjoy and appreciate it as an artistic piece of cinema. Like Jill, I love the social aspect of BIAFF, mingling with enthusiasts who have a mutual passion for the amateur film movement. Live festivals such as BIAFF beat hands down any festivals just held on Zoom.
My two personal regrets have been as follows:
1) BIAFF 2021 was just on Zoom and it was the year of my best results including a Diamond Award and a 5 Star Award. So I was denied the opportunity of having these films shown on a big screen and collecting my awards in front of an audience.
2) I shall always remember BIAFF 2022 as being the year when not one of my ten entries was shown at the BIAFF weekend despite SIX of my films being awarded 4 Stars. I was bitterly disappointed and deeply puzzled especially when a 3 Star film was screened as part of the programme.
Anyway, onwards and upwards, I’m crossing my fingers for some degree of success when the results are received on Thursday this week!

[Dave Watterson]

For clarification:

Entrants should receive on Thursday 29th February their star rating awards, judges' comments and certificates.
They will also be advised if they have been nominated for a category award.

The category awards will be announced and presented as part of the BIAFF dinner and awards show on the Saturday of BIAFF, 13th April.

All five star winners will be advised they are possible diamond winners and invited to attend the Award winners show free of charge, when all 5 star films will be shown. Diamonds will be announced and awarded as part of the Sunday 14th April show as we go along.

The announcement of the top three awards: Best Film, Best British and Best Young Filmmaker will come as usual at the end of the Sunday show.

[Ken Wilson]

I would urge any hesitant attendees to BIAFF 2024 to come to the festival if at all possible. We started coming to these annual IAC festivals in 1995 and have only missed two live events since then. I have generally enjoyed the Saturday shows more than the Sunday shows, especially in the days when we had 4 mini cinemas to choose from. The Sunday shows were too crowded, cramped and uncomfortable with hard chairs and no raked viewing and yes, there was a tendency for long and often depressing films to feature large in those programmes. But now in a proper theatre where we get to see the films unobstructed, this is much improved and as a final round judge this year, I can say I have seen a wide range of subjects and there are some very impressive films to be seen this year. I didn't feel depressed by any of them this time around.

I have just counted up and altogether I have seen 54 movies, so I guess most of the weekend films will be ones I have seen, but I can watch them and enjoy them again and in any case it is much more about just watching films as already has been mentioned on here. It is the one chance each year for a catch up with film friends.

I was pleased that the decision had been made to announce nominated films and not just the winners, something many of us have talked about in the past, making it much more like BAFTA and the Oscars. It will add an extra bit of excitement to the gala dinner. See you there!

[Dave Watterson]

Entrants should receive their award notices and judges' comments on Thursday 29th.

The BIAFF website will list the results later, to give time for all entrants to receive their news first.

The nominations for special awards will be listed on the website, but the winners will not be announced until the festival dinner on 13th April

[Dave Watterson]

The star ratings and more are now live in http://www.biaff.org.uk