BIAFF 2024 - yes or no?

[Dave Watterson]

It feels sacrilegious to say it, but have we come to the end of "live" BIAFFS?

Jan and I really enjoyed the 2023 event ... we stayed in Birmingham and had a very good time. But there were so few of us in the cinemas. Yes, there were 50 or so attendees on Zoom, which helped. (Online participation is great for those who simply cannot travel, and for film enthusiasts in other countries.)

I don't worry about the finances since the IAC has a big reserve.

Is it just we older hands who prefer a live event?

[Richard Scarsbrook]

I much prefer live events, and I was very sorry to miss BIAFF this year. It's hard to get to know people properly over Zoom. By the time the dates were announced my diary had already filled up. I hope the same doesn't happen next year, but unless BIAFF is the last weekend in April I shall miss it again since I'm committed for the rest of April and the first weekend in May.

[Howard-Smith]

I would be bitterly disappointed if BIAFF stopped being a live event. Zoom is useful for meetings and non-festival events but you can’t beat watching films on a big screen with a live audience. I very much regret that, post-COVID, events such as the CEMRIAC Spring Movie Festival have stopped being live events, and the annual CEMRIAC training day in Worcester seems to have come to an end. I also very much miss the live BIAFF judging in a hotel. For people like me living alone, live events are precious, valuable ways of socialising with like-minded film enthusiasts. Please, please keep BIAFF going as a live event. And give it more publicity. As I’ve pointed out previously elsewhere, there were no posters to publicise it anywhere in Birmingham or inside/outside the Crescent Theatre nor in the Crescent brochures or on their website. We should be encouraging the public to come along just as WFF and BFF have done in recent years.

[Martin Evans]

I too would be bitterly disappointed if BIAFF went south. It's our flagship event and every effort must be made to get bums onto seats for next year's event. And yes, posters, in and around Brum would be help. Happy to design them myself.

Without BIAFF I think we are nought.

[Howard-Smith]

Well said, Martin. Well that makes two of us who believe that live BIAFF is absolutely essential. Without live BIAFF, the IAC would lose most of its reason to exist and I forecast that membership would rapidly dwindle. Keep it going at all costs!

[Ken Wilson]

We went to our first BIAFF (though it was called Movie '95 back then) when I joined the IAC and we have only missed 2 live events out of all the festival weekends since.
Back then it was a huge event held in large hotels with hundreds of people swarming all around the place. It was quite daunting at first as we knew no-one. Over the next couple of festivals, we got to know some people and it became a fixture in our film making year, something to look forward to, especially when we had a few films shown on screen as we did several times.
But of course after 28 years, many people have died. Many others are getting very old and frail and Covid did a lot of damage as people stayed away when the live event returned in 2022. For 2023 there was confusion on the date of the festival due to the clash with the Coronation which is why we couldn't be there. It is important to set a date well in advance so that those who wish to be there can block those dates out so nothing will clash. But unless more members or visitors are coming to it, BIAFF will be on life support very soon if it is not already.

Birmingham is at the centre of the country so it is fair and reasonable for travel distances for members to access the festival from north and south, plus the Crescent Theatre is a brilliant venue for the shows. But in 2022 the event cost us around £600 for the weekend which included hotel costs, rail fares, meals, taxis and the event tickets, so not cheap. We tried the train for the first time which made it more relaxing to get there but cost more than fuel. So I echo what has been said, yes we would like to retain a live event if we possibly can, but costs and the numbers attending are important considerations.

[Willy]

It is always easy to understand Ken's messages and articles in "Film and Video Magazine". I always look forward to reading them. His style is simple. I like that. He also has the courage to tell us what he thinks. Vera and I went to our first "BIAFF" in 1998. It was in Buxton. We will never forget Gala Dinner. We were welcomed by a Master of Ceremonies in a loud voice and had to pass a row of prominent IAC-members. They wore imposing IAC-chains of honour. Luckily I myself had bought a bowtie for the ocassion. We immediately sat down at our table, but we were asked to stand up again and follow the English etiquette or culture-bound rules of courtesy. We enjoyed the prayers, the speeches and other things... Those were the days!

The following years we went to BIAFF in Harrogate, Chesterfield, Norwich, Sittingbourne, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Weymouth, etc... Indeed, in the mean time many people have passed away. Norman and Dorothy for instance, and other friends. We miss them.

I'm not the strongest person in the world and that's why I didn't attend BIAFF this year. I had had a TIA (transient ischaemic attack) at the end of February. It made me think. And I didn't have a film. I wanted to see the Coronation Ceremony of King Charles III on TV. I don't regret this and I also watched BIAFF on line. The organizers did their best. About the Ceremony in London an other thing: strange, but it reminded me of the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Fergusson. I was in London on that day. I saw the royal parade at Whitehall with Her Majesty the Queen, Charles and Lady Di, etc... The atmosphere was fantastic.

But also imagine: your film has not been selected to be shown on screen and you have spent so much money. A lot more than £600! It would hurt. My friend Werner told me how much he had paid for a ticket to Birmingham by air two years ago! I am not as poor as a church mouse, but I am not a Rockefeller either. But no panic... My film on the BIAFF screen or not: I would like to meet Howard, Ken, Michael, Dave and other ones at BIAFF next year. In 2024! In the past I sometimes tried to reduce my costs by staying at a B&B. We also asked an other couple to be with us. So we were four.

I strongly plea for BIAFF 2024 at Birmingham, and even at Dover. It is only 220 miles from our house by car. And we have a nice ferry crossing. (Please, do not take this suggestion for seriously!) But Howard is right: have BIAFF 2024 advertised in newspapers, on shop windows, in pubs, on Facebook, on the radio, etc... Have impressive posters designed and send them to all clubs in the UK. Real eyecatchers! Last year we had a show in our own town. We showed our movies to a audience of 250!

[TimStannard]

Is it just we older hands who prefer a live event?

I was going to say "No" when I realised I am one of those "older hands".

Despite not attending myself this year (which turned out to be just as well as, for family reasons, I'd have had to travel back home Friday night anyway) I do very much enjoy such events. The number of opportunities to meet other film makers/watchers in person has diminished significantly in the 17 short years I've been involved, with regional and interclub competitions giving up on "live" meetings as Zoom meetings are so much easier to attend (no travelling along increasingly busy roads a busy Friday night).

Of course one can't realistically control it, but I'd like to see the Saturday and Sunday BIAFFs have Zoom only available for overseas attendees (which then discriminates against groups who are unable to attend on health or other grounds).

Perhaps have the screenings recorded and not made available for two weeks?

[Dave Watterson]

THERE WILL BE A LIVE BIAFF IN 2024

12-14th April 2024

in the main auditorium of the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham.

HURRAH

Entries accepted from 1st September
The closing date will be 31st December 2023

I think that IAC members can enter films free up to 5th November ... it is not clear on the Film Freeway website.

Phew.

[Richard Scarsbrook]

Excellent. I can fit everything else around those dates. I'll be there +1.

[Dave Watterson]

Great! So will Jan and I.

I am sure Howard, Ken and Carol will be there. Michael Slowe usually puts in an appearance. Willy and Vera may make it, though travelling is harder for him these days.

We know Simon Sumner and Mike Whyman will be doing there best to get more bums on seats ... and Martin Evans will be keen to push his knob ... see the current issue of FVM. Stewart Emm and Alan Sinclair will do their best to shame me into wearing a kilt for the dinner. Jill Lampert, Terence & Christine Patrick, Kevin Billington, Tim Easton, Ian Reed, Jon Pegg, Alan Atkinson, Jackie Williams, Michael & Linda Gough will surely be there if they can. LOTS of other friends and folk we have seen on the Zoom meetings. It is late and my memory is poor ...

Who else will come?

[Howard-Smith]

Yes Dave you’re right, as long as I’m still alive and kicking, I’ll be there.
While there’s a lot to be said for Zoom, it can never be as good as live attendance. One thing that bothers me about the live Zoom streaming of BIAFF is that there are bound to be people who take the ‘lazy’ option of staying at home for the event who would otherwise have made the effort to attend in person.

[Willy]

I have already bought a parachute for my first flight after 10-15 years. Last night I had a chat with Werner Haegeman. I am almost sure he will come together with his neighbour. Vera and I would like him to accompany us. In 2022 he was in Birmingham. Hopefully I can complete my film. I have already completed the Dutch version. I love the BIAFF-trailer 2024! A revival of BIAFF in 2024!

[Willy]

One deadline!
To be honest... some friends hesitate to attend BIAFF. The reason: the judging system. I know we have already talked about this, but now there is one deadline: 31st December. One month earlier than before. Perhaps there will be less entries. But there will be more time for the organizers. A prestigious entry like BIAFF requires throrough preparation, but also a search for passionate and excellent jury members. They were there! In general the judges' comments can prove this. However, they were not given enough time to deliberate quietly. It's not serious to take a decision in a "few seconds". I have heard similar laments from old experienced IAC-folks who were more than once involved in organizing our festival.

NOVA and Guernsey Lily Festival
I loved being a judge at NOVA (the Netherlands) and at the Guernsey Lily Festival. After each screening we could talk about the film in a very relaxed way and we could change our mind thanks to what the other ones had said. Sometimes it was useful. Sometimes it was not. I am not eager to be a judge at BIAFF. Perhaps I am wrong!

In the Interest of the IAC
Hopefully I will be able to attend BIAFF together with my wife Vera and some friends. My plea: give filmmakers the feeling that time will be spent on watching their works of art. We must be respectful towards judges and filmmakers. We must be respectful to the organizers. We must have the courage to change the system (again) in the interest of the IAC!

[Michael Slowe]

I must say that I feel guilty for not attending BIAFF this year. This was the first one I have missed since I attended my first, which was called LIAFF (London International Film Festival), and was held at a hotel near Westminster called St Ermins in 1976 I think. I had a top award and was anxious to see the other films. This is the flagship event of the IAC and surely must continue, otherwise the organisation would dissolve, particularly as most of the Regional Festivals have already ceased. I don't think that I will have a film for 2024, unlike every year since 1976, but I will try and attend BIAFF '24. Old age is catching up with me and the creative juices are drying up I am sorry to say. I have read the proposals for publicising the event and would add the suggestion that overseas entries should be encouraged more than currently. One of the big strengths of the old Ten Best was that there were many top class entries from abroad, particularly America and Germany. If film makers enter their films there is a good chance that they will attend the festival. Let us hope that with no Covid and no Coronation, attendance will recover.