BIFF Shorts: Experimental, 60 minutes

Cinematic poetry and essays in pixels and celluloid.

Fires of Agbogbloshie

Nicolas Siegenthaler (Dir.), 5 minutes, US Premiere, Switzerland/Ghana

In the heart of Ghana's capital lies the fiery wasteland of Agbogbloshie, the largest e-waste dump in the world.

Las Breas

Laura Kraning and Blue Kraning (Dirs.), 13 minutes, WNY Premiere, USA

Directors Laura Kraning and Blue Kraning in attendance.

Las Breas is an observational portrait of three tar pits situated in three distinct landscapes in Southern California – urban Los Angeles, the oil fields of the San Joaquin Valley, and Carpinteria Beach. Through these landscapes, Kraning and Kraning investigate the spaces between archiving the prehistoric and contemporary industrial landscape. Screenings: MoMA Doc Fortnight

Dynamite

Leila Jarman (Dir.), 7 minutes, WNY Premiere, USA

Incorporating movement, spoken word and chant, director Leila Jarman creates a hypnotic exploration of race, gender, and success in an ever-changing social landscape.

In West Virginia

Pamela Falkenberg & Jack Cochran (Dirs.), 4 minutes, US Premiere, USA

Inspired by the works of Dave Bonta, BIFF alum Jack Cochran and Pamela Falkenberg find arresting audio and visual correspondences among landscapes taken over by strip malls, strip mines, and strips of highways.

Post Election Works

Kate Haug (Dir.), 17 minutes, WNY Premiere, USA

Using Walter Benjamin as a framework to examine her present day production of political ephemera, Haug examines the cyclical nature of history and her identity as it evolves within the context of contemporary politics.

Second Breath

Jean-Philippe Nadeau-Marcoux & Maxime Laurin (Dirs.), 4 minutes, WNY Premiere, Canada/USA

A poetic documentary focusing on the preservation of the French language in Louisiana.

We Were Hardly More Than Children

Cecilia Condit (Dir.), 9 minutes, WNY Premiere, USA

Condit’s poetic essay explores a pre-Roe landscape as lived by two friends on a frightful journey through a world that has little concern for their survival. Festivals: Ann Arbor