BIFF Shorts: WNY Stories

Celebrating unique perspectives, voices and stories from Western New York.

Bound by Spring

Susan Kehl (Dir), 18 minutes, World Premiere, USA

An emotionally distant father (Mick O'Keefe) and daughter (Tina Mistric) find common ground on a stone that wields the power to transport them to a different world.

attention at tension

Azalia Muchransyah (Dir), 9 minutes, World Premiere, USA

University at Buffalo PhD candidate Azalia Muchransyah ponders anxiety, her career, global politics, isolation, motherhood and a Western New York winter through the COVID19 pandemic in a video journal told entirely through her computer screen.

Enid & Mami

Julia Reagan (Dir), 18 minutes, Festival Premiere, USA

Director Julia Reagan’s moving and often humorous short documentary explores the bond between a mother, a feisty Westside, Buffalo-based senior citizen and her daughter – an educator, pastor, and caretaker to her mother.

Maxine

Brandon Schila (Dir), 30 minutes, World Premiere, USA

This nod to no wave cinema, finds Frazier (Singer Jazmine) traversing a lonely WNY landscape, as she takes time off from performing for a self-discovery.

Father

Erika Mary Frase (Dir), 10 minutes, Buffalo City Premiere, USA

The worlds of two men with different life experiences collide when they realize that they’re not so different after all.

From A Distance

Akram Shibly (Dir), 22 minutes, World Premiere, USA

Syrian-American siblings (including WNY-based director Akram Shibly) reflect on the impact of the refugee crisis during a visit to Lebanon, uncovering the personal price the catastrophe has had on their family from a distance.

BIFF's WNY Stories Shorts Block is available online, and will also be screening at the Dark Alley Drive-in on Saturday, October 10, 2020 from 7:30 - 9:30 PM.

Watch the Virtual Red Carpet Interview for Enid & Mami here!