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© 2025 Buffalo International Film Festival

Oct 7-11 2021

Archive

BIFF Offscreen: Fissure and Donna

BIFF Offscreen: Fissure and Donna

Oct 7-11, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

Original artwork by Spain Rodriguez on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center October 7-11.

Free Event
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BIFF Offscreen: Van Tran Nguyen's Erie County Smile

BIFF Offscreen: Van Tran Nguyen's Erie County Smile

Oct 7-11, 2021
Duende

Erie County Smile is a parody of “Paris By Night” (PBN), a popular Vietnamese-language variety show from the mid-90s, still airing today.

Free Event
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BIFF Offscreen: Stephanie Rothenberg's Aquadisia

BIFF Offscreen: Stephanie Rothenberg's Aquadisia

Oct 7-11, 2021
Duende

What if humans could cure climate change and themselves by drinking a magical water made by a new species of bioengineered oysters!?

Free Event
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Bison Pass

Bison Pass

12:01 AM
October 6, 2021
North Park Theatre

All access pass to all festival films, events, parties + more!

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Night Zero Party

Night Zero Party

7:00 PM
October 7, 2021
Bar Della Citta

Come pick up your Bison Pass and kick-off the 2021 festival with cocktails and conversation!

Free Event
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Laguna Ave

Laguna Ave

9:30 PM
October 7, 2021
North Park Theatre

A disaffected former musician is drawn into the mysterious and sinister world of his downstairs neighbor.

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Sapelo

Sapelo

12:00 PM
October 8, 2021
North Park Theatre

The story of matriarchal griot, Cornelia Walker Bailey, and the last remaining enclave of the Saltwater Geechee people.

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Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

2:30 PM
October 8, 2021
North Park Theatre

Members of the Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees & environmentalists defend their land and water from LA.

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Leda w/ This Bank of The River

Leda w/ This Bank of The River

3:00 PM
October 8, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

A young woman's isolation and terror lead to madness in this retelling of the Greek myth.

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Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

5:30 PM
October 8, 2021
North Park Theatre

A loving tribute to the legendary and controversial, Buffalo-raised underground cartoonist and graffiti artist, Spain Rodriguez.

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BIFF Shorts: Global Documentary

BIFF Shorts: Global Documentary

5:30 PM
October 8, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

Real stories from around the world.

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Catch The Fair One

Catch The Fair One

7:30 PM
October 8, 2021
North Park Theatre

A boxer retraces the steps of her kid sister after she disappears in this Western New York lensed revenge thriller.

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Party Number 541

Party Number 541

9:30 PM
October 8, 2021
The Tralf

((All of Us at The Tralfamadore)) Come time-warp with us for two Earth hours...

Free Event
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BIFF Shorts: Danger Zone

BIFF Shorts: Danger Zone

9:45 PM
October 8, 2021
North Park Theatre

NSFW / OMG / LMFAO flicks… the weirder, wilder sider of BIFF is back.

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BIFF Offscreen: Jordan Smith & Dancers of the Haudenosaunee

BIFF Offscreen: Jordan Smith & Dancers of the Haudenosaunee

10:00 PM
October 8, 2021
The Tralf

Featuring Jordan Smith, Kehala Greene Smith, Jordy Smith, Gaehnew Printup and Ariyen Stevens.

Free Event
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BIFF Panel: Reflexive Nonfiction

BIFF Panel: Reflexive Nonfiction

10:30 AM
October 9, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

Explores personal cinema through Film About a Father Who, Bad Attitude, Now Return Us to Normal + 100 Years from Mississippi.

Free Event
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BIFF Shorts: Saturday Morning Cartoons

BIFF Shorts: Saturday Morning Cartoons

11:00 AM
October 9, 2021
North Park Theatre

A collection of sweet and fun family friendly animations from Western New York based and international creators.

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BIFF Shorts: Students

BIFF Shorts: Students

12:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

The next generation of filmmaking, today.

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Now Return Us to Normal

Now Return Us to Normal

2:30 PM
October 9, 2021
North Park Theatre

Classmates from a behavior modification boarding school confront the personal cost of the trauma inflicted by the school’s cruel practices.

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BIFF Offscreen: Alexandres, Bajus + Lichty

BIFF Offscreen: Alexandres, Bajus + Lichty

3:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

Art Installation Tours of Restoration at Silo City w/ Avye Alexandres, Jozef Bajus and Gareth Lichty.

Free Event
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BIFF Panel: On Location

BIFF Panel: On Location

3:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

Focuses on two films shot on location in Buffalo in this year's fest – Catch the Fair One + Bitchin': The Sound and Fury of Rick James.

Free Event
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BIFF Shorts: The Unexpected

BIFF Shorts: The Unexpected

4:45 PM
October 9, 2021
North Park Theatre

Comedies, lighthearted docs and dramas with a twist.

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Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James

Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James

7:00 PM
October 9, 2021
North Park Theatre

A musical, kaleidoscopic portrait of the man, the myth, the legend–

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BIFF Offscreen: Brian Milbrand

BIFF Offscreen: Brian Milbrand

8:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

VJ performance projected on the Silos.

Free Event
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BIFF Offscreen: Turkey Boi + Buddy Boi

BIFF Offscreen: Turkey Boi + Buddy Boi

8:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

DJ performance and dance party.

Free Event
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Party All The Time Party

Party All The Time Party

9:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

The Party All The Time Party runs from 3PM on Saturday to 12AM on Sunday, with BIFF's main party offerings from 9PM Saturday – 12AM Sunday.

Free Event
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Rust Belt Driller

Rust Belt Driller

9:45 PM
October 9, 2021
North Park Theatre

An artist spirals into a homicidal rage, turning his studio into a slaughterhouse, thanks to his trusty Drillinator 9000.

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Swimming in the Clouds

Swimming in the Clouds

10:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

Filmmakers share their Covid dreams which range from funny and deeply personal to political and traumatic.

Free Event
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BIFF Offscreen: Oscar Alston

BIFF Offscreen: Oscar Alston

11:00 PM
October 9, 2021
Duende

Solo among the Silos. Bass. Multimedia performance.

Free Event
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The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim

The Laws of the Universe - The Age of Elohim

11:00 AM
October 10, 2021
North Park Theatre

Set on Earth 150 years in the past, this thrilling animated epic follows the adventures of female soldier Yaizaer.

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BIFF Shorts: Experimental

BIFF Shorts: Experimental

12:00 PM
October 10, 2021
Burchfield Penney Art Center

Cinematic poetry and essays in signals, pixels and celluloid.

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100 Years From Mississippi

100 Years From Mississippi

1:45 PM
October 10, 2021
North Park Theatre

Fleeing Mississippi in 1915 as her father escaped a lynch mob, Mamie Lang Kirkland resettles and eventually raises her family in Buffalo.

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BIFF Shorts: WNY Stories

BIFF Shorts: WNY Stories

4:00 PM
October 10, 2021
North Park Theatre

Narratives and nonfiction films from around the block and around the region.

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Life After You w/ Turning Blue

Life After You w/ Turning Blue

6:30 PM
October 10, 2021
North Park Theatre

A suburban family’s life is turned upside down following the overdose death of their son.

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My Dead Dad w/ Paper Geese

My Dead Dad w/ Paper Geese

9:00 PM
October 10, 2021
North Park Theatre

A young burnout grows closer to his estranged and deceased father after he leaves him an apartment complex with eccentric tenants and staff.

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Beans

Beans

12:30 PM
October 11, 2021
North Park Theatre

This coming of age drama explores the Oka Crisis, a 78-day long land dispute between Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec.

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Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago

3:00 PM
October 11, 2021
North Park Theatre

An impressionistic portrait of poet, author and screenwriter Barry Gifford.

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Landlocked

Landlocked

5:00 PM
October 11, 2021
North Park Theatre

Nick reunites with his estranged, transgender father Briana as they journey to scatter his late mother's ashes off the Georgia coast.

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We Burn Like This

We Burn Like This

7:00 PM
October 11, 2021
North Park Theatre

When 22 year-old Rae, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is targeted by Neo-Nazis in Montana, her ancestors' trauma becomes tangible.

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Workhorse Queen

Workhorse Queen

9:15 PM
October 11, 2021
North Park Theatre

A local legend becomes a national sensation when Mrs Davis finds herself cast onto RuPaul's Drag Race.

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Film About a Father Who

Film About a Father Who

12:01 AM
October 15, 2021
North Park Theatre

An intimate, 35-year character study and meditation on fatherhood and masculinity.

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Catch The Fair One

Catch The Fair One

Oct 8-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A boxer retraces the steps of her kid sister after she disappears in this Western New York lensed revenge thriller.

Read more
BIFF Panel: Racial Justice in View

BIFF Panel: Racial Justice in View

3:00 PM
October 11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Discussion will focus on the film selections and related topics.

Free Event
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Laguna Ave

Laguna Ave

Oct 15-18, 2025
Virtual Screening

A disaffected former musician is drawn into the mysterious and sinister world of his downstairs neighbor.

Read more
Workhorse Queen (Encore)

Workhorse Queen (Encore)

Oct 15-18, 2021
Virtual Screening

A local legend becomes a national sensation when Mrs Davis finds herself cast onto RuPaul's Drag Race.

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¡ BIFF ENCORE !!

¡ BIFF ENCORE !!

Oct 15-18, 2021
Virtual Screening

Back by audience demand (!!!) – BIFF's Official 2021 Online Selections!

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Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

Oct 15-18, 2021
Virtual Screening

Members of the Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees & environmentalists defend their land and water from LA.

Read more
Making an Exoneree

Making an Exoneree

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

16 students reinvestigate five wrongful conviction cases, helping to free a man incarcerated for over 25 years – Buffalo’s Valentino Dixon.

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High Maintenance - The Life and Work of Dani Karavan

High Maintenance - The Life and Work of Dani Karavan

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Endearing portrait of the life and work of Dani Karavan.

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BIFF Shorts: Racial Justice In View

BIFF Shorts: Racial Justice In View

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Docs, video essays and narratives that shine a light on race, (de)colonialism, and inequity in the US, Canada and nearby Indigenous Nations.

Free Event
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BIFF Shorts: Episodic

BIFF Shorts: Episodic

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A small glimpse at a bigger picture.

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Dynamite Soul Bambi

Dynamite Soul Bambi

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A young, indie filmmaker is given the chance of a lifetime to make his feature film debut in this hilarious, reflexive comedy.

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BIFF Shorts: Interventions + Intersections

BIFF Shorts: Interventions + Intersections

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Films about life changing moments.

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No Visible Trauma w/ Hello Sunshine

No Visible Trauma w/ Hello Sunshine

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

The story of the deeply troubled Calgary Police Service told in the midst of a global uprising against police violence and systemic racism.

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Semkhor

Semkhor

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

This sweeping drama follows a midwife confronted with unthinkable choices in the remote community of Samsa.

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Savage Days

Savage Days

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A student eager for experiences, a drug dealer trying to escape and a lonely trader cross paths in this story of love, lust and betrayal.

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The Badger

The Badger

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Right before Soodeh Sharifzadegan’s second marriage, her 11-year-old son, Matiar is kidnapped, setting off a chain of events.

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Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Jordan reconnects with his mother Wendy in the midst of a mental health crisis.

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Lost

Lost

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A young woman who has been programmed and manipulated by members of a mysterious organization finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy.

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BIFF Shorts: Global Narratives

BIFF Shorts: Global Narratives

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Films from around the world, brought to your home.

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Mr. Emancipation : The Walter Perry Story

Mr. Emancipation : The Walter Perry Story

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A portrait of the larger than life Walter Perry, organizer of the largest Emancipation Day celebration in the world.

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BIFF Shorts: Time Stands Still

BIFF Shorts: Time Stands Still

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

A series of shorts making sense of the last year.

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Rust Belt Driller

Rust Belt Driller

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

An artist spirals into a homicidal rage, turning his studio into a slaughterhouse, thanks to his trusty Drillinator 9000.

Read more
Rage

Rage

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Beatrice embarks on a journey to reconnect with Costa, a man she saved as a teen.

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Ludi

Ludi

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Ludi, a hardworking and exhausted nurse, chases the American Dream in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood.

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25 Years of Innocence

25 Years of Innocence

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

The ordinary life of Tomasz Komenda is turned upside down when he is wrongly accused of brutal murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

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Missing in Brooks County

Missing in Brooks County

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Families search for loved ones who went missing in Brooks County, Texas, the site of more migrant deaths than anywhere else in the US.

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Rebel Dykes

Rebel Dykes

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

When punk met feminism in the riotous London of the 1980s, it was the start of a beautiful friendship...

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The Ants & The Grasshopper

The Ants & The Grasshopper

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Anita has many gifts- she farms food from dead soil to feed a village and more – but can she convince Americans that climate change is real?

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On Our Own Island

On Our Own Island

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

An intimate portrait of the seasons of a relationship from its romantic beginnings through its unexpected end.

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Rez Metal

Rez Metal

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Metal band I Don’t Konform is given the chance of a lifetime to work with legendary Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen.

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The Daphne Project

The Daphne Project

Oct 7-11, 2021
Virtual Screening

Daphne, actress and social justice warrior, wreaks havoc on a production of Euripides’ “The Bacchae” in the name of progress. Her progress.

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Supported By

NYSCAMedia Arts Assistance FundThe Tralf Music hallHostel Buffalo-Niagara
Erie CountyBuffalo AKG Art MuseumWittlin, Dry & Dry, LLPArts Access Program
North Park TheatreSqueaky Wheel Film & Media Art CenterCanisius CollegeUB DMS
Burchfield Penney Art CenterHallwallsAloft Hotel 500 Pearl StreetTito's Handmade Vodka
City of Buffalo – Delaware DistrictGive for GreatnessBeauty View Ranch
Consulate General of Canada in NYBuffalo Toronto Public MediaHertel Business Association
LalenaDuendeBar Della Citta
Lipsitz Green Scime CambriaSilo CityHomeLight