BIFF Shorts: WNY Stories

Stories from around the region, and around the block. 90 minutes.

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Roll It

Nate Chateaux (Dir), 5 minutes, USA, Buffalo Premiere

Director Nate Chateaux in attendance.

A music video for the song "Roll It" by Handsome Jack where the band's touring van has broken down and they decide to give it one more ride, as they "roll it" to the junkyard.

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The Halloween Visitor

DonnaMarie Vaughan (Dir), 5 minutes, USA, Buffalo Premiere

Director DonnaMarie Vaughan in attendance.

Grieving the loss of her beloved husband, a widow discovers an unexpected friendship that helps her cope.

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Lock the Gate

Sarah Lynn Galasso (Dir), 7 minutes, USA, Buffalo Premiere

Director Sarah Lynn Galasso in attendance.

A personal recollection of the birth of animator Sarah Lynn Galasso’s first child. Arriving seven weeks prematurely at a weight of only 2lbs, the baby survives and lives for 11 weeks in neonatal care, only to be released in the middle of Buffalo’s infamous “Surprise” Storm in October of 2006. Galasso’s film beautifully captures the anxiety and mixed emotions of this challenging moment amidst the backdrop of the city’s earliest occurring blizzard on record.

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Goldenrod

Marjorie DeHay (Dir), 19 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Director Marjorie DeHay in attendance.

An inquisitive young girl, Clara (Harper Holmes) comes face to face with the realities of the American Civil War when her father Judson (Weston Young) leaves to join the Union army. Unbeknownst to his family, Judson has been helping freedom-seekers passing through Cattaraugus, NY along the Underground Railroad.

Here & There

Krista Amigone (Dir), 10 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Siblings (screenwriter Bill Ferris + Jennie Fahn) cope with parental death, family responsibilities, and the repercussions of pursuing dreams in a new drama from director Krista Amigone.

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Numb

Daeil Kim (Dir), 11 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Director Daeil Kim in attendance.

When a dancer’s (Ashley Szczerbacki) legs go paralyzed, her obsessive mother (Sarah Roat Waechter) introduces an extreme remedy with twisted consequences in Daeil Kim’s dark drama.

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I'll Find a Way or Make One - A Rosie Story

Rebecca Fasanello + Teresa Castillo (Dir), 19 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Co-Directors Rebecca Fasanello + Teresa Castillo in attendance.

Lackawanna native Viola Hippert, once the Bell Aircraft Corporation’s own answer to Rosie the Riveter and an icon of the Rust Belt’s working class, is now in her late 90s but has no intention of slowing down. In Rebecca Fasanello and Teresa Castillo’s documentary portrait, Hippert reflects on her long life.

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Wasted Talent

Derrick Benton (Dir), 14 minutes, USA, Western New York Premiere

Director Derrick Benton in attendance.

Four high school teens are thrown into detention after a fight come together of their love for music and songwriting. However, their newfound bond is brought to a halt by the harsh reality of the world they come from.