BIFF SHORTS: WNY STORIES

From the humorous to the heartbreaking, and everything in between – unique stories from around the block and the region. Total runtime is 96 minutes.

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LAKELAND

Meghan Marin (Dir), 7 minutes, USA, Western New York Premiere

Director Meghan Marin in attendance.

Farmers compete to show their prized animals, teenagers rove the grounds and give out lemonade from lemon shaped stands. Fairgoers and workers alike share a view into the inner world of the USA's oldest state fair.

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VISITOR

Lily Ekimian Ragheb + Ahmed T. Ragheb (Dir), 9 minutes, USA, New York State Premiere

Co-Directors Lily Ekimian Ragheb + Ahmed T. Ragheb in attendance.

After the passing of her mother, Nour awaits a visit from her aunt, who she suspects is a vampire. Set amongst the lonely nocturnal streets of Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls, “Visitor” reflects on second-generation immigrant anxieties surrounding language, cultural dislocation, and inherited memory.

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BASEDBALL

Ryan Elizabeth Brady (Dir), 9 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Director Ryan Elizabeth Brady in attendance.

When his team's legitimacy is questioned, a washed-up baseball coach must rally his players for a display of dominance in America’s favorite pastime.

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0-1: ALIEN OF EXTRAORDINARY TALENT

Colin Taylor + Louie Visone (Dir), 10 minutes, USA, US Premiere

Co-Directors Colin Taylor + Louie Visone in attendance.

Lily Vo, a Canadian-Vietnamese immigrant, has spent years profiting off the rejection of her own identity. After her visa application is denied, Lily cannot help but compare her shortcoming to that of her father's.

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CROSS CHECKED

Harleigh Eason (Dir), 28 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Director Harleigh Eason, Executive Producer Haleigh Phillips, Director of Photography Diego Ruiz de Velasco in attendance.

A troubled teen fights for her future on a new high school hockey team after her father’s death uproots her to a rust belt town, igniting a fierce rivalry with the team’s poised and ambitious captain.

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ONE MORNING IN BUFFALO

Thomas Allen Harris (Dir), 34 minutes, USA, World Premiere

Director / Writer / Producer Thomas Allen Harris and Producer Jennifer Tucker in attendance.

"One Morning in Buffalo" is a quest for justice, accountability, and healing in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Top’s Grocery in May 2022. Blending legal drama, investigative journalism, and social realism with documentary, autobiography, and the family archive, the film asks a critical question: after a sensationalized tragedy, when the cameras leave, how does a community heal? And who, beyond the shooter, is responsible? We follow a landmark legal case against the gun and social media companies in an attempt to hold them accountable. We enter the community through an African-American father-daughter legal team, John Elmore and Kristen Elmore-Garcia, who are themselves survivors of a parallel trauma: John's father was shot in one of the first racialized mass shootings.