2026 Bison Pass

Enjoy the best of the fest! Access to all of BIFF's screenings, parties, events and more!

BIFF Offscreen: A Little History of Cinema Told in Small Objects

An exhibition of pre-cinema technology!

Free Event

Buffalo Film History Series: Buffalo’s Vitascope Theatre + Edisonia Hall

Watch the same films that screened at the Vitascope Theatre 130 years ago!

Free Event

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]

Ancestors bend time and space to find their way home.

Free Event

Every Contact Leaves a Trace

Since 1990, filmmaker Lynne Sachs has collected 600 business cards—together they form an archive of encounters.

Variations on Violence

Consumed by the distant violence he witnesses daily, a military drone pilot drifts toward self-destruction.

499 Days

A sweet Kentucky boy is diagnosed with an incredibly rare "orphan" brain cancer, and fights alongside his family with resilience and hope.

BIFF X0: BODIES! BODIES?! BODIES.

Human bodies are physical instruments that move us through the environments we inhabit – they generate, amplify, and modulate meaning.

BIFF SHORTS: PORTRAITS

The iconic and the intimate!

Humboldt USA

Countless places across the US still bear the name of Alexander von Humboldt — queer traveler, visionary naturalist, now largely forgotten.

Save the Queen w/ "Getting Almost Naked"

Memphis-based drag queen Bella DuBalle embodies resilience and the courage to be authentic in the face of adversity.

Little Audrey

A skeptical child psychologist is drawn into a world where faith and reason collide.

Anna by the Window w/ "Dirty Myrtle"

An aimless teenager roams the streets of NYC.

BIFF SHORTS: SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS

Fun, family friendly cartoons from WNY’s leading animation programs and global creators.

Ideas of Order

A collision between the macro-collapse of ecosystems and the minutiae of cellular colonies.

Party USA

When Taylor can't get her shift covered after her dad dies, a downward spiral of red, white and blue-collared chaos ensues!

BIFF SHORTS: STUDENTS (SATURDAY SHOWCASE)

The next generation of storytellers, now!

BIFF X0: IMPRINTS

Films about ecological relationships and exchanges, and our connections to our land and each other.

Workers of Art

What happens when artists are treated as essential workers?

BIFF SHORTS: POP ROMANCE

Stories about love, heartbreak, relationships, pop music, and pop culture.

Dad Genes

A sperm donor's discovery that he's fathered dozens of children transforms him from anonymous donor to unconventional family man.

BIFF Legacy Gala: Dead Man w/ Gary Farmer

Join us as we celebrate the work of acting legend Gary Farmer – BIFF's 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner!

BIFF SHORTS: EPISODIC COMEDIES

Big laughs, short episodes!

A Safe Distance

After a woman is abandoned by her boyfriend in the forest, she befriends a couple and gradually realizes they are on the run from the law.

Time Warp

50 years after “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” electrified audiences, a drag theater co. stages a shadow cast of the cult classic.

Heartbreak Falls Part 2

The consummation of a business agreement triggers a tragic series of events.

BIFF SHORTS: JUSTICE IN VIEW

Evocative shorts exploring social and intersectional justice issues. Stories about changemakers, risk takers, dreamers and healers.

Free Event

BIFF X0: POEMS, SONGS, SPACES, PLACES

Lyrical, place + space-based experimental films.

BIFF SHORTS: IN THE CLUB

Coming-of-age and finding community.

All American Girls

An exploration of the cultural phenomenon, history, and impact of the iconic and wildly popular American Girl doll line.

BIFF X0: KINGDOM ANIMALIA

Lobsters', bears', lions' goats', humans', caribous', and ants'-eye-views from the avant-garde!

Partners: How Starbucks Baristas Started a Labor Revolution w/ "Final Press"

Featuring on-the-ground footage from workers and organizers, Partners takes us to the front lines of the historic union campaign.

Lunar Sway

Cliff is a young man looking for love in all the wrong places in a small desert town.

Micronations

From backyard kingdoms to full-blown communities – a whimsical glimpse into a DIY culture of self-declared kings, queens, and emperors.

BIFF SHORTS: WNY STORIES

From the humorous to the heartbreaking – unique stories from around the block and the region.

Still Ohio w/ "Nice Guy"

Desperate to salvage her relationship, a college student embarks on a cross-country carpool only to find herself trapped in a time loop.

Born to Lose

In this gritty American drama set in the Rust Belt, Andy Logan inherits nothing from his father but debts and bad habits.

The Long Hope

An examination of the struggles of the Seneca and Mohawk Nations to retain their sovereignty.

Ki~Bé~Giš w/ "Primetime Mr. President"

Blending chronicle and fable, Ki~Bé~Giš interweaves footage from Baghdad’s protests with poetic narration that echoes Mesopotamian myths.

SOUTH + NORTH WEST

Rodeos and roundups – Rodeo de Campo and "The Daddy of 'Em All"!

Humboldt w/ Buffalo Corridors: Jefferson Avenue

Humboldt Parkway was a beloved feature of Buffalo until it was bulldozed in the 1960s. Now the community has the opportunity to restore it.

Thirteen in Gaza

A nuanced and deeply human portrait of a father and his teenage daughter navigating everyday life in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

Landscapes of Memory

A layered and multifaceted meditation on the uses and abuses of memory culture.

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie

A story of healing and hope based on Rushdie's memoir "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder."

Thank You for Thinking of Me

United by a traumatic event at a BLM protest, a mother faces imprisonment and a community organizer navigates the criminal justice system.

Drama Kings

Two struggling actors resort to drastic measures after being rejected by a powerful producer and discovering that she's stolen their idea.

To Kill a Nazi

A Holocaust survivor sets out in to kill his father’s Gestapo executioner and ends up playing a pivotal role in a hostage rescue.