UPDATE: BBFF tickets are now available to purchase ONLINE.
The full online programme is live and our free 48 page programme will be out in next week’s issue of the Echo with full details of all the films and events happening at BBFF2012. BBFF 2012 features a staggering 200+ films from 39 countries including 132 World, Australian and NSW Premieres as well as 45 films never seen in Byron before.
BBFF 2012 Official Selection: A Deeper Shade of Blue (Sneak Preview)
How Hawaiian Surf Culture conquered the World. Master surf filmmaker Jack McCoy ventures into a new realm with his latest feature. This is not a surf movie, it is a film about surfing’s deepest roots; in the subconscious; in ancient lore; in the craft of surfboard building; in man’s perpetual quest for a joyful relationship with the natural world.
BBFF Official Selection: Day at the Pool
A Day at the Pool is a documentary-style film that attempts to uncover the true origins of modern skateboarding. Interviews with Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams and the rest of the Dogtown Crew reveal that an anonymous local kid may have been largely responsible for the skateboarding revolution that lead to their success in the late 70s.
BBFF Official Selection: Bombay Beach
An Australian premiere, this debut feature documentary is being hailed as an intrieging masterpiece. With a compelling sound track by Bob Dylan and Beirut, Bombay Beach is a film about one of the poorest communities in southern California. Located on the shores of the Salton Sea a man-made sea stranded in the middle of the Colorado desert that was once a beautiful vacation destination for the privileged and is now a pool of dead fish.
Click through for trailer… (more…)
BBFF 2012 Official Selection: Crazy Wisdom
Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, ‘the bad boy of Buddhism,’ shattered Westerners’ notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave, yet he is recognized as being the pivotal person to bring Buddhism to the west. Raised in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa fled his homeland during the Chinese Communist invasion of 1959. In Britain, seeing his monk’s robes blocked his students’ understanding of Buddhism, he renounced his monastic vows, eloped with a sixteen year-old and embraced western life.
BBFF Official Selection: The Missing Key
In a richly re-imagined Venice of the early 1920s, young composer Hero Wasabi must compete against the unscrupulous Count Telefino in the prestigious Abacus Scroll musical competition.
UPDATE: Recent Winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Best Animation Short Film.
Click through for Trailer
BBFF 2012 Official Selection: Beauty Day
BEFORE THERE WAS JACKASS… THERE WAS RALPH ZAVADIL.
Adrenaline Junkies are going to love this crazy documentary.
“Everyone should have a friend like Ralph.”
His cable access television show, The Cap’n Video Show, ran from 1990 to 1995, spawning a small but loyal cult following. Each week Ralph performed a series of idiotic and occasionally dangerous stunts, challenging the sensibilities of his small Southern Ontario audience. With the advent of the internet and reality television still years away, his unique brand of gross-out stunt comedy was truly ahead of its time. All it took was a broken neck for him to get noticed.
Click through for the killer trailer…
BBFF welcomes Arthouse Cinema as a Venue Partner
The team behind BBFF2012 is proud to announce that Pig House Flicks, Byron Bay’s funky little Art-House cinema has come on board as a 2012 Byron Bay International Film Festival Venue Partner supplementing the regular festival screenings planned in and around Byron Bay during the festival in March 2012.
The Byron International Documentary Prize
BBFF Festival Director J’aimee Skippon-Volke & Screenzone Managing Director Michael Weatherhead. Photo by Jensta
The inaugural Byron International Documentary Prize, a no-strings cash grant of $5000, has been announced by the Byron Bay International Film Festival (BBFF) and ScreenZone, a new venture created locally which brings together documentary makers and online retailing.
ScreenZone will be launched at the 2012 festival and has put up the funds for the prize.
BBFF REWIND: Tyger
Tyger from Guilherme Marcondes on Vimeo.
An impressive mix of visual techniques from Director/Animator Guilherme Marcondes which won BBFF2008′s Best Experimental Film Award.
BBFF Official Selection: Stilyagi (Hipsters) 4pm
Country of Origin: Russia. Language: Russian with English subtitles
Youth in 50s communist Russia are fighting for the right to be different from others, to listen to music of their choice, dress differently, dance, love and, most importantly, have freedom to be themselves.
BBFF Official Selection: MASSIVE ATTACK Music Video (Splitting the Atom)
” The last particles. Divisible, invisible…”
This deeply haunting tune takes you on a journey into an inorganic futuristic world suspended in fractured chaos. Spitting the Atom explores a beast’s encounter with a civilized military counter attack held in the unfortunate battle theatre of a city. Though static in time the one shot camera sweep conveys a gripping and frightening showdown and it’s battle to the death.
“Splitting the Atom” is a continuation of the epic confrontation Edouard Sailer’s established in his other collaboration with the band Massive Attack in the music video ’Atlas Air’.
FREE BBFF2011 Programme inside this weeks ECHO
Get your Free 40 page BBFF2011 printed programme in this weeks ECHO (before this ominous weather does). For those out of the Byron area you can click through and check it out online. Don’t forget the online programme is also live NOW with an array of search options to get you in touch with the film you want to see fast.
BBFF Official Selection: Cultures of Resistance
Country of Origin: USA Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Burmese, Farsi, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Dari, Kinyarwanda with English Subtitles
Directed by Iara Lee, Cultures of Resistance is a chilling yet inspiring feature documentary. Armed with only music, art, song and dance, this film is all about the power of people united by their desire to heal the most impoverished, enslaved nations of the world.
BBFF Official Selection: This Way of Life
Set in the ruggedly stunning landscapes of the Ruahine Ranges and Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, This Way of Life takes us on a true life journey into the world of hunter and horse wrangler Peter Ottley-Karena, wife Colleen, and their six children as they share the rich tapestry of their lives and their much revered connection to the natural world. Peter’s philosophy for living emanates from his own deep-seated values that shun the modern world in favour of a simple, more natural way of life. He is passionately, and patiently, committed to imparting these values to his growing children.
BBFF gains IF accreditation & celebrates by reopening entries to the lucky few
Byron Bay International Film Festival have announced that they will reopen entries to local filmmakers from the Northern Rivers Area for one week only from Tuesday January 18th to Monday the 23rd to celebrate BBFF’s recent accreditation with the Inside Film Awards.
BBFF2011 Plans to Breakout in Space and Time.
The crew at BBFF have announced not only its intention to expand its regular 9 day duration to 10 days but to also screen in one of NSW biggest inland cities.
2010 Byron Bay International Film Festival wraps up
Congratulations and a warm heartfelt thanks to all filmmakers, viewing public, volunteers, sponsors and supporters that took part in 2010′s fabulous festival.
Be sure to check out the Awards section to see which films took out the awards in their specific genre for 2010.
Photos from our pool of photographers we had throughout the festival are up on our Facebook page.
Stay tuned for news about our 2011 Festival – March 4th to 13th.
All the best
The Festival Crew
