There are a few exciting new additions to the 2009 festival lineup. The festival is sponsoring two unique film productions that promote local filmmakers in order to better showcase their work.
The first production; "4 Short Films About Bangor, Maine" is a compilation of shorts created by four different filmmakers, each being challenged to create their own unique story and vision of the city of Bangor. The final films will be joined together and screened as part of this years lineup.
Additionally, the BFF is sponsoring a new filmmaker interview series called "Lunch Box Cinema". Each featured artist is invited to eat lunch with the series moderator. The lunch is an informal discussion about great films, the filmmakers body of work and filmmaking in general. During the course of this discussion, each filmmaker is commissioned to make a 3-5 minute short film of their design, for the same cost as the lunch. The final films and interviews will be screened throughout the course of the festival.
The complete festival schedule will be released in late June.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Competition Begins!
The 2nd annual 28-Eighty Film Shootout Competition is underway! 12 teams are competing for prizes in the following categories:
Best Overall Film
Best Interpretation of the Prompt
Best Male Acting Performance
Best Female Acting Performance
The turn out at Paddy Murphy's Pub was fantastic, and 8 of the teams sent representatives to the meet and greet (and to get out of the rain). The other 4 teams are competing from out of town. The final films are due on Sunday 8/10 at 9PM. More coming soon!
28-Eighty Starts Tonight
The 2nd annual 28-Eighty Film Shootout Competition begins tonight at 9PM. So far we have over 10 teams competing in this years competition; including a team from Ireland! We will have updates tonight on this blog, including photos from the registration meeting and we plan to have constant updates over the weekend as the comeptition progresses and the overall Festival opens. The top films from the competition will screened and judged at the Bangor Opera House on Sat. Aug 16th, so come join the fun.
-The BFF Blog Team
-The BFF Blog Team
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Exposure
This weeks entry comes from filmmaker Coby Toland whose comedic short film "Bulldog" was screened as part of the 2007 BFF.
When I was invited to screen my film Bulldog as part of the opening night of the inaugural Bangor Film Festival, I jumped at the opportunity. Bulldog was a special film for me, not because I think it is my best work, but because it is the first film I directed after finishing film school. As most filmmakers can tell you, making a film outside of the relative safety and security of an educational environment can be the first true test of ones capabilities as a producer or director. The screening of my film at the BFF was to be the largest audience to view my work and it gave my film (and my abilities as a filmmaker) something that new filmmakers desperately crave; exposure.
Since finishing Bulldog and a few other shorts, I have most recently been working on my first internet based venture, a reality web series called Man Up. The idea behind Man Up came from a collaboration with my filmmaking partner George, after we began to joke that guys needed a show that taught them how to get in touch with their inner "Man", a forum for the "anti-metrosexual". We produced 6 episodes for the web in the initial run, dealing with topics from home maintenance to NASCAR. As filmmakers, the internet gave us a new type of exposure. We were able to reach a large potential audience in a more interactive way and get instant feedback. It was an immediate way to communicate and present our work. We could set up mailing lists, send messages to our fan base and get feedback on our work. Instead of saying "I'll send you my reel" now I could say "check out my website" and an instant forum was created for filmmaker and audience. Because of this, we are currently in negotiation to bring Man Up to network television. Whether it is successful or not, as filmmakers we will need to continue to have a need for exposure, whether it is through a festival like the BFF which seeks out relationships with independent filmmakers or through the internet which has become a tool for filmmakers to communicate their message with the world.
You can learn more about the Man Up web-episodes at www.manuptv.com
Friday, May 9, 2008
Defending Champs
This weeks post comes from Andrew Bourgoin, member of Bromine Productions whose entry "Personae" won the award for "best overall film" at the inaugural 28-Eighty Film Shootout Competition.
Competing in last year's 48 Hour film festival was extremely rewarding. The opportunity to be creative with friends from my home town of Bangor, ME in spirited, artistic competition was well worth the lack of sleep that the producing the winning film demanded.
Well, I'll be honest with you- I slept during the final hours of the competition as my teammates Ian Bagley, Schuyler Kelly and Ian Smith put the finishing touches on our short, "Personae". My defense was that someone had to be away the next day to ensure that the film was submitted on time, but I don't think they minded one bit that I was passed out- well, except for the snoring.
But it is pretty special to spend 48 hours with anyone, let alone other strong minded individuals in a creative competition that you have never worked with before, and to only get annoyed with snoring. Working with Ian, Schyuler and Ian reminded me how successful groups of people can be that all share a common goal and can effectively communicate ideas and opinions.
Beyond the excitement of being part of a positive and supportive group of individuals was the joy of spending time in Bangor, a place that I had not lived in since leaving for college. Our film had different shots from Bangor's downtown, including two shots that employed local residents to play a role in the film! People in Bangor were really supportive of our film and of the festival in general, something that will hopefully continue this summer.
It was also nice to have my father be a part of the production process. In our film, we decided to make the main character, James, be a radio DJ because we had access to the WERU studio in Blue Hill, ME. My father's role in the film was short but has been mentioned many times by my friends from across the US that have viewed the short on the Bangor Film Festival web site.
Again, it was a great experience for me to be able to reconnect with friends, the city I grew up in and with my family that still lives here. It was also nice to have our film be selected as the best out of such an impressive collection of work. Since winning the Bangor 48 Hour Film Festival, "Personae" has received another award at the 5 College Film Festival in Massachusetts for Best Narration, something that I felt was overlooked at the Bangor showing. The film will be shown for a week in North Hampton, MA starting next Monday.
Ian, Schuyler, Ian and myself (Bromine Productions) are looking forward to the competition this summer. We know that the bar has been set from last year's entries and even more teams will probably be involved. But, even without focusing on the competition, winning and losing, it is nice to look forward to another 48 hours with friends and family in good ole' Bangor.
-A F Bourgoin
Competing in last year's 48 Hour film festival was extremely rewarding. The opportunity to be creative with friends from my home town of Bangor, ME in spirited, artistic competition was well worth the lack of sleep that the producing the winning film demanded.
Well, I'll be honest with you- I slept during the final hours of the competition as my teammates Ian Bagley, Schuyler Kelly and Ian Smith put the finishing touches on our short, "Personae". My defense was that someone had to be away the next day to ensure that the film was submitted on time, but I don't think they minded one bit that I was passed out- well, except for the snoring.
But it is pretty special to spend 48 hours with anyone, let alone other strong minded individuals in a creative competition that you have never worked with before, and to only get annoyed with snoring. Working with Ian, Schyuler and Ian reminded me how successful groups of people can be that all share a common goal and can effectively communicate ideas and opinions.
Beyond the excitement of being part of a positive and supportive group of individuals was the joy of spending time in Bangor, a place that I had not lived in since leaving for college. Our film had different shots from Bangor's downtown, including two shots that employed local residents to play a role in the film! People in Bangor were really supportive of our film and of the festival in general, something that will hopefully continue this summer.
It was also nice to have my father be a part of the production process. In our film, we decided to make the main character, James, be a radio DJ because we had access to the WERU studio in Blue Hill, ME. My father's role in the film was short but has been mentioned many times by my friends from across the US that have viewed the short on the Bangor Film Festival web site.
Again, it was a great experience for me to be able to reconnect with friends, the city I grew up in and with my family that still lives here. It was also nice to have our film be selected as the best out of such an impressive collection of work. Since winning the Bangor 48 Hour Film Festival, "Personae" has received another award at the 5 College Film Festival in Massachusetts for Best Narration, something that I felt was overlooked at the Bangor showing. The film will be shown for a week in North Hampton, MA starting next Monday.
Ian, Schuyler, Ian and myself (Bromine Productions) are looking forward to the competition this summer. We know that the bar has been set from last year's entries and even more teams will probably be involved. But, even without focusing on the competition, winning and losing, it is nice to look forward to another 48 hours with friends and family in good ole' Bangor.
-A F Bourgoin
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
About This Blog
This blog was created to give an inside look at events surrounding The Bangor Film Festival, an annual celebration of independent film at venues in and around Bangor, Maine. Each week different guests will be asked to contribute to this blog and report on different topics relating to the festival .
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