Berlin Independent Film Festival (BIFF) is a

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

with a special emphasis on

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

s, which annually takes place in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. It screens German and international films and awards them in various categories. It screens at the historic

Kino Babylon The Kino Babylon is a cinema in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin and part of a listed building complex at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz opposite the Volksbühne theatre. The building was erected 1928–29. It was designed by the architect Hans Poelzig i ...

, and offers jury awards in many categories as well as two audience awards. The festival is independent of, but runs concurrently with, the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

(Berlinale) in the city, along with the

European Film Market The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

Description

The festival was founded in 2009 and takes place at the same time as

(Berlinale), but is a separate event, independent from the Berlinale. The

takes place at the same time, providing an opportunity to market films. The festival takes place at the historic

cinema in Berlin Mitte. Besides short and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s of any genre, the festival also exhibits

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

s. After many screenings, the festival organises question-and-answer panels with the filmmakers. One special emphasis of the festival are features that are the director's first or second film, but it also showcases other independent features. All films are screened with English subtitles, as the audience is international.

Awards

BIFF offers jury awards in the following categories for films: * Best Feature (over £100k) * Best Micro-budget Feature (under £100k) * Best No-Budget Feature (under £10k) * Best UK Feature * Best Documentary * Best Sci-Fi / Horror Feature * Best Female Director Feature * Best LGBT film * Best Short Film * Best UK Short * Best Short Documentary * Best Animated Short * Best Experimental Short * Best Short Short * Best Horror / Sci-Fi Short * Best Music Video There are also four awards for

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

: * Best Feature Screenplay * Best Sci-Fi / Horror Screenplay * Best EU Screenplay * Best Comedy Screenplay Audiences get to vote for Best Feature and Best Short.

Notable films (selection)

Among many others, the festival has screened the following notable films: *2009: ''

Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah are Biblical figures. Samson and Delilah may also refer to: In music * ''Samson and Delilah'' (opera), an opera by Camille Saint-Saëns * ''Samson & Delilah'' (album), released in 2013 by V V Brown * "Samson and Delilah" (t ...

'', by Australian filmmaker

Warwick Thornton Warwick Thornton (born 1970) is an Australian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. His debut feature film '' Samson and Delilah'' won the Caméra d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific ...

*2011: ''

Armless ''Armless'' is a 2010 comedy film directed by Habib Azar and starring Daniel London, Janel Moloney, Matt Walton, Zoe Lister-Jones and Laurie Kennedy. It was written by Kyle Jarrow. It was an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, ...

'', an American feature film that premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

the year before *2012: '' You Missed Sonja'', the first German film based on a work by

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

*2013: '' The Taiwan Oyster'', an American film that premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival the year before *2013: '' Jail Caesar'' (shown under its alternative title ''StringCaesar''), a British production filmed in several working prisons in the UK and South Africa that was produced over the period of several years *2013: ''

Menschenliebe ''Menschenliebe'' is an independent German feature film directed by Alexander Tuschinski. It had its premiere in Stuttgart, Germany in December 2010. It was screened and received numerous awards at international film-festivals, was additionall ...

'', a German No-Budget-Film winning numerous international awards *2013: ''

Death by Chocolate Death by Chocolate is a colloquial descriptive or marketing term for various cakes and desserts that feature chocolate, especially dark chocolate or cocoa, as the primary ingredient. The phrase is trademarked in some countries, and the dessert ...

'', the first interactive Swiss music video *2014: '' Newlyweeds'', an American film that premiered at

the year before *2016: ''

In Search of a Lost Paradise ''In Search of a Lost Paradise'' is a 2015 German-Russian documentary by Evgeniy Tsymbal and Alexander Smoljanski which tells the story of Russian artist Valentina Kropivnitskaya and her husband, the artist Oscar Rabin. Aside from the biography ...

'' was screened at two sold-out screenings. It was followed by a question-and-answer panel with

Lyudmila Ulitskaya Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya (russian: link=no, Людмила Евгеньевна Улицкая, born February 21, 1943) is an internationally acclaimed modern Russian novelist and short-story writer who, in 2014, was awarded the prestigious A ...

and

Alexander Smoljanski Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. Shortly after winning the award for the best documentary feature at Berlin Independent Film Festival, the film also received a

Nika Award The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars. History The award was established i ...

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.berlinfest.com/
Berlin Independent Film Festival
in

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Film festivals in Berlin Annual events in Berlin 2009 establishments in Germany Recurring events established in 2010