BIEFF returns between September 22–28, under the theme Common Ground
The 15th edition of Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival will take place between September 22–28 at Cinema Elvire Popesco, Cinemateca Eforie, and Cinema Union, under the theme Common Ground. In a society increasingly fractured by multiple crises and radical discourses, BIEFF draws from a set of values, knowledge, and needs shared over the past fifteen years by both the festival team and the festival audience to celebrate the importance of community and caring for one another and the world around us. This will be reflected in a program of over 60 short and feature-length films, presented for the first time in Romania.
“In a world where individualism and social, economic, and cultural differences are exploited to the extreme by platform capitalism through an accelerated process of algorithmic alienation, BIEFF aims to celebrate what unites us and explore alternative ways of creating and living. The festival invites the audience to seek connection where there seem to be only ruptures, to listen and look beyond borders and differences. In the darkness of the cinema hall, the stories and images on screen meet the experiences and imagination of the viewers on common ground, where we hope to re-learn how to be together,” said Oana Ghera, the artistic director of the festival.
In addition to the National Short Film Competition, dedicated to works by filmmakers of Romanian origin, the International Short Film Competition—featuring this year over 30 formally diverse experiments from more than 25 countries—and the International Feature Film Competition, focused on directors presenting their first or sophomore feature, the festival will also host specially curated programs in collaboration with prestigious institutions, a focus dedicated to the Argentine collective El Pampero Cine, filmmaker-audience talks, and special screenings of some of the most acclaimed outings of the year. The BIEFF.15 film selection was curated by artistic director Oana Ghera, alongside the selection team formed of film critics Flavia Dima, Călin Boto, and Dora Leu.
Two films awarded at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, to be screened at BIEFF
Among the highlights of this year’s edition is the latest from Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari, With Hasan in Gaza, which will open BIEFF’s 15th edition just one month after its world premiere at Locarno, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. After his found footage film An Unusual Summer and A Fidai Film, Aljafari turns to his own archive: he uses video footage filmed during a 2001 trip to the region with Hasan, a local guide, to create “an homage to Gaza and its people, to all that was erased and that came back to me in this urgent moment of Palestinian existence, or non-existence. It is a film about the catastrophe, and the poetry that resists,” the director told Variety.
After the sublime What Do We See When We Look at the Sky, Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze returns to his lo-fi roots with Dry Leaf. Shot entirely on a Sony Ericsson phone discontinued in 2011, the feature was awarded a Special Mention in the International Competition and the FIPRESCI Prize at the same Locarno edition and will close the 15th edition of BIEFF on September 28. “With this film, Koberidze proves that you can create a true masterpiece without mobilizing vast and extractive resources, without using sophisticated and expensive equipment, or massive film crews (here, his father plays the lead role, and the supporting character is literally invisible)—all you need is imagination and rigor,” said Flavia Dima, programmer.
The Argentine collective El Pampero Cine, in focus at BIEFF.15
Also in the spotlight at BIEFF.15 is the Argentine collective El Pampero Cine, a formidable force in contemporary independent cinema. Founded by directors Laura Citarella, Mariano Llinás, Agustín Mendilaharzu, and Alejo Moguillansky, the collective best known for films like Trenque Lauquen, directed by Citarella and named the best film of 2023 by Cahiers du Cinéma, and La Flor, by Llinás, the longest film in Argentina’s history has seen growing acclaim among cinephiles and film critics alike in recent years. With the participation of directors Laura Citarella, Mariano Llinás, and Agustín Mendilaharzu in Bucharest, the public will have the chance to revisit several of the most acclaimed works from the collective’s catalog of over 25 films produced in the last two decades, and to attend a masterclass held by the three filmmakers.Passes for Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival – BIEFF will go on sale through Eventbook early next week. The full schedule will be announced soon.