BIFF Wraps Fourth Year

-Best of Fest Audience Awards Announced-

The fourth Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) ended last night in Great Barrington, MA at the Triplex Cinema with its closing night presentation of  'The Yes Men Fix the World' written and directed by Andy Bichelbaum and Mike Bonanno. Longtime friend of the Yes Men and attorney, Paul Rapp, led the Q&A immediately following the film with producers Ruth Charny and Doro Bachrach.

The 2009 BIFF Audience Award for best documentary was a tie between 'The Yes Men Fix the World' and 'Pressure Cooker' which screened at BIFF on Saturday night at the Triplex.  'Pressure Cooker' was directed by Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker.  The Audience Award for best feature film was also too close to call and was awarded to 'The Burning Plain' and 'Summer Hours.'  'The Burning Plain, directed by Guillermo Arriaga, stars Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger and was nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion Prize at Venice.  The film will release in the fall by Magnolia Pictures. The French film 'Summer Hours,' was written and directed by Oliver Assayas and stars Juliette Binoche. This is the second year that a French film has won the Audience Award at the BIFF. 'Summer Hours was released this weekend by IFC.  

Highlights of the 4 day festival include the opening night screening of the documentary 'William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe' directed by his daughters Sarah and Emily Kunstler.  The film was enthusiastically received by a packed house at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, and the crowd was treated to an unforgettable Q&A afterward with the filmmakers, their sister Karin Kunstler Goldman, their mother Margaret Ratner Kunstler, Attica lawyer Liz Fink, Chicago 8 lawyer Len Weinglass, former Attica Prison Guard Mike Smith, Central Park Jogger exoneree Yusef Salaam, Sarah's husband and our voiceover recordist Jesse Ferguson, associate producer Tracy Bunting, and Randy Credico, Director of the Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice. Yusef's baby daughter Onaya, born this past December, met Sarah's son William, born in March.

Friday night and Sunday afternoon featured a special Achievement in Film tribute to legendary NYU Professor Richard Brown, who presented two programs about his life, his interviews with the most celebrated actors in the business and the history of film and personal anecdotes.

Screening more than 70 features, documentaries, and shorts, BIFF also offered the first annual Hill Award for the late founding board member Gary Hill, panel discussions, free children’s programs, Berkshire filmmakers, the BIFF annual collaboration with Jacobs Pillow, the annual award ceremony for the Berkshire Student Film Festival and parties throughout downtown Great Barrington. 

The BIFF also announced on opening night the introduction of the REEL FRIENDS OF BIFF SOCIETY designed to engage our audience year-round culminating in the 4-day festival.  The BIFF REEL FRIENDS will enjoy special screenings with filmmakers, parties and events not only in the Berkshires, but also in New York City throughout the year.

Other films screened at the sold out festival include 'The Answer Man,' 'Gigantic,' 'In the Loop,' 'Motherhood,' 'Once More with Feeling,' 'Prince of Broadway,' 'Treeless Mountain,' 'Who Do You Love?' 'Anvil: The Story of Anvil,' 'Burma VJ,' 'Food Inc.,' 'The Garden,' 'The Glass House' 'The Good Soldier, 'The Twenty,'  'Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight,' 'The Reckoning,' and 'The Wrecking Crew,' and some unforgettable Berkshire films such as 'An Impulse to Soar,' 'Poet of Poverty,' and 'Axis of Good.'

With over 500 film submissions this year, the Berkshire International Film Festival has quickly become a destination festival that filmmakers seek due to the enthusiastic audiences it attracts.