Brooklyn Film Festival Unveils Plan For Virtual, In-Person Shows

BROOKLYN, NY — Movie buffs can tune in online or in-person to the Brooklyn Film Festival this year, according to plans announced.

The Brooklyn Film Festival, which is in its 24th year, unveiled its line-up this week of the 147 feature and short films that it plans to screen both in-person in Greenpoint and online.

The line-up includes 36 movies that will be making their world premiere, 34 east-coast debuts and has films from 35 countries, according to organizers.

The festival will run for 10 days in June, including a series of two-hour programs at the Windmill Studios. During those 10 days, 37 film programs will be available online along with events including filmmaker introductions, question-and-answer sessions and live interviews.

Those interested in attending can find a full schedule and tickets on the BFF website.

Here's a look at part of the line-up:

FEATURE NARRATIVES:

AMERICAN DESERT: Dir: Adrian Bartol, United States, 82 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere. It's 2010, US Army veteran Matt Benning has returned from Afghanistan to a wrecked economy. Demons of war haunt him, a romance blossoms.

BONE CAGE: Dir: Taylor Olson, Canada, 89 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere. Jamie works operating a wood processor, clear-cutting for pulp. At the end of each shift, he walks through the destruction he has created.

CORRAL: Dir: Marcelo Brennand, Brazil, 84 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, US Premiere. Corral is a political drama that takes place in rural Brazil, in the city of Gravatá, where during the mayoral elections.

GOSSAMER FOLDS: Dir: Lisa Donato, United States, 95 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere. In 1986, nine-year-old Tate Millikin is uprooted and unwillingly moved to the suburbs of Kansas City. As his parent's marriage unravels.

HELL IS EMPTY: Dir: Jo Shaffer, United States, 98 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere. A self-styled messiah initiates a teenage runaway into his cult of sister-wives. Her rebellious nature upends the community.

KALOKHACHYA PARAMBYA [PROP SHOOTS OF DARKNESS]: Dir: Makarand Anaspure, India, 98 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, East Coat Premiere. Prop shoots of Darkness is conflict of young orphan Alif about spirituality and material world. Industrious and helping everyone in the village.

KRINGLE TIME: Dir: Matthew Lucas, United States, 103 min, 2021, Narrative Feature, World Premiere. After becoming the unlikely star of a children's show, a public access TV station manager grapples with the problematic legacy of his predecessor.

MOVING IN 2008: Dir: Calogero Carucci, United States, 78 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, East Coast Premiere. A family tragedy during the recession of 2008, catalyzed by unemployment, personal crisis, and illness.

ONE NIGHT IN KATHMANDU: Dir: Mohan Rai, Nepal, 70 min, 2019, Narrative Feature, US Premiere. A GIRL, 26—together with a BOY, 33, who is a stranger to her-- take an injured man to a hospital when an accident take places near them.

TANGO SHALOM: Dir: Gabriel Bologna, United States, 116 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere. "TANGO SHALOM": Moshe Yehuda (Jos Laniado), a Hasidic Rabbi and amateur Hora dancer, enters a big televised Tango competition to save his Hebrew school.

TWO IS A MAGIC NUMBER: Dir: Holger Borggrefe, Stefan Hering, Germany, 85 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, US Premiere. A day at the lake. Andrejs ex-girlfriend Nadia pays him a visit. Nadia and Andrej's former best mate Claudius are a couple now.

UNDER THE LANTERN LIT SKY: Dir: Michelle Bossy, United States, 75 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, World Premiere. The story of Blanche DuBois and her husband, who in different ways are coming to terms with their sexuality in 1920s Mississippi.

WALK WITH ME: Dir: Isabel del Rosal, United States, 112 min, 2020, Narrative Feature, NY Premiere. As she braves life after divorce, a young mother must challenge herself to take some personal risks after finding love in an unexpected place.

FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES:

AND SO I STAYED: Dir: Natalie Pattillo, Daniel Nelson, United States, 90 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, World Premiere. And So I Stayed is an intimate story of domestic violence survivors who killed their abusers in self-defense.

INTO THE LIGHT: Dir: Benjamin Schwartz, United States, 74 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, NY Premiere. In the 1980's Chuck Connelly was recognized as a key figure among the New York-based Neo-expressionist painters.

LIFE & LIFE: Dir: NC Heikin, United States, 80 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, East Coast Premiere. Life & Life focuses on pressing criminal justice issues in America as seen through the life of recent parolee Reggie Austin.

LITTLE PAKISTAN - FUTURE HISTORIES: Dir: Sana Akram, United States, 120 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, US Premiere. Little Pakistan - Future Histories is a dérive—a drifting in an online environment illustrating an immigrant neighborhood of Pakistani-Americans.

MAYOR MOHAMED: Dir: Jeffrey M., United States, Syria, Turkey, 86 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, World Premiere. In this quintessential film about the Muslim-American immigrant experience, Mayor Mohamed Khairullah risks his life to bring humanitarian relief into Syria.

ORGAN STOPS - SAVING THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS: Dir: James Dawson, United Kingdom, 70 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, US Premiere. Martin has spent his life playing and building pipe organs; nowadays he dedicates all his time to rescuing them – “It’s a real crisis.”

QUEENS OF PAIN: Dir: Cassie Hay, Amy Winston, United States, 75 min, 2020, Documentary Feature, NY Premiere. One of the most successful teams in New York sports history, Gotham Girls Roller Derby is a feminist powerhouse of elite athletes, misfits, and renegades.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES: Dir: Hannah Jayanti, United States, 103 min, 2020, Documentary Feature. Truth or Consequences is a speculative documentary about time and how we weave the past into the present and our possible future.

THE WISDOM OF TRAUMA: Dir: Zaya Benazzo, Maurizio Benazzo, US, Canada, 88 min, 2021, Documentary Feature, World Premiere. Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world.