BIEFF Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, now at its 10th edition, will take place between November 24-29, 2020.

The hybrid edition, held both online and offline, brings together daring films that push the limits of cinematic expression and audio-visual exhibitions under the theme A Brave New World. As a celebration of its 10-year anniversary, BIEFF comes up with a special section, BIEFF – A decade of cinematic innovation, that reunites the awarded titles over the first decade of the festival, and which will be available for free on the TIFF Unlimited VoD platform.

The International Competition

The International Competition includes topics that analyze current issues such as: “migration and coerced displacement, gender identity and performativity, violence and its public representation, but also the fine line between utopia and dystopia in contemporary society.” (source: BIEFF.ro)

The films selected in each program call for debate, reflection and dialogue.

Sublime Bodies – the body becomes object and subject at the same time; the films in this section talk about sensorial experiences, sexuality, identity;

A State of Grace – according to BIEFF.ro, the 6 films in this program defy the barriers of the conventional, “they either present accelerative visions in which the most radical futuristic trends of the present are intentionally exacerbated, or they illustrate moments of hyperreality”;

Public Eye, Private I – the films in this section analyze female identity beneath the surface, through a variety of methods from using archive images to incorporating official documents and materials available online, and the definition of femininity is a combination of “specific actions taken in a public context and an inner reflection over the social pressure to perform”; (sursa: BIEFF.ro)

The map is not the territory – talks about migration and the connection between the migrants and the places they leave behind, discover or rediscover;

Embracing Utopia – “Whether they talk about an ideal, tangible and at the same time imaginary “someplace”, about possible worlds, still undiscovered, or about distant planets where time and suffering have ceased to exist, the films in this program urge us to see the world as it could be, through a speculative mirror facing contemporary realities.” (source:: BIEFF.ro)

The Spectre of Dystopia – presents a possible future, shown under the guise of warnings for the present times.

The films will be available on the streaming platform of the festival and in several art galleries in Bucharest: Rezidenta BRD Scena9, Anca Poterasu Gallery and Goethe Pavilion. These spaces will also host some daring audio-visual exhibitions, that invite the public to discover new ways of exploring the cinematic language.

Highly renowned films, now present at BIEFF

The BIEFF program also includes award-winning short films at major festivals around the world, featured in the long-awaited section Golden Shorts – Best Films in Major Festivals, which will run exclusively online this year.

Berlinale Forum Expanded

The partnership with Berlinale Forum Expanded promises 4 experimental films presented at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. The films are available on the festival’s streaming platform, all over the country. An audio-visual exhibition dedicated to the same section will be held at the Goethe Pavilion.

BIEFF Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival will take place between November 24-29, 2020. The program will be available online, on the BIEFF platform, as well as in the partner locations: Rezidenta BRD Scena9, Anca Poterasu Gallery and Goethe Pavilion.

For more info, visit the BIEFF website and follow the Facebook page.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.