British Urban Film Festival
The British Urban Film Festival, or BUFF, is back! After last year's success, Buff Enterprises is teaming up with voluntary organisations, film agencies and local authorities to launch the 2009 edition of their Festival – bringing together independent filmmakers from across the country to submit their own films.
With a roster that boasts streetlife dramas Adulthood, Nothing Else and Don't Trigger (but also a surprisingly sensual commercial for the new frangrance by Emporio Armani, Get Together), it is clear where Buff Enterprises' interest lies.
In fact, the British Urban Film Festival was first established in 2005 to showcase work in an important and emerging genre which is not otherwise regularly seen in cinemas. The 2008 festival was financed by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council and Film London Regional Investment Fund for England. It also received support by the London borough of Tower Hamlets, independent film website www.thescreen.biz and partner organisations in the London boroughs of Newham and Hackney, 4front Films, Black Chilli Productions and Ewav Works. Films were screened at Mile End Genesis cinema and Oxford House.
It is now time to collect entries for this year's Festival, scheduled for later this autumn: A DVD screener, EPK, plus a non-refundable entry fee of £50 is applicable to film-makers wishing to submit a short film, documentary or feature-length movie. All cheques are to be made payable to ‘Buff Enterprises Ltd’. All materials, plus a cover letter, must be sent to British Urban Film Festival 2009, Buff Enterprises, c/o 4Front Films, 27 Ithica House, Romford Road, London, E15 4LJ. In return for the submitted works, the organisers of the BUFF plan to offer free cinema tickets to the public in what’s been dubbed "credit crunch cinema".
More information can be found at www.buffenterprises.co.uk (scroll down the page, on the bottom right you'll see small print reading "enter") or on the dedicated blog www.britishurbanfilmfestival.blogspot.com. Good luck to all the street film talents in London!
