Bogota International Film Festival (BIFF) is a new festival running for its second year from 6th to 14th October in the same spirit it was born with: the exhibition of gutsy titles, of new film trends and designed to suit the audience of thousands of young people in the Colombian city.
Organised within the festival context is the BIFF BANG, an academic space where young people can improve their film industry knowledge and skills, and which invites young Colombian talents to sign up for important workshops and masterclasses. This section of the Festival is produced in collaboration with the Penthouse Centre of the Pontifical Xaverian University and has the support of the film and television post-graduate and master’s programmes at Colombia’s most important universities, in addition to that of Colombia’s Film Development Fund, Proimágenes.
One of the students at these specific sessions will be invited to participate in the XV International Film Students Meeting at the San Sebastian Festival, under the agreement reached between the two festivals. The guest student will be able to attend all of the activities organised at the Meeting and to exchange experiences and impressions with the other participants. At the meeting, to take place from September 20th-23rd, the youngsters present their short films and attend meetings with professionals, workshops and masterclasses.
The fifteen short films selected this year will be presented in sessions open to the public and to Festival guests; they will also be attended by audiovisual sector professionals. The public, students and professionals will watch and comment on the films, generating debates ranging from filmmaking practice and theory and the different production models to how the film industry functions.
The BIFF, which screened more than 20 Latin American premieres, three world premieres, fifteen international releases and was attended by important guest professionals at its first edition, seeks to position itself as one of the most important film festivals in the region through its young programmers Rebeca Conget, Javier Martín, Raymond Phathanavirangoon and Andrés Bayona, director of the event.