Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) held in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 provides a focus for film culture in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The festival has taken place since 1992 and focuses on films from the Asia-Pacific region

Asia-Pacific region

Asia-Pacific region may refer to:*Asia-Pacific, a geographic designation*Asia-Pacific Scout Region *Pacific Rim, countries and cities located around the edge of the Pacific Ocean...

. The event offers films including features

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, documentaries, shorts, experimental

Experimental film

Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...

, silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

s and retrospective programmes. As of 2006, the Festival has attracted more than 315,000 visitors.

The Festival features events including the Opening Night, Showcase events, the "Queensland Short Film" competition, various awards ceremonies and the Closing Night celebrations. The World Cinema and the Asia Pacific programmes highlight films from countries including Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and the USA.

Events

The St.George Bank Brisbane Film Festival has many events before and during the film festival. In the past these events have attracted 8,000 audience members These events include The Queensland Short Film Competition, Public Programme, Cine Sparks and The Seminar Program. These events attract dedicated film buffs, the general public and children.

• Cine Sparks, The Australian Film Festival for Young People was part of BIFF’s expansion in 2005, with a program of films, workshops and seminars for people under the age of 18. Cine Sparks is popular with school groups, with more than 10,000 students attending the various sessions.
• The Retrospective programme allows audiences to discover the films and filmmakers. The Festival’s retrospective and tribute programme has recognised and showcased a variety of directors on various aspects of cinema.
• Lectures and Seminars provide BIFF goers an opportunity to match minds with the film industry professionals attending the Festival. In 2005, the topics ranged from a seminar on intellectual property issues for filmmakers to a debate on what’s wrong with the Australian film industry.
• BIFF Queensland Short Film Competition is aimed at rewarding the creative talents of Queensland short filmmakers, is open for entries from Wednesday 23 April 2008.

Awards

Chauvel Award — Each year the Festival acknowledges a contributor to Australian cinema through the Chauvel Award, presented by the Brisbane City Council, and named in honour of Charles Chauvel. Past recipients of the Chauvel Award have included producer Anthony Buckley

Anthony Buckley

Anthony Buckley is an Australian film editor and producer, and prominent member of the Australian film industry.As an editor he was acclaimed for his work with Michael Powell and Rudolf Nureyev...

, directors Paul Cox

Paul Cox

Paulus Henriqus Benedictus "Paul" Cox is an award-winning Australian film director.Cox was born in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else , a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer. Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965...

 and Rolf de Heer

Rolf de Heer

Rolf de Heer is a Dutch film director, writer and producer living in Australia. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in The Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and...

, actors Bryan Brown

Bryan Brown

Bryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...

 and Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...

, cinematographer John Seale

John Seale

John Clement Seale, A.S.C., A.C.S. is an Australian cinematographer. He won an Oscar for the 1996 film The English Patient....

, documentary makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson, and film critic David Stratton

David Stratton

David James Stratton is an English- Australian film critic and television personality.-Life and career:Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England in 1939, Stratton was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother, an avid filmgoer, where he was taken to the local cinemas regularly...

(2007).

Jury Awards — Each year, the Festival hosts three international juries, who judge three awards: The FIPRESCI Award, the NETPAC Award and the Interfaith Award for Promoting Humanitarian Values.

External links

• St.George Bank Brisbane International Film Festival