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Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival


Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival (BFMAF) is an international celebration of the art of film. BFMAF has happened every September since the inaugural Festival in 2005.

The festival programme takes place across Berwick upon Tweed, England's most northerly town and includes exhibitions, film screenings and live events, as well as a young filmmakers award, school screenings and family activities. The festival is based at the local arts centre The Maltings Theatre and Cinema. During the five day festival film screenings, installations exhibitions and events occur in cinemas, museums, galleries and historic sites around the town.

Each year the festival commissions a range of work that may then go on to appear in other international festivals and venues. A range of projects, workshops and education work is carried out with communities in the town and further afield, into North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The current team includes a board chaired by Huw Davies (co-founder), supported by a number of board members including Laura Simpson (Hospitalfields) and artist Matt Stokes. The festival is directed and curated by Peter Taylor (Festival Director, January 2015 – present).

The 2015 programme saw the launch of Berwick New Cinema & an accompanying seminar series, featuring films described as ‘transgressing restraints of genre, capital and expectation’. Titles included the UK Premieres of ‘Mercuriales’ by Virgil Vernier, ‘A Distant Episode’ by Ben Rivers and ‘Limbo’ by Anna Sofie Hartmann, plus archive 35mm screenings of Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Salam Cinema’ and Pere Portabella’s ‘Vampir - Cuadecuc’. The 2016 Berwick New Cinema Competition winner was Camilo Restrepo with Ciloas, who went on to premier his film La Bouche in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2017.

Each year the festival also hosts a Young Filmmakers Showcase, exhibiting short films from young filmmakers under 19 years of age in the Scottish Borders and North East of England with two cash prizes for the best film in an Under 14s category and a 15–19 years category. The 15–19 years category is supported by director Paul W.S. Anderson which serves as a legacy to his late father, Chris Anderson.

The festival was established in 2005 by current Chairman Professor Huw Davies and artist Marcus Coates. The current director is Peter Taylor. As an Arts Council England National Portfolio organisation, BFMAF receives regular funding from Arts Council England as well as the British Film Institute, this is supplemented through additional fundraising and corporate sponsorship.


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