Perrier's Bounty To Open Bradford International Film Festival

At a press conference at the National Media Museum today, Artistic Director Tony Earnshaw announced the full programme details for the 16th Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF). 

This year the Festival, which runs from 18 - 28 March will open with the UK Premiere of Perrier’s Bounty, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon and starring Cillian Murphy, Jim Broadbent, Jodie Whittaker and Brendan Gleeson.

The Closing Night Gala will be the World Digital Premiere of the late Lionel Jeffries’ classic The Railway Children. 

BIFF will host a unique reunion screening to celebrate the 40th anniversary with the stars of the film attending to enjoy the new restoration; Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins are all expected in Bradford on Sunday 28 March.

In addition to the special guests previously announced  Academy Award® winning actor John Hurt; Academy Award® nominated actress Imelda Staunton; BAFTA nominated director Nicolas Roeg and Academy Award® nominated director Fernando Meirelles, each of whom will be receiving awards or career retrospectives, there will be an array of filmmakers and actors in Bradford during the Festival attending the premieres and screenings of their films.

Guests are expected to include Golden Globe® nominated actor Cillian Murphy for Perrier’s Bounty and BAFTA award-winning writer and director Chris Morris for the UK Premiere of Four Lions which will be followed by a Q&A.

The Festival will showcase over one hundred and twenty features from countries all over the world including Mexico, Switzerland, USA, Japan, South Korea and Sweden. The hub of the Festival will remain the National Media Museum which will be joined by an additional nine venues, each with its own exclusive programme.

Canadian cinema will be featured in the new strand introduced this year titled, Hollywood North: New Canadian Cinema; a focus on North America’s third largest film centre behind Los Angeles and New York.

All six films in this strand will receive their UK premieres at the Festival; Crackie directed by Sherry White, Nurse.Fighter.Boy directed by Charles Officer, Benoit Pilon’s The Necessities of Life, Terry Miles’ The Red Rooster, David Bezmozgis’ Victoria Day and New Denmark directed by Rafael Ouellet.

Uncharted States of America will return for the fourth year, bringing to audiences truly independent American cinema.  The selection this year, as ever, will deliver experimental, transgressive and genuinely low-budget gems. 

Highlights include International premieres of Matthew F. Fountain’s documentary Bonecrusher, Peter Thompson’s documentary Lowlands, It Was Great But I Was Ready To Come Home directed by Kris Swanberg and the unusual documentary Freezer Fright directed by Nancy Silver.

The ever popular Widescreen Weekend, a forerunner to BIFF and now in its 17th year, will welcome fans from all corners of the globe to enjoy an inspiring array of classic features on large formats. 

The Alamo, The Blue Lagoon, Die Hard, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Hunt for Red October will all screen on 70mm over the weekend 26 - 28 March, with additional titles being screened on Monday 29 March.

For the twelfth year BIFF will give emerging directors an opportunity to compete for The Shine Short Film Award. Introduced in 1998 to support innovation and originality this award goes to the best international short film selected from a shortlist by a jury of six. 
 
Competing this year from Europe is, Crescendo by Pierre Terrade and Didier Woldemard, La Preda by Francesco Apice, The Man With All The Marbles by Hans Montelious and When The Hurlyburly’s Done by Alex Eslam and Hanna Maria Heidrich. 
 
From North America, Richard Farmer’s Under God and Nick Cross’ Yellow Cake and from the UK Death of a Double Act by Christine Entwhisle, An Ode to Modern Democracy and The Hairdresser by Matt Strachan and Jon Gilbert’s Toshi.

Tony Earnshaw, Artistic Director Bradford International Film Festival said; "I am particularly pleased with our programme this year, it shows our diversity and really demonstrates our commitment to unveiling authentic independent cinema. 

"We are proud to be celebrating our new status as City of Film and look forward to welcoming guests and audiences at the National Media Museum and our satellite venues throughout the Festival."