Buffalo Movies: Global, local, features, shorts … they’re all there

By Elmer Ploetz

The Buffalo International Film Festival is no small deal, especially for the people who put it together. 

Especially not for John J. Fink. Fink is the artistic director of BIFF, and it can take over his life a bit. 

This is his 11th year with BIFF, and he has watched every single one of the 200-plus films that will be screened this year. The festival starts with a soft opening Thursday night, then a hard opening with a gala and the world premiere screening of the “Baristas vs. Billionaires” documentary at the North Park Theatre. 

There will be a team of at least 90 volunteers at venues including the North Park, the Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, the Buffalo Toronto Public Media studios, the Burchfield Penney Art Center and Duende at Silo City, plus other sites for parties and events.  

Fink and Executive Director Anna Scime are “two essentially full-time part-timers,” he quipped in a recent interview. “And then we have our board that steps in and helps.”

The work starts in January, when the organizers start looking at the first of countless films that will be submitted. The festival has an acceptance rate somewhere between 10 and 20 percent, so that means there are a LOT of films to be watched. 

Fink’s full-time gig is teaching film at a college in New Jersey, and sometimes his own filmmaking falls prey to teaching and the festival, he admits. 

Putting together a film festival is its own art form. A middle-market festival like BIFF balances 

“(BIFF)  really did evolve because we were looking at films from both inside of Buffalo and made here, independent films as well as more kind of professional out-of-town productions like “The Panic,” he said. “That sort of evolved with the Buffalo film community as well.”

“The Panic” stars Cary Elwes, Colm Meaney, Malcolm McDowell and others and was filmed throughout Western New York in the summer of 2024, while “Cutman” was filmed in Buffalo and stars William Fitchner and others.  “Baristas vs. Billionaires,” which tells the tale of Buffalo’s Starbucks union organizing efforts, was co-produced by Alec Baldwin. 

Mixed in with those larger names are films from Buffalo-based filmmakers, student works and an assortment of movies from across the globe. 

Pressed to name a favorite, Fink won’t, but he does have a special place in his heart for “The Tallest Dwarf,” which will be showing at Hallwalls Thursday night (Oct. 9). 

“It’s a film by my very first production professor Julie Wyman,” he said. “It was a South By Southwest premiere and I was at the world premiere there. I’m excited to welcome her and the movie to Buffalo, because it’s a really fabulous film.”

That film is followed by “Canvas 716,” a set of short pieces based in Western New York and looking at tattoo art, graffiti and other forms. 

Those films are the kind of mix the festival seeks to foster. 

“We want to be a platform for everyone in Western New York,” Fink said, “whether it’s our Saturday morning cartoons, which are for little kids and families and grandparents …  It’s a really sweet program. 

“And then we also have a movie called ‘F*ck Toys’ that is a John Waters-esque kind of trashy film that’s going to be playing late on on Monday night. So we have a little bit of everything. We have something for the horror audience. We have something for people that really love experimental and art house films. And then we also have something hopefully for  the next generation of cinephiles and makers.”

To check out the full slate of Buffalo International Film Festival screenings and events, go to https://www.buffalofilm.org/lineup/.