Buffalo International Film Festival 2009

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 26 September 2009 19:52

Written by fftraveler staff

More than 16 films will be screened at The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF) which runs from October 9-27, 2009.  Most of the screenings will be at the at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, Market Street. All will be introduced by a guest involved with the film's production.

A special highlight of the Festival is Charlie Chaplin: The Lost Scenes Found, the North American premiere of lost footage from City Lights, screening at Kleinhan's Music Hall, 370 Pennsylvania Street.

Two reels of outtakes from Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece--which accidentally escaped destruction--will screen for the first time in North America on the opening Night of The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009. Dr. Frank Scheide, lecturer on film at University of Alabama and "discoverer" of the outtakes, introduced the screening.

The outtakes, housed at the British Film Institute in London, were shown through the courtesy of the Douris Company. The screening of the prints will be followed by a one-hour, illustrated presentation by Dr. Scheide on Chaplin's history in the UK ,which included location footage of the areas of Lambeth where Chaplin grew up.

Several years ago, Scheide ran across two particular rolls of outtakes from City Lights which survived only by accident when film archivist Raymond Rohauer was required to turn over footage in his collection that was subsequently burned. Thankfully, this footage escaped destruction.

The first reel of the roughly 20 minutes of material never before screened in the United States shows Chaplin working on the "cigar gag" for the night club scene in City Lights where, ultimately, Charlie tosses a lit cigar onto a chair just as an overdressed lady sits down, right on top of the cigar.

A second reel has a nearly complete sequence where Charlie crosses a two lane highway and, trapped in the middle, lights up a cigar. When a street sweeper played by Albert Austin parks a manure-filled bucket just behind Charlie, the tramp thinks there is something seriously wrong with his cigar! 

Other classic screenings in the Festival include the 239-minute version of Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece Greed with restorer Rick Schmidlin, Lon Chaney in London After Midnight, and the Director’s Cut of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. 

Also presented is a recreation of a classic Saturday Matinee featuring It Came From Outer Space, in anaglyph 3D, introduced by an exclusive video interview with Ray Bradbury.  With accompanying shorts, the screening will be at the North Park Theater on Hertel Avenue.

Other screenings include: 

Proud, a film about the only African-American crew to take a Navy warship into combat in World War II. It stars Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea and was directed by Mary Pat Kelly, who will introduce the film. Also present will be Lorenzo Defau (who was played by Davis), the last crew member of the USS Mason.

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist, a documentary about the creator of The Spirit, by director Andrew Cooke, who will present the film.

The North American premiere of A Pearl in the Forest, a feature film from Mongolia introduced by the filmmakers and performers in the film.

In addition, director-producer Charles Band will present Doctor Mordrid, a 35mm studio archive print of the rarely seen 1992 horrer-fantasy gem he directed with his father, Albert Band, starring Jeffrey Combs.

The Festival will wrap with a press conference on the 3rd Annual World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, at the Historic Market Arcade Office Building. The day was founded by UNESCO in 2007 out of concern that much of the world's 20th century audiovisual heritage is now lost, and much more is slipping beyond recovery because of neglect, natural decay and technological obsolescence. October 27 was designated the annual commemoration date to call attention to the fragile state of old movies, recordings, photographs and other arts.

Through their film festival, Buffalo, New York became the the first city in the world to declare this important international cultural event. Each year BIFF issues a special poster which is distributed all over the world.

The Buffalo International Film Festival highlights the past and present work of individuals who are/were born, raised, educated, or in the Western New York Region and who have contributed in one or another way to world motion picture history.

The festival is particularly interested in highlighting the work of lesser known individuals or diverse cultural, ethnic, and educational origins and their impact upon the international community.

For further Info contact 212-214-0513 or www.BuffaloFilmFestival.com

The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF)
October 9-27, 200
Various location

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