The British Urban Film Festival has scored a major coup in its coverage of the event after securing the UK festival rights to screen the premiere of critically-acclaimed documentary 'The Trials of Muhammad Ali' in the opening weekend of September.
Outspoken and passionate in his beliefs, #TrialsOfAli examines how one of the most celebrated sports champions of the 20th century risked his fame and fortune to follow his faith and conscience as he found himself at the centre of America'...
The home of urban film coverage in the UK will continue to host its flagship event under a new rights deal which takes effect from July 2014 with the UK premiere of 'Music for Mandela' – marking the festival's return to free screenings for at least one day per year. BUFF will also screen 1 film season per year online, on-air and in cinemas having successfully launched the Spring Season in April 2013. The next season is scheduled for December 2014 with the launch of BUFF Africa ...
On the 3rd of March 2013, it was reported in the Sunday Telegraph that Revolver, at one point the UK’s most prominent urban theatrical and home entertainment film distributor, had entered into administration. Commentators had cited that the West London outfit (established in 1997), which brought iLL Manors, Anuvahood and Exit Through the Giftshop (to name but 3) to the masses had failed to keep up with the cultural shift in how their content was being consumed and appreciated. A lo...
The Easter holidays. For many it will be one of the first dates in the diary to look out for at the start of the year when it comes to taking time out and getting away from the hustle. For most filmmakers (who are always on the hustle), it will also mean that the Cannes Film Festival is just weeks away. At last year’s event, there was only 1 British film in competition for the prestigious Palme d’Or and Un Certain Regard. Even then, it’s arguable whether a film directed by an A...
The British Urban Film Festival can announce today that the climax to this year’s live script reading competition will take place once again at Channel 4 headquarters on Thursday 4 September. The event will be presented by actress and TV presenter Shereen Miranda who presided over the inaugural event last year.
The British Urban Film Festival can also announce the 5 script judges who will be presiding over this year’s competition entries from which 3 will be shortlisted. They are Fi...
#BUFF2014
The British Urban Film Festival has launched a new online advertising campaign with creative that parades the films, filmmakers, personalities and brand ambassadors who played their part in the biggest British Urban Film Festival to date.
Watch the ad by clicking here: http://youtu.be/y2Old18UbDg
The ad, which aired December 25, features a montage of photographs scattered across the screen, each photograph having the hashtag #BUFF2013 to identify that photo’...
BUFF Tidings! And what a great time of the year it is to be at the pictures. Christmas round the corner, Oscar-bait movies ten-a-penny, what’s not to like? Digital distribution perhaps? We’ll save that for next month’s blog. At the time of writing, yours truly will be in attendance at a pre-Christmas preview screening of ’12 Years A Slave’ – it’s one of the perks of running a film festival though one could say the same thing about this month’s gu...
And so it all begins again. We welcome you to the home of urban film coverage in the UK and another 12 months of insight from those in the know – telling it how it really is. So in time-honoured BUFF tradition, we introduce this month’s guest blogger and whilst he’s not yet a familiar face in the grand scheme of things, he will have been a familiar face to the 1400-odd people who came through the doors over the 4 festival days. Not many people can say that they attended ever...
WATCH COUNTDOWN TO BUFF 2013 (sponsored by Jilali Argan Oil UK) TONIGHT AT 9PM, SKY CHANNEL 539 / VIRGIN CHANNEL 233
The British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) is back for 2013! From the opening event at Channel 4's London headquarters (tomorrow) through to its fourth day on Sunday at Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, BUFF will be bringing you the very best in urban filmmaking from across the UK. A distinguished collection of names from the wo...
21/06/2013
For immediate release
Organisers of the British Urban Film Festival have today announced that ‘Calloused Hands’ (based on a true story) and directed by former print journalist Jesse Quinones, will be the opening feature film for its’ annual showpiece later this summer. In doing so, the film will be having its European and International premiere as it was first screened at the 2013 Miami International Film Festival.
The film stars Andre Royo...
Those of you who read last month’s edition of the BUFF Blog will recall that the film in question was entitled ‘Woolwich Boys’ (2012) – the closing movie of last year’s British Urban Film Festival and which recently screened as part of this year’s BUFF Spring Season. For the record, and as is custom with all films that are ever made, disclaimers can occasionally be used to make political or similar points. This is neither. And in light of recent events, BUF...
2/5/2013
Channel 4 to host opening 3 events of 2013 British Urban Film Festival
Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the director of the British Urban Film Festival has today announced the first batch of key dates, venues and events scheduled for this year’s 8th annual event which will once again showcase 16 films together with a line-up of programming on TV and online. The festival returns to its’ September slot due to last year’s Paralympic Games (coincidentally broadcast ...
Those of you joining us for the first time we thank you. We’d also like to welcome in a new audience to the 34th edition of the BUFF Blog. This month’s contribution is guest-written by Anthony Abuah, a previous winner of a Commonwealth Film award and the latest in a succession of British based playwrights who’ve made the transition from stage to screen with his debut feature 'Woolwich Boys' – the closing film of last year’s British Urban Film Festival. Regar...
Happy Easter in advance. This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by actor Jay Brown who can be seen over the next 8 weeks on E4’s new drama ‘Youngers’. The series premiered on Wednesday March 20 with viewing figures of 450,000 viewers. It was also the 5th most tweeted about programme on TV that day beating ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ with over 35,000 live tweets during transmission. Follow @JayBrownActor and @buffenterprises on...
Happy February one and all. This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by award-winning writer/director Stephen Lloyd Jackson whose film ‘David is Dying’ premiered on the opening night of the 2011 British Urban Film Festival. The film continues to win awards in the UK and across the globe, most recently on February 17 when Lonyo Engele triumphed in the best male performance in film category at the 2013 Screen Nation film and television awards. Follow...
Happy new year (just about!) This month’s edition of the BUFF Blog is guest-written by actor/writer/director Femi Oyeniran whose first film as a director (‘Fresh Off Da Boat’) was screened at the 2009 British Urban Film Festival. Follow @femioyeniran and @buffenterprises on Twitter…
The Difference between making a Short and making a Feature Film
I’ve had the question put to me a few times- what is the difference between making a feature film an...
With the exception of Kate Herron, Ugo Onwutalu & Nadia Denton, 6 board members have guest-written the BUFF Blog in the 3 or so years since its’ inception in April 2009 which, at the time, lauded the film ‘Adulthood’ as a watershed for urban independent cinema. A lot has happened since then...
@buffenterprises sent out its very first tweet in April 2009, 3 ½ years on @SpikeLee no less is retweeting BUFF NEWS ALERTS. Also back in 2009, @NoelClarke was ...
With the exception of an alluring red carpet, its' safe to say that BUFF has pretty much rolled out everything else in its power to deliver this year's annual showcase of British urban filmmaking of which, at the time of writing has been 1 week removed.
A showcase is of course nothing without the undoubted stars of the show - the filmmakers. It has been a blast this year with 3 UK premieres ("Sparkle", "12" and "Melvin"), 2 venues packed out to the r...
BUFF Presents... a series of films showcased by the British Urban Film Festival will be screened as part of a special series on Community Channel this October. This is the second season of BUFF programming on the channel this year.
In April, viewers saw the directorial debut of Aml Ameen with the short film “Drink, Drugs & KFC” and his latest film “12” will premiere as part of the series. Other films to be shown include a film produced by the African Caribbe...
Actor
Wil Johnson will host the opening night of the 7th British Urban
Film Festival in October, the producers of BUFF 2012 have announced.
Johnson,
whose previous film and TV credits include “Waking the Dead”, “Waterloo Road”
and “Babymother”, will be making his debut as festival presenter having
previously featured in starring roles at BUFF in the films ‘Disoriented
Generation’ and ‘Colour Blind’.
SERTUC
Film Club, which has agreed...
The much maligned profile of Black British actresses has been well documented on this blog over the past 18 months and most recently in the London Evening Standard with the forthcoming feel-good flick ‘Fast Girls’ and the supposed significance of Leonora Crichlow playing the lead role in a British film. On such matters is primarily where Twitter comes into its own as a live news editor run by the public. It doesn’t take long before feedback is immediate and corrected (many thanks to @ECF...
Traditionally
in the UK, the most-watched programmes on television are always
scheduled on a Saturday night. The last few years have seen a more
aggressive approach to win hearts and minds with the UK’s 2 biggest
broadcasters (BBC & ITV) going head-to-head and scheduling their
‘MUST-SEE’ programmes against each other. In the last 6 months alone,
Strictly Come Dancing was beating The X Factor when previously the ITV
juggernaut was winning hand over fist.
On ...
