Brooklyn Film Festival Announces 19th Annual Festival Lineup

The Brooklyn Film Festival today announced their full slate of films for the 2016 edition of this Brooklyn cultural mainstay, with the US premiere of Sean Garrity's award-winning Borealis set to open the festival on Friday, June 3rd at returning BFF venue, the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. This charming, moving and often comedic family drama stars Jonas Chernick, Joey King, Emily Hampshire and Kevin Pollak and has picked up several awards on the festival circuit, including best director for Garrity and a special jury prize for King at the Canadian Filmmakers' Festival and an honorable mention for best actress award at the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival. Pollak, Chernick, Hampshire, King and director Garrity are confirmed to attend.

This year's festival is comprised of 107 features and shorts from 31 countries spread over 6 continents including 20 world premieres, 18 US bows, and 30 East Coast debuts. 23 films are screening in NYC for the first time.

Among the world premiere features is Art Jones' FORBIDDEN Cuba, a dramatic comedy that follows an American businessman to Cuba, where his covert mission is to find an executive gone rogue while planting the seeds for future business expansion. This marks the first US feature film shot in Cuba since 1959. The 5:30pm screening of FORBIDDEN Cuba on 6/11 at Windmill Studios will be followed by a panel discussion about the experience of making an American film in Cuba.

Claire Carré's wholly original low-fi sci-fi festival darling Embers gets a NY premiere. This Jason Ritter starrer has picked up awards at festivals in Boston, New Orleans, Oxford and Sarasota.

Love Is All You Need is the debut feature from Kim Rocco Shields, and takes a unique look at bullying, prejudice, and human rights by imagining a world where homosexuality is the norm and heterophobia is common. Where a town is rocked when the local star quarterback is outed for being a heterosexual and a young girl is bullied for having a crush on a boy at school.

"From Canada to Iran to The Philippines to Belgium to China and Cuba, the 2016 fest is one of our most diverse ever," said BFF executive director Marco Ursino. "Brooklyn is one of the most diverse cities in the world and its reputation as a cultural HUB is increasing with each year. We're pleased and honored to be able to bring the work of these exceptional global filmmakers to our audience."

Other special events during the fest include the 12th annual KidsFilmFest 2016 on Saturday, June 4th at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP; the Filmmakers PARTY ON June 8th at the new Double RL store in Williamsburg; the BFF Exchange series of panels on June 11th at BRIC House (including sessions about the Fair Use doctrine, a doc pitch session and "Virtual Reality: A Practical Look"); "The Experiment Edition" party also on June 11th, and the June 12th Awards Ceremony at Windmill Studios NYC.

Main BFF venues are the Wythe Hotel and Windmill Studios NYC in Greenpoint. Satellite locations include Syndicated in Bushwick, Made in New York Media Center by IFP in Dumbo, and BRIC House in Fort Greene.

The complete Feature lineup is as follows:

Narrative Features:

BAD VEGAN AND THE TELEPORTATION MACHINE, Dir: Antón Goenechea, United States, 89 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

BOREALIS, Dir: Sean Garrity, Canada, 95 min, Narrative Feature. US PREMIERE

CREEDMORIA, Dir: Alicia Slimmer, United States, 90 min, Narrative Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

CROOKED & NARROW, Dir: Neal Dhand, United States, 89 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

DELINQUENT, Dir: Kieran Valla, United States, 96 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

EMBERS, Dir: Claire Carre, United States, 85 min, Narrative Feature, NY PREMIERE

FORBIDDEN CUBA, Dir: Art Jones, United States, 80 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

HELMSMAN, Dir: Majid Esmaeili Parsa, Iran, 86 min, Narrative Feature, US PREMIERE

LAPACHHAPI (Hide N Seek),Dir: Vishal Furia, India, 110 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

LIFE OF SIGNIFICANT SOIL, Dir: Michael Irish, United States, 71 min, Narrative Feature, WORLD PREMIERE

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED?, Dir: Kim Rocco Shields, United States, 123 min, Narrative Feature, NY PREMIERE

REMITTANCE, Dir: Patrick Daly & Joel Fendelman, United States, 90 min, Narrative Feature, NY PREMIERE

Documentary Features:

CHINA'S 3DREAMS, Dir: Nick Torrens, Australia, 85 min, Documentary Feature, US PREMIERE

CITY OF TREES, Dir: Brandon Kramer, United States, 76 min, Documentary Feature, BROOKLYN PREMIERE

DEPROGRAMMED, Dir: Mia Donovan, Canada, 86 min, Documentary Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

FARMER/VETERAN, Dir: Alix Blair & Jeremy Lange, United States, 82 min, Documentary Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

HOW SWEET THE SOUND -- THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA, Dir: Leslie McCleave, United States, 89 min, Documentary Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

THE IF PROJECT, Dir: Kathlyn Horan, United States, 90 min, Documentary Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

THE REBOUND, Dir: Shaina Allen, United States, 65 min, Documentary Feature, NY PREMIERE

SUSTAINABLE, Dir: Matt Wechsler, United States, 95 min, Documentary Feature, EAST COAST PREMIERE

SWEET DILLARD, Dir: Jim Virga, United States, 55 min, Documentary Feature, NY PREMIERE