Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival
 Inntravel Short Film Award presented at the 2014 festival | |
| Location | Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founded by | Professor Huw Davies and Marcus Coates |
| Directors | Peter Taylor (since 2015) |
| Website | bfmaf |
The Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF) is an annual film festival held in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. Established in 2005, the festival focuses on new cinema and artists' moving image, presenting a programme that includes film screenings, exhibitions, live events, school screenings, and family activities.[1] It is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England.[2]
History
The festival was founded in 2005 by Professor Huw Davies[3] and artist Marcus Coates. The inaugural edition was themed "Crossing Borders", reflecting Berwick-upon-Tweed's position as a historic border town between England and Scotland. In 2015, Peter Taylor was appointed Festival Director, succeeding long-serving director Melanie Iredale.[4]
Festival structure
The festival programme typically includes:
- **Berwick New Cinema Competition** – an international competition for new moving-image works
- **Exhibitions** – moving-image installations in non-gallery spaces across Berwick-upon-Tweed
- **Essential Cinema** – retrospectives of classic and overlooked works
- **Propositions** – expanded presentations by artists and filmmakers
- **School screenings and family activities**
Berwick New Cinema Competition
The Berwick New Cinema Competition is an annual prize awarded to a film in the Competition programme strand. The winning film receives a £1,000 award, supported by Outset Scotland, and the award trophy is designed by Glasgow-based ceramicist Mariella Verkerk.
| Year | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Camilo Restrepo | Cilaos |
| 2017 | Sky Hopinka | Dislocation Blues |
| 2018 | Callum Hill | Crowtrap |
| 2019 | Onyeka Igwe | the names have changed, including my own and truths have been altered |
Artists' Moving Image Residency
Since 2013, BFMAF has collaborated with Berwick Visual Arts to offer an annual six-month residency for an artist working with moving image. The residency culminates in a premiere of new work at the festival.
| Year | Artist | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Cecilia Stenbom | The Case |
| 2014 | Katie Davies | The Lawes of the Marches |
| 2015 | Paul Rooney | (film responding to "Fact or Fiction" theme) |
| 2016 | Lucy Parker | (exploring theme of "X") |
| 2017 | Charlotte Prodger | (exploring "landspace, time and identity") |
| 2018 | Lucy Clout | Solvent Magazine |
Inntravel Short Film Award (2013–2015)
From 2013 to 2015, the festival's short film award was supported by the independent travel company Inntravel.[5]
| Year | Winner | Film | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Gunhild Enger | Premature | Norway |
| 2014 | Roy Dib | Mondial 2010 | Lebanon |
| 2015 | Julia Feyrer & Tamara Henderson | Consider the Belvedere | Canada |
Past festival editions
| Edition | Year | Theme | Opening Film / Key Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2005 | Crossing Borders | Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (Vadim Jean) |
| Minifest | 2006 | – | Bobby (Emilio Estevez) |
| 3rd | 2007 | Film on Film | The Big Bad Swim (Ishai Setton) |
| 4th | 2008 | Inner States | The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene) |
| 5th | 2009 | Drawing the Lines | Ballast (Lance Hammer) |
| 6th | 2010 | Stagings | The Keystone Cut Ups (People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz) |
| 7th | 2011 | Once Upon a Time | I Am Nasrine (Tina Gharavi) |
| 8th | 2012 | Pictures in Motion | Chasing Ice (Jeff Orlowski) |
| 9th | 2013 | North by Northeast | The Hidden Child (Per Hanefjord) |
| 10th | 2014 | Border Crossing | Mamarosh (Momcilo Mrdakovic) |
| 11th | 2015 | Fact or Fiction | – |
| 13th | 2017 | – | – |
| 14th | 2018 | – | Empty Metal (Adam Khalil & Bayley Sweitzer) |
| 15th | 2019 | – | – |
| 16th | 2020 | – | Online edition (COVID-19) |
| 17th | 2021 | – | Hybrid edition |
| 18th | 2023 | – | – |
| 19th | 2024 | – | – |
| 20th | 2025 | – | – |
| 21st | 2026 | – | Featured Naeem Mohaiemen & Molla Sagar; Queer Care Caravan |
BFMAF 2026
The 21st edition of the festival took place from 20–22 March 2026. It was a deliberately intimate and pace-driven edition, held at two main venues—the Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks (a temporary venue while the usual Maltings underwent redevelopment) and the Town Hall Council Chamber.[6]
The programme focused on themes of diaspora, disability, and community care. Featured filmmakers in focus were Naeem Mohaiemen (a 2018 Turner Prize nominee) and Molla Sagar, a prominent Bangladeshi filmmaker known for exploring social justice and rural life, who collaboratively programmed three bodies of their work. The New Cinema strand included the international premieres of The Glass Booth (2025) by Jenny Brady, Soft Fruit by Rehana Zaman, Carceral Jigs by Eoghan Ryan, and No Irish Need Apply by Marianne Keating. The Essential Cinema strand featured Shari Frilot's 1995 experimental documentary Black Nations/Queer Nations? and a work-in-progress premiere of Be Yersel! (The Legend o’ Jesse Rae) by Marco J. Federici.[6]
A central thematic focus of the 2026 edition was the Queer Care Caravan, a year-round artist residency exploring resilient LGBTQIA+ community-led care, which culminated during the festival weekend. The festival also piloted dedicated Relaxed Screenings for the first time, featuring gentle lighting, lower volume, and freedom of movement.[6]
Festival Director Peter Taylor described the 21st edition as: "a tight puzzle of local, paranational, and non-aligned voices. It traces the contemporary and historical pulse of migrant workers and diaspora, treating disability and neurodivergence as vital perspectives rather than problems to solve."[6] A review in Art Monthly by Benjamin Barra noted: "By the end of the weekend, I found my senses sharpened, reflecting that the world will always need the careful framing that BFMAF offers."[7]
BFMAF 2025
The 20th edition of the Festival is scheduled to take place in Berwick 27-30 March 2025.[8]
BFMAF 2024
The 19th edition of the Festival took place in Berwick 7-10 March 2024.[9] Films shown included Malqueridas, Bedwin Hacker, The Human Surge, A Stolen Meeting, barrunto, Ouroboros, Dreaming and Dying, The Buriti Flower, Mamántula, Isabelle Stengers: Building Hope on the Edge of the Abyss, All That You Could Be, and Reality or Not.[9]
BFMAF 2023
The 18th edition of the Festival took place in Berwick 3-5 March 2023.[10] Locations included the Maltings Main House, Maltings Henry Travers, and the Magdalene Fields Golf Club. The programme included Nedarma, Let Us Flow, Anerca: Breath of Life, The Pleasures of Unbelonging, The Blue Mammy, Hello Dankness, Wolf and Dog, Home Invasion, Being in a Place, Maputo Nakuzandza, Care, Arnold is a Model Student, Paradiso, and tempo. [10]
BFMAF 2021
The 17th edition of the Festival took place in Berwick and online 10–30 September 2021.[11]
BFMAF 2020
The 16th edition of the Festival took place online from Thursday 17 September – Sunday 11 October 2020.
BFMAF 2020 featured a new online platform where artists and filmmakers' work were expanded through conversation, new writing and podcasts over three weeks. Audiences throughout the UK and filmmakers and arts professionals from across the globe were invited to share in a Festival programme that embodied a pluralist and accessible cinema.
Access to the Festival was on a pay what you can basis in the UK with professional accreditation available worldwide.
BFMAF 2019
The 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival took place 19–22 September 2019.
The programme included the Berwick New Cinema Competition that screened 23 works by a total of 27 artists across five screening programmes. The winning film the names have changed, including my own and truths have been altered by Onyeka Igwe was selected by the competition jurors Callum Hill (winner of the 2018 Berwick New Cinema Award); Hyun Jin Cho (film curator, Korean Cultural Centre UK); and Julian Ross (programmer, Locarno Film Festival & International Film Festival Rotterdam).
The Berwick New Cinema strand featured UK premieres from Lav Diaz, Narimane Mari and Angela Schanelec. BFMAF 2019 presented Essential Cinema, a retrospective series that screened fresh looks at classic works and overlooked masterpieces from Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Christian Ghazi, Lionel Soukaz and Djibril Diop Mambéty.
Alongside the cinema programmes, BFMAF 2019 also featured 12 exhibitions that repopulated Berwick's town walls, historic buildings and town centre. This included a screening of Cinématon – one of the world's longest films (at over 200 hours) across five disused and empty shop fronts around the high street.
BFMAF's 2019 exhibition programme included Animistic Apparatus, a curatorial project initiated by May Adadol Ingawanij with Julian Ross which drew on inspirations from Southeast Asia, exhibiting Camera Trap by Chris Chong Chan Fui and Fireworks (Archives) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Alongside Lav Diaz's UK Premiere of The Halt, which included an introduction from the filmmaker, Animistic Apparatus presented an overnight outdoors screening of Diaz's 485-minute film A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery.
The 2019 BFMAF Artist in Profile Marwa Arsanios presented her moving image work in two screenings and led a seminar that examined the different stages of creating a work, from research to writing, through performance and film.
The Fantastika film series considered the many ways filmmakers have utilised fairytales, folktales and fables in their work over the past sixty years. Curated by BFMAF Associate Programmer Herb Shellenberger, the series was in international in scope, with films from Colombia, Georgia, Niger, Yugoslavia and more. Elena Gorfinkel (King's College, London) curated the Kira Muratova retrospective, the critically acclaimed titan of Russian language cinema.
The Propositions strand included a presentation of Aura Satz's work, curator Steffanie Ling presented a survey of the 16mm films of Canadian artist and Berwick New Cinema Award winner Julia Feyrer, Holly Argent's lecture-performance and Rabz Lansiquot presented a dialogue between the works of Black British artists Zinzi Minott and Judah Attille.
In 2019, BFMAF also presented a month-long, multi-part exhibition Double Ghosts that featured the work of George Clark in The Gymnasium Gallery. Exploring the status and potential of unrealised and fragmented histories, the exhibition drew together 35mm film, sound recordings, script fragments, photography and archival material filmed and gathered in Chile, France and Taiwan.
BFMAF 2018
The 14th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival took place 20–23 September 2018. It featured the third edition of the Berwick New Cinema Competition which featured 14 films, all made after 1 January 2017. It included the first major UK retrospective of filmmakers Shireen Seno and John Torres, whose studio, film laboratory, library and platform Los Otros is based in Manila, Philippines. A new programme strand 'Propositions' gave four filmmakers, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Sky Hopinka, Morgan Quaintance and Giles Bailey an opportunity to develop an expanded presentation of their work.
Another programme strand at the 2018 festival was 'Screening the Forest' curated by Dr Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn: a series that took nature as its point of departure and presented films from Japan, Myanmar, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The BFMAF 2018 Artist in Profile was Sophia Al-Maria who presented a screening of her films in the cinema programme alongside an exhibition of her film The Magical State at the Magazine venue.
BFMAF 2018 also presented Essential Cinema, a retrospective series that took a fresh look at classic works of cinema and overlooked masterpieces. It featured the first screening in 40 years of Tales of the Dumpster Kid by Edgar Reitz & Ula Stöckl, Lips of Blood by Jean Rollin, Some Interviews on Personal Matters by Lana Gogoberidze, the African cinema classic Hyenas by Djibril Diop Mambéty and TERROR NULLIUS by artistic duo Soda_ Jerk.
Alongside the Cinema programmes BFMAF 2018 also featured 11 exhibitions situated in Berwick in various historic and former commercial buildings. This included an exhibition by BFMAF and Berwick Visual Arts resident, Lucy Clout, entitled Solvent Magazine at the Gymnasium Gallery.
The opening film of BFMAF 2018 was Empty Metal by Adam Khalil & Bayley Sweitzer. The festival closed to the joint UK premiere of Shireen Seno's Nervous Translation.
BFMAF 2017
The 13th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival took place 20–24 September 2017.
The Festival featured artists' work commissioned for Berwick, exhibitions in non-gallery spaces, brand new cinema, special programmes and retrospectives, in-depth talks with Festival artists, and activities for families and young people.
Cinema screenings included the first ever UK retrospective of Uzbek master Ali Khamraev plus the Berwick New Cinema Competition, with every film a UK, European, International or World premiere.
Another focal point for BFMAF 2017 was Ultramarine: The Sea as Political Space, a dynamic selection of films that reimagined our complex relationship with the sea. Margaret Salmon's new commission Mm celebrating the 50th season of the Berwick Bandits and with a soundtrack from Sacred Paws.
BFMAF 2016: X
In 2016 BFMAF hosted Thomas Beard's retrospective, An Early Clue to the New Direction: Queer Cinema Before Stonewall. All the films in this programme strand were screened from 35mm/16mm prints.
The Berwick New Cinema programme featured UK Premieres of El futuro perfecto by Nele Wohlatz, Maud Alpi's Gorge cœur ventre; and If It Was, by Laure Prouvost. World premieres of several films were also presented, including Molly Palmer's Some Shapes Without Edges, Jenny Perlin's Tender Not Approved and Sophie Michael's The Watershow Extravaganza, which also featured as an exhibition.
BFMAF's 2016 exhibition programme included works by Artists in Profile Claire Hooper and Deborah Stratman, alongside Festival commission Persuasion by Lucy Parker. Also included were new works by Ghislaine Leung, Jenny Brady and CIRCA Projects, who presented their live event, World Is Sudden: Part I.
2015: Fact or Fiction
The 11th edition, themed "Fact or Fiction", explored the grey areas between documentary and narrative, journalism and propaganda. Artists in Profile were Deimantas Narkevičius (exhibition Once in the XX Century) and Seamus Harahan (commissioned Fucking Finland). The programme featured an expanded roster of moving image installations and screenings, including a 35mm screening of Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Salam Cinema and live events curated by CIRCA Projects.
2014: Border Crossing
The 10th edition was held around the time of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, exploring the concept of borders and "border identities all over the world".[12] The festival secured corporate sponsorship from global strategic outsourcing firm Mitie.[13] The festival won Best Community Event of the Year (North East Press) and Best Event Northumberland (The Journal Culture Awards).
2013: North by Northeast
The 9th edition explored North East England and Scotland's connections to Northern Europe and the North Sea.[14]
2012: Pictures in Motion
In 2012, the festival reverted to a run of five consecutive days and took the theme 'Pictures in Motion'[15] to examine the relationship between the still and moving image, attempting to raise questions about the nature of both in a digital world. The opening film was Chasing Ice (2012) by Jeff Orlowski.[16]
2011: Once Upon a Time
In 2011, the three-day 7th edition, 'Once Upon a Time',[17] explored the enchantment of fairy tales on film, from one of the first examples of the genre, Alice in Wonderland (1903) through to the modern day. The opening film was I Am Nasrine (2011) by Tina Gharavi.[18]
2010: Stagings
In 2010, the 6th edition ran over five days and explored the theme 'Stagings', looking at the role of the screen as a stage and featuring dance on film, music documentary, old classics and live performances. The opening film was The Keystone Cut Ups (2010) by People Like Us and Ergo Phizmiz.[19]
2009: Drawing the Lines
In 2009, the 5th edition looked towards the representation of architecture and space on screen with 'Drawing the Lines'.[20] The opening film was Ballast (2008) by Lance Hammer.[21]
2008: Inner States
The 2008 festival was produced in collaboration with Northumberland Lights and as such explored the theme 'Inner States'[22] through light and sound as well as cinema. The opening film was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) by Robert Wiene.[23]
2007: Film on Film
The 3rd edition in 2007 ran for nine days and looked at ways in which artists and filmmakers use overt and conscious self-reference in the work they create with its theme 'Film on Film'.[24] This festival was produced in collaboration with guest curators Rebecca Shatwell (Director, AV Festival) and Iain Pate. The opening film was The Big Bad Swim (2006) by Ishai Setton.[25]
BFMAF Minifest 06
Produced as a smaller event following the positive response from the 2005 inaugural festival, the 2006 Minifest[26] was dedicated to the memory of Chris Anderson who had been an early supporter of the Festival and Chair of the 1st edition steering committee. Following his passing, his family set up the Chris Anderson Award to promote the work of young filmmakers which continues to form part of the festival programme today. The opening film was Bobby (2006) by Emilio Estevez.[27]
BFMAF 2005: Crossing Borders
The very first Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival was themed 'Crossing Borders',[28] it reflected Berwick-upon-Tweed's position as a border town, with the history and isolation that comes with a place falling between countries. The opening film was Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004) by Vadim Jean.[29]
Awards and recognition
- 2014: Best Community Event of the Year – North East Press
- 2014: Best Event Northumberland – The Journal Culture Awards
References
- ↑ "Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF)". FilmFreeway. Retrieved 20 January 2025.
- ↑ "Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival Ltd". Arts Council England. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ↑ "Professor Huw Davies". University of Derby.
- ↑ "Doc/Fest hires Iredale as Phillips, Currimbhoy depart". RealScreen. 8 September 2014.
- ↑ "Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival". Inntravel. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "21st Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2026". Retrieved 4 August 2026.
- ↑ Barra, Benjamin (April 2026). "Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2026". Art Monthly (495): 22–23.
- ↑ "20th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2025". Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- 1 2 "19th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2024". Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- 1 2 "18th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2023". Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- ↑ "Berwick Film Festival Programme 2021" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ↑ "Festival Review: Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival". The Quietus. 4 November 2014.
- ↑ "Mitie support for 10th Berwick Film Festival". Berwick Advertiser. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015.
- ↑ "9th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival". ShowFilmFirst. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ↑ "Preview: Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival – the Flaneur".
- ↑ "Review: Chasing Ice at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival – the Flaneur".
- ↑ "Featured Festival: Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival".
- ↑ "I Am Nasrine to world premiere at Berwick Film Festival".
- ↑ "Berwick film festival | People Like Us".
- ↑ "Berwick upon Tweed Film Festival 2009, 18 – 20 September". www.europealacarte.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009.
- ↑ "Berwick hosts fifth film festival". 9 September 2009.
- ↑ "Northumberland Lights in Berwick upon Tweed « Europe a la Carte Blog". www.europealacarte.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008.
- ↑ "Berwick Film Festival - Berwickshire News". www.berwickshirenews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015.
- ↑ "Big-screen bonanza at Berwick Film Festival - Northumberland Gazette". www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015.
- ↑ "Cameras roll for film festival - Northumberland Gazette". www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015.
- ↑ "Berwick host film mini-fest - The Southern Reporter". www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015.
- ↑ "Treat in store for film fans with Minifest - Berwick Advertiser". www.berwick-advertiser.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015.
- ↑ "UK premiere kicks off Berwick Film and Media Festival - Berwickshire News". www.berwickshirenews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015.
- ↑ "Nostalgic return to Berwick for film director - Berwickshire News". www.berwickshirenews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015.