PASSES FOR THE EIGHTH ANNUAL BIFF NOW ON SALE!
May 30 – June 2, 2013
BIFF Passes make a great gift for the holidays!
HOLIDAY EVENT WITH BIFF AND HEIRLOOM MEALS
NOVEMBER 30
Save the date! The BIFF is proud to collaborate with Carole Murko and Heirloom Meals to present a wonderful evening celebrating the holidays. On Friday, November 30, we will present a special screening of Carole Murko’s Heirloom Meals Christmas Special at the Norman Rockwell Museum with a special dinner at Murko’s house following the screening.
Heirloom Meals’ Christmas Special is the follow-up program to the widely-seen and highly-praised Heirloom Meals’ Thanksgiving Special. Like the Thanksgiving Special, the Heirloom Meals’ Christmas Special features real people, with real food and heartfelt memories. Diverse guests, informative demos, and expressive photography all combine to create the unique quality and uplifting atmosphere that Heirloom Meals evokes. At the heart of the show are the passions and stories of the guests. Their emotional accounts keep the audience engaged and push the show forward. The demonstrations, performed by Carole Murko and her guests, are not the standard cookie-cutter approach to cooking shows. They are often abbreviated to keep things moving and only the parts that balance entertainment value and instructional practice are used in the final show. Viewers are guided to the Heirloom Meals’ website for explicit recipes and detailed instructions. The visual language and style are reminiscent of the Thanksgiving Special, elegant and stylish. Finally, advanced camera technology allows for high-production value aesthetics. Imagine a merging of the best of the Food Network, HGTV, and the History Channel.
Because Christmas is a season, as well as a day, the baking and sweet-making traditions of several guests from across the country are featured alongside a New World Christmas Eve tradition of Mexican-Americans – tamales – and an Old World tradition of an Austrian-American – Christmas goose. In usual Heirloom Meals style, Carole Murko gets to the heart of “What makes the Christmas holiday season so special for you?”
Carole also ventures to Shelburne Farms, VT to chat with their cheesemaker about sustainable farming, an ever-present theme in Heirloom Meals’ shows. The finishing touches to the special are two musical acts. One written and inspired by Heirloom Meals by Charity Kahn, called The Light; and Winter Wonderland, performed by world-renowned Jazz singer and pianist, Judy Carmichael. If there are two words that describe both the show and the guests’ descriptions of their Christmas memories, one is magical. The other is love. The special was shot at Boulderwood Farm, in beautiful Stockbridge, Massachusetts with sweeping views of the Berkshire countryside by Director and Cinematographer, JP Lipa and Eleven 11 Productions, a Pittsfield native and production firm, respectively. Read Carole Murko’s piece in the Huffington Post today http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-murko/manicotti-crepe_b_2040302.html
The event is open to the public. Tickets are $15 for an eggnog reception and screening at Norman Rockwell and $75 for the reception, screening and dinner at Boulderwood. For REEL Friends, the reception and screening is $10 and $50 for the reception, screening and dinner. Carol Murko is also providing attendees of the dinner a complimentary DVD copy of the show and a recipe booklet!
Call For BIFF 2013 Submissions
The 2013 Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) is pleased to announce the call for submissions are now open! BIFF welcomes submissions for feature, documentary and short films. Selected films will be chosen by the end of March and announced in April. The 8th annual festival will be held May 30 – June 2, 2013 at the Triplex Cinema, the historical Mahaiwe Theatre, the Beacon Cinema and other venues throughout Great Barrington and Pittsfield. The submissions deadline is March 1, 2013. The 2013 festival will mark the 8th annual event and plans to showcase nearly 75 of the best films that are currently being produced in independent filmmaking.
Click here for submission forms, rules, and further information. Films may be submitted by sending the completed forms to P.O. Box 237, Great Barrington, MA 01230.