THE BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
GEARS UP FOR A MILESTONE YEAR OF FILMS AND EVENTS CELEBRATING ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY!
BIFF’s 8th Annual Environmental Film Focus Series Begins
at the Triplex Cinema!
BIFF Social Club Events kick-off next month!
Calling All Filmmakers! BIFF Opens Film Submissions for our
20th Annual Festival on October 1!
BIFF’s Second Annual “nexGen Student Film Competition” Submissions also Open October 1!
BIFF 20th Anniversary Passes on Sale December 1!
The Berkshire International Film Festival is thrilled to be celebrating our 20th anniversary festival, held May 28 – 31, 2026 in Great Barrington and Lenox. BIFF will be holding 20 film events over the next year to commemorate our 20 years. We will bring back films and filmmakers from previous festivals, present new films, celebrate old films, continue our environmental film focus series and collaborate with other Berkshire cultural organizations, as well as our series with the BIFF Social Club, to mark this milestone year. Special events and screenings will be announced in the next few weeks!
Calling all filmmakers! The BIFF will open submissions for filmmakers on October 1, 2025. The call for entries for the second annual nexGen Student Film Competition will also open at that time. Passes for the 20th anniversary festival will be on sale December 1, 2025. To become a sponsor, a Reel Friend, advertise or volunteer for the upcoming festival, please contact us via email: anne@biffma.org or lauren@biffma.org.
SUPPORT BIFF AND BECOME A REEL FRIEND MEMBER TODAY!
BIFF’S ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FOCUS SERIES KICKS-OFF WITH AN ENCORE SCREENING OF OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT WHICH WON BIFF’S AUDIENCE AWARD LAST YEAR!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 AT 3PM AT THE TRIPLEX CINEMA
Q&A TO FOLLOW THE SCREENING
TICKETS ARE $15 FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
FREE TO BIFF REEL FRIENDS
OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT directed by Rosanna Xia
From the Los Angeles Times and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rosanna Xia, OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT is a cinematic exposé of an environmental disaster lurking just off the coast of Southern California.
Not far from Catalina Island, aboard one of the most-advanced research ships in the world, David Valentine discovered a corroded barrel on the seafloor that gave him chills. The full environmental horror sharpens into greater clarity once he calls Xia, who pieces together a shocking revelation: In the years after World War II, as many as half a million barrels of toxic waste had been quietly dumped into the ocean – and the consequences continue to haunt the world today.
Rosanna Xia is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. Her journalism has inspired new laws and regulations, and her celebrated book, California Against the Sea, received the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, an American Book Award and a gold medal from the California Book Awards, among other honors. She has been praised for her investigative reporting and narrative storytelling, and her coverage of a toxic dumpsite in the deep ocean has been anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The 20th annual BIFF will be held May 28 – 31, 2026; submissions will open October 1, 2025 and passes will go on sale December 1, 2025.
BIFF’s 20th anniversary gala will be held Sunday, September 6, 2026.
Premiere Sponsors of the 2026 BIFF include the Triplex Cinema, Berkshire Bank, The Roaring Brook Family Foundation, Studio Two, The Red Lion Inn, The Frances Davis Fund, the Annie Selke Companies, Love Today Productions, The Granville House and Old Mill Road Media. Presenting Sponsors include Karen Allen Fiber Arts, Berkshire Mountain Distillers, Stella Artois, Haven Cafe, Archer Roose Wines, Abbott’s Livery, Warrior Trading, Fairfield Inn and Dare Bottleshop and Provisions. BIFF’s festival partners include the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and the Lenox Town Hall.
With over 1000 film submissions this past year, the Berkshire International Film Festival has quickly become a destination festival that filmmakers seek due to the enthusiastic audiences it attracts.
The Berkshires are a community of film lovers. On the very first weekend 20 years ago, our community embraced the BIFF with overwhelming gusto. It is no small feat to create and sustain a cultural organization in the Berkshires, but TWO decades later, that community response has never wavered, and every expectation for BIFF has been exceeded. That first weekend, BIFF showcased 40 premieres of independent films over a 2-day weekend. The Mahaiwe was not open, the Triplex had not opened the Screening Room, Pearl’s and allium were at the top of Railroad Street, and Deval Patrick was running for Governor! In the last two decades, BIFF has doubled the number of screened films, tripled the number of screens, doubled the number of locations for our screenings, doubled the length of the festival, tripled the number of filmmakers and industry professionals in attendance to share their films, and created a year-round organization dedicated to celebrating the best of independent film,” says Founder and Artistic Director Kelley Vickery. “As we head into our third decade, BIFF continues to celebrate the incredible and inspiring stories we have curated from around the world and close to home. Our regional films from the Berkshires and beyond, celebrate individuals and small businesses making a big impact in social justice, art, farming, music, environmental issues and politics. We have presented more than TWO dozen Berkshire filmmakers over the past 20 years! BIFF is proud to bring to the Berkshires tomorrow’s talented filmmakers and discover their stories, their cultures and their films you may never be able to see again. Where else can you come together and engage with filmmakers, share collectively with your friends, connect with the world around you and across the globe? BIFF nurtures that desire, that passion and that curious spirit and is proud to take its place as one of the pillars in the Berkshire cultural community. The BIFF truly brings the world to the Berkshires and is here to stay!”
Filmmakers are the true celebrities at BIFF. We host nearly 70 filmmakers – free of charge, including housing, talks and events – and provide the space for filmmakers to connect with each other and our super engaged audience. The Filmmaker Summit is unique to BIFF which precedes the annual film festival. We host filmmakers from around the world who are screening films during the festival and offer an opportunity to learn from and network with industry professionals and connect with each other. Many filmmakers go on to form connections with each other and continue the conversation long after the festival concludes. In addition, BIFF has proudly shown over 50 films from Berkshire filmmakers, as well as 14 local Berkshire film students, and nearly 80 films that were shot in the Berkshires.
BIFF has become the festival of choice not only for filmmakers but also for film lovers who are seeking a unique Berkshire experience and a place to indulge their passion for film. The Festival connects audiences to compelling documentaries, award-winning international releases with incredible parties and events, all just a short drive from New York City or Boston. Over the last two decades, BIFF has been fortunate to have hosted such luminaries such as Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols, Christopher Plummer, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Bacon, Stephen Lang, Alfre Woodard, Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig, Yo-Yo Ma, Rachel Weisz, Brian Cox and Martin Scorsese and scores of award-winning filmmakers. Films and events will be held throughout both Great Barrington and Lenox, including the Triplex Cinema, the historic Mahaiwe Theatre, the Indigo Room and the Lenox Town Hall as well as area restaurants.
