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(Philadelphia, PA ~ May 10-15, 2021) Web. Mobile. Live.
Presented yearly since 2008, the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival is an annual curation of an ongoing discussion on the discovery and premier of the world’s best independent films across 12 genres. We are pleased (finally) to announce the 14th annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival award-winning films.
For the 14th annual festival, we are proud to have included 168 films, animations, and video’s as Official Selections. Winners include the powerful and timely Feature Documentary, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Directed by Selcuk Zvi Cara, where past and present become blurred. “May the light of art and culture from NÜRNBERG radiate across the whole world” and the 10 part Web Series, Decolonizing the Narrative, by Director Tukufu Zuberi. “The 850 million visitors to American museums need a better representation of Black Culture. These interstitials on Decolonizing the Conversation focus on my redesigning of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Africa Galleries — “From the Maker to Museum”.
Winners such as the Comedy/Thriller The Take Out Movie by first-time filmmaker Andrew Simonian is “Hilarious” and shows why discovering Independent films is as exciting as watching them!
GO HERE for the full list of Winners and Underground Film Forum #uff selections.
This was the second year of severe Covid-19 restrictions (25% max capacity). We had searched for a solution to not screening again for the second year and with so much uncertainty and an unwillingness by venues to rent, we had to build our own platform. Our fanbase simply did not want to return to the theaters nor were they allowed.
We extended the festival by 2 days and now run 6 days. We screened 16 films live. We launched our mobile and streaming solution, live, during the festival at piff.darkroom.film. This reflects the tremendous increase in the number of films that we received alongside a significant increase in media access globally and locally that we have been experiencing since the underground film forum #uff first met in 1998.
We are excited about the future and plans are underway for our 15th festival as you read. It will be something to experience. We hope to see you out and online, 24/7, starting now. Please spread the word.
Thank you!
Marteen Olaya, Screening Chairperson, Benjamin F. Barnett Festival Director, and the whole Festival #14 team.