Belfast Film Festival

Belfast Film Festival's screening of Mad Max at T13

Founded in 1995 by writer Laurence McKeown, in its early stages of development the film festival was a subset of Féile an Phobail, and operated as the West Belfast Film Festival between 1995 and 2000. In its third and fourth year WBFF ran as independent event and included venues throughout the city. Under the stewardship of Michele Devlin and Laurence McKeown, it became the Belfast Film Festival in the year 2000 and ran as a citywide event, including venues in the North, South, East and West of Belfast.

In 2004 event, the festival's offices in the Art Deco North Street Arcade were completely destroyed by fire. Despite losing their base and all their records, the festival recovered, relocated to Donegall St, and staged the event again the following year. The 2005 festival was launched by award-winning actor Stephen Rea.

Belfast Film Festival's screening of The Wicker Man at the Giant's Ring

The inclusion of people and the fabric of the city in the programme is an important aspect of the BFF's work. In 2004 they hosted the first ever drive-in movie event in the city in Talbot St car park screening The Shining. They have screened films in used and disused swimming pools including Jaws and Session 9; on a boat in the River Lagan (Piranha); with live piano accompaniment in St Anne's Cathedral (16mm original version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and shown Carol Reed's Odd Man Out beside the Albert Clock, which featured heavily in the film. They have profiled unique architectural sites by hosting screenings inside the buildings, including the US political drama The West Wing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Oh, Mr Porter! at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, The Warriors in a dystopian landscape beneath a city centre motorway flyover, and Stanley Kubrick's cult sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey in the historic dry dock in the city's old shipyards where the RMS Titanic last sat on dry ground.

Music has also featured strongly in their programming; some highlights include the collaborations with local talent such as Duke Special and David Holmes on audio visual performances, hosting the band Goblin to perform a live score to Dawn of the Dead, Cercueil (Coffin) the fantastic French duo performing to David Lynch's Eraserhead and a synchronised swim team (Aquabatix) performing live in a pool to alongside a compilation of aquatic and swim themed films and music.

Festival Director: Michele Devlin

Programmer: Stephen Hackett

Documentary Programmer: Stuart Sloan

Shorts Programmer: Rose Baker

Marketing Manager: Mary Lindsay

Inclusion / Audience Development Co-ordinator: Sara Morrison

Technician: Jason Mills

Board of directors: Mark Cousins (Chair), Nisha Tandon, Lisa Barros D' Sa, Laurence McKeown, Louise O'Meara, Kevin Jackson & Lucy Baxter.

Patrons: Terry George, David Holmes, Pat Murphy, William Crawley and Stephen Rea.

Key funders are Belfast City Council, Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute.

2013: Peroni & Selective Travel

2014: Peroni & 02 International Sim[1]

2015: O2 International Sim, DCAL and Tourism NI

2016: Peroni, Tourism NI and DCAL

2017: The Irish News, Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland

• Féile an Phobail
• Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
• Queen's Film Theatre
• Belfast Festival at Queen's