BEST OF FEST

2023-24 Playlist

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 77 MINUTES

They Came From All Over

Duration
14:30

Synopsis
They Came from All Over highlights the important role small businesses play within their local communities. A love letter to small businesses everywhere, the film follows grocery store owner, Tom Mulholland, as he confronts the possibility of losing his family business and the impact it can have on his small Iowa town.

Directed by
Rayka Zehtabchi

BCFF AWARD
Grand Prize Best of Fest and Best Short Film 2023

River City Rising

Duration
9:00

Synopsis
A civic story of Spokane, Washington. Facing one of the worst housing crisis of anywhere in the nation, Spokane developed a Housing for All initiative that is inspired and rooted in it’s own history.

Directed by
John Paget

We Are Shellharbour: Cookie

Duration
7:00

Synopsis
Commissioned as the community was emerging from the Covid 19 pandemic, We Are Shellharbour is a series of five stories that speak to what we all have in common when facing adversity and challenge. This episode, entitled Cookie is a poignant story of neighbors and community.

Directed by
Phillip Crawford

BCFF AWARD
Best Online Series 2023

Jack’s Solar Garden

Duration
4:00

Synopsis
Agrivoltaics is the combination of solar and agriculture. By utilizing the land while capturing solar energy - this model offers land developers and farmers a win-win scenario. The film features Jack's Solar Garden - the largest commercial research site using agrivoltaics in the US. It describes the agrivolatics model and the research being done at Jacks to further improve this method.

Directed by
Chad Weber

BCFF AWARD
Better Technology & Innovation Award 2023

Thoughts on Reimagining Urban Sites: An Architect's Reflections

Duration
4:44

Synopsis
Stanton Eckstut, a pioneering architect who has designed iconic public spaces in cities across the United States, discusses the principles that have guided his work. In this film, Eckstut offers ideas about how to redevelop large urban sites with an emphasis on the public realm, while walking the grounds of The Wharf, a large-scale development he designed in Washington, D.C. Eckstut's reputation as an innovator and leader in large-scale architecture was forged more than 30 years when he worked on the master plan for New York's Battery Park City. His work has since focused on strengthening the urban fabric of cities nationwide by creating new centers of social and civic activity. As Eckstut has said, “even my smallest buildings are about being part of a larger community.” "Thoughts on Reimagining Urban Sites" was produced as an educational tool for the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, a nationally recognized nonprofit focused on historic preservation.

Directed by
Daniel Lovering

BCFF AWARD
Better Planning & Design Award 2023

Tiny Victories 2.0: A Tale of Empathy

Duration
8:20

Synopsis
Tiny Victories 2.0. A Tale of Empathy tells the story of Chioco Design's team journey when building a micro home for an individual who has struggled with chronic and sustained homelessness. How organizations like AIA Design Voice and Mobile Loaves & Fishes works timely to offer hope for the community. The word "empathy" serves as a prompt in the development, and execution, but mostly the idea of leaving behind preconceptions of what it is like to live without a home.

Directed by
Gustavo Bernal

BCFF AWARD
Emerging Ideas Award 2023

Building Opportunities | Bridging Communities

Duration
6:55

Synopsis
In the 1980s, the Parklands community of Washington, DC was devastated due the lack of civic resources and the rise of crime. In response, real estate developer WC Smith set out to create THEARC — Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Campus. THEARC is now the largest multi-sector non-profit collaboration in the country. Building Opportunities | Bridging Communities tells the origin story of THEARC and the impact it has had on residents of Parklands.

Directed by
Jon Michael Shink, Michael Skinner

BCFF AWARD
Better Economies for All Award 2023

Love Letters for the Subway

Duration
2:00

Synopsis
A love letter to the city, through hand-drawn, animated letters representing New York City's subway lines. The animations pull imagery from the neighborhoods that the trains move through, use common items in the subway as textures, and include found shapes in the architecture and sights experienced on a train ride.

Directed by
Mary Hawkins

BCFF AWARD
Best Animation 2023

The Place Man

Duration
19:00

Synopsis
The Place Man is a documentary that explores the roots of the placemaking movement through the life of Fred Kent, who has devoted his life to creating public spaces for people.

Directed by
Guillermo Bernal

BCFF AWARD
Hero Award 2023

2022-23 Playlist

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 85 MINUTES

Wetlands

Duration
0:14:46

Synopsis
MTF Labs director Andrew Dubber discovers the culture of Aveiro, a city under imminent threat of ocean rise due to climate change and undergoing the loss of cultural heritage and traditional industries.

Directed by
Andrew Dubber

BCFF AWARD
Better Communities Award 2022

Reimagining Freedom West

Duration
0:07:34

Synopsis
In the heart of today’s tech boom epicenter an historic Black community living in San Francisco’s largest co-op Freedom West Homes must fight to keep their housing amidst encroaching gentrification.

Directed by
Michelle Flowers-Taylor

BCFF AWARD
Better Transportation Award 2022

Ainsworth

Duration
0:03:39

Synopsis
Football is everything to Kam who has lived near the Ainsworth Estate pitch all his life. In 2013, with his good friend Hassan, Kam approached the Arsenal Foundation to resurface the pitch from concrete to astroturf. He is now a Coach to the local kids and this area represents so much more than just a playing field. It is the beating heart of the Estate. And football is the international language that binds the entire community together.

Directed by
Jim Stephenson

BCFF AWARD
Spirit of the Fest Award 2022

Greens For Good

Duration
0:11:11

Synopsis
Liverpool, England is a hardscrabble city built on industry, but in its gritty center a new garden is thriving. It’s called Farm Urban. Here, a visionary young team uses hydroponics to grow fresh greens and vegetables in a Victorian tunnel beneath the city. What’s more: they’re engaging with their community, providing hands-on education for local students, installing “edible walls” in office spaces and centers for people with neurological diseases, and even finding creative and sustainable ways to deliver “living food” to those who can afford it—and many more who can’t.

Directed by
Whitney Beer-Kerr

BCFF AWARD
Better Technology & Innovation 2022

East Quay

Duration
0:08:40

Synopsis

What happens when a group of people get together to build a centre for the community on a forgotten corner of the harbour?

Directed by
Jim Stephenson

BCFF AWARD
Special Selection - Best of Fest Reel 2022

Reimagining Albany’s Waterfront

Duration
0:13:38

Synopsis
Interstate 787 cuts off Albany's downtown from its riverfront. For decades, the effects of this urban planning mistake have hampered positive urban development for this historic city. Today, a community-driven effort seeks to reimagine Albany's waterfront.

Directed by
Daniel M Connolly, Derek Baranski

BCFF AWARD
Better Transportation Award 2022

The Square Deal Towns

Duration
0:10:00

Synopsis
The remarkable civic story of Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City, New York. Once home to the largest shoe company in the world, and world headquarters of IBM, three small towns are rebuilding and revitalizing after decades of disinvestment and floods. A hopeful portrait of the resilience that stems from hometown pride and community love.

Directed by
John Paget

SPECIAL FEATURE
Presented by First+Main Films, producers of BCFF

Ropes in Brown Hands

Duration
0:16:05

Synopsis

In one of America's few remaining Freedmen's towns, a cowboy carries on the tradition of one of the nation's oldest African American rodeos. Focused on compelling characters and colorful history, this original documentary shows a little-known slice of the modern American frontier.

Directed by
Alexandra Leah Travis

BCFF AWARD
Grand Prize Best Short Film 2022