Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF) reveals its calendar of live events to accompany the online cinema programme. All discussions will stream live BST from the festival’s website, Facebook page and twitch channel.

Kicking off today at 8 pm will be the first of 4 artists’ conversations from the Filmmakers in Focus series: Ayo Akingbade will be joined by writer and editor Ralf Webb and critic, curator and researcher Rianna Jade Parker moderated by programming fellow Christina Demetriou.

Thursday 24 September at 8 pm: as part of the Essential Cinema programme, filmmaker and producer Daniel Bird and producer Victoria Lupik will discuss Maria Saakyan’s Mayak – The Lighthouse and the director’s legacy in the context of filmmaking, distribution and restoration in the Caucasus. Moderated by film critic and curator Carmen Gray.

Saturday 26 September at 5 pm: Filmmaker in Focus Payal Kapadia will be in conversation with Toronto based writer and director Kelley Dong and programmer Herb Shellenberger to explore the director’s unique cinematic sensibility as she approaches the preparation of her first feature film.

Thursday 1 October at 8 pm: the first live talk from our Propositions programme with Renèe Helèna Browne, who will be joined by poet and trans / queer activist Nat Raha and programming fellow Christina Demetriou to unpack the investigation of human control over natural impulse, traditional structures and belief systems portrayed in their new film Daddy’s Boy commissioned for the 16th BFMAF.

Saturday 3 October at 3 pm: Proposition’s artist Tiffany Sia and critic, curator and Light Industry’s founder Ed Halter will discuss her new short film Never Rest/Unrest and the urgent dialogue it triggers between critical theory and direct political action. Moderated by programmer Herb Shellenberger.

Tuesday 6 October at 8 pm: Filmmaker in Focus and pioneering director in Moroccan cinema, Izza Genini will be joined by writer and curator Omar Berrada and filmmaker and writer Yasmine Benabdallah to expand upon the recurring concerns of her decades-long career, such as diasporic identity, traditional Moroccan heritage and music.

Thursday 8 October 8 pm: as part of the final Filmmaker in Focus live discussion, Angelo Madsen Minax will be joined by filmmaker and writer Steve Reinke and programmer Ana David to consider the many themes and layers—queerness, trans identity and sexuality, mysticism and death, family bonds and social justice, among others—comprising the artist’s first retrospective outside of the USA.

As part of the festival’s engagement with young audiences and in response to the pandemic, the 2020 edition created the Berwick Young Filmmakers: local young people worked with artist Kimberley O’Neill over zoom workshops, sharing their stories of lockdown, learning and putting into practice lo-fi mobile-phone filmmaking techniques. The result is a short collaborative film, Everyday Apocalypse, also available for viewing on the festival’s platform.

More events will be made public in the coming days, along with the announcement of the Previews strand and other professional development initiatives put forward by this year’s festival.