Founded in 2004 by the Young Filmmakers Centre, the Baku International Film Festival operated in earlier years under the name START BQFF.
Founded in 2004 by the Young Filmmakers Centre, the Baku International Film Festival operated in earlier years under the name START BQFF.
Baku BFF brings together three commitments: raising interest in the short and feature-length debut films that are considered the foundation of cinema in our country, encouraging local filmmakers, and supporting them in their work.
Over the years Baku BFF has become a venue for films that have won awards and acclaim at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals and at the Academy Awards.
We are proud to present at the festival a colourful selection of films that bring together the cultural, political and social events unfolding in the world and in our country, along with the many characters who live through them.
Each year the most compelling titles are selected from more than 1,500 films submitted from countries around the world and added to the festival programme. BIFF has become a meeting place for dozens of international and local directors, producers and screenwriters.
Alongside this, over six days we present audiences with new work by local directors who take a distinctive approach and strive to portray events in compelling ways.
Raising interest in the short and feature-length debut films that are considered the foundation of cinema in our country is one of the festival's central aims.
Encouraging local filmmakers and supporting their work is an inseparable part of what the festival does.
Over six days we present audiences with new films by local directors who strive to portray events in compelling styles of their own.
We screen a colourful selection of films that bring together the cultural, political and social events unfolding in the world and in our country.
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