Three City Event January 28–February 13, 2005
The International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) will present its first San Francisco Bay Area festival January 28, 2005 through February 13, 2005. Over fifty events are scheduled in San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Rafael.
Filmmakers and guest speakers from over a dozen countries are expected. IBFF Associate Director Tana Lehr, who heads up programming, says, “We have a great festival planned. At least ten premieres, some wonderful new prints of rare older works and some special surprises. And that doesn’t even include films to be gleaned from our international Call For Entries which went out in August.” She adds, “We are very excited about our Bay Area filmmaker focus too. This strand allows us to highlight some of the excellent work produced right here by world class filmmakers.”
Working with San Francisco’s legendary Castro Theater, UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Auditorium, and Marin County’s Smith Rafael Film Center, the IBFF expects attendance of over 20,000 in the course of the seventeen-day festival.
In addition to the film screenings, there will be a conference on the campus of UC Berkeley, “Speaking for the Buddha—Buddhism and Media” presented by the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Center for Buddhist Studies at UC Berkeley, February 8–9.
