About BIFF
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peter flynn
festival director

dawn morrissey
festival producer

harvey o'brien
associate director

 

 

 Celebrating Ireland and the Irish on Screen

Increasingly filmmakers from Ireland and the Irish diaspora are turning to the visual media arts to express themselves and their culture. Within the last ten years alone Irish cinema has emerged as a dynamic global phenomenon, expressing a culture focused on the island of Ireland but spread out to all four corners of the globe.  Encompassing a near-limitless array of experiences and aspirations, Irish filmmakers from around the world challenge traditional notions of Irishness and force us to expand our understandings of what it means to be Irish in the 21st century.

BIFF Productions was set up to celebrate and promote the global Irish cinema. It provides exhibition, distribution, and educational opportunities for filmmakers; honors their work with awards; and produces original documentaries on contemporary Irish cinema. The organization’s mission is:

  • To continue to administer the Irish Film Festival on an annual basis, with additional screenings throughout the year
  • To organize educational events for audiences and filmmakers in the Boston area
  • To provide distribution consultation for Irish filmmakers entering the American market, and American filmmakers entering Irish and European markets
  • To produce and distribute originally documentary films on Irish cinema
BIFF Productions is currently in the process of establishing itself as a non-profit organization.

The 10th Annual Magners Irish Film Festival is scheduled for November 2008. Updates will be posted here.

BIFF Productions organizes the annual Magners Irish Film Festival. The 9th Annual Magners Irish Film Festival unspools Nov. 8-11.

 
  BIFF History
  BIFF Productions originated as the Boston Irish Film Festival (BIFF), which was founded in 1999 by Jim Lane and Peter Flynn.  Originally conceived of as a once-off film series, the festival became an annual event with Flynn as director.  In 2003 BIFF expanded its operations to include the annual BIFF Awards to celebrate the work of outstanding filmmakers.  That same year, Magners Irish Cider was invited to become the festival’s title sponsor and, in its 6th year, the Boston Irish Film Festival was renamed the Magners Irish Film Festival and became the largest event of its kind in the United States.

BIFF was retained as the title of the festival’s production company, with Dawn Morrissey as producer, Peter Flynn as director and Harvey O’Brien as associate director.  In early 2007 BIFF Productions was incorporated and is currently filing for non-profit status.  In addition to the annual Magners Irish Film Festival and the BIFF Awards, BIFF Productions oversees the programming of year-round educational and screening programs and produces original documentary films on Irish cinema.

Gabriel Byrne, the 2004 Excellence Award Honoree.

  Staff Bios
 

Festival Director, Peter Flynn

Dublin native Peter Flynn graduated from University College Dublin in 1994 with an MA in Film Studies. He is a faculty member of Emerson College's Department of Visual Media Arts and teaches courses in media production and history. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in early 2008 and is working on a book on Representations of the Irish in Early American cinema.

An award-winning filmmaker in his own right, Peter has several films to his credit and has worked in a variety of capacities as camera-person, cinematographer, editor, director and producer. His most recent project was as Director of Photography for a feature-length documentary on Irish Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher.  He is also currently developing a documentary tie-in with his work on images of the Irish in early American cinema.  Peter co-founded the festival in 1999 with Emerson College colleague Jim Lane and has continued to direct the festival since then.

Festival Producer, Dawn Morrissey

Producer Dawn Morrissey, from Co. Kildare, graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Film. She has worked on several feature films both in Ireland and the USA, one of which was a Sundance finalist, produced the Waltham Mills Artist Open studios for three years and was awarded both the regional and national awards from the Alliance for Community Media for her work on a video short. Dawn has just recently co-produced a short fiction film about illegal immigration, and is currently working on the rewrite of a feature script. She ensures that the festival runs smoothly from the first film entry to the final curtain.

Associate Director, Harvey O'Brien

Harvey O’Brien is one of Ireland’s leading film academics and the author of The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in documentary Film (2004). Born in Queens, New York, Harvey moved to Ireland in the early 1970s and was raised mostly in West Clare. He now lives in Dublin where he teaches film studies at UCD Dublin. Harvey’s writing has featured in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers, and on-line and has been translated into several languages, including Greek and Russian. In addition, he has written scripts for film and radio, and is an award-winning author of short stories.
Harvey has been involved with the festival as Associate Director since its founding in 1999.

Peter Flynn, Festival Director

Dawn Morrissey, Festival Producer

Harvey O'Brien, Associate Director
   

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