NewEnglandFilm.com

Founder and director Patrick Jerome gives us the skinny on the Boston International Film Festival.

Number of Yearly Submissions: Last season was 2,657 submissions

Number of Films Typically Accepted: Around 100 films

What are you looking for when choosing which films you select?

International Connection. It could be a filmmaker in the US from a foreign country or a film produced in a foreign country. The subject is an international one. Once a film has a strong foreign connection it is what we look for.

What is your advice for filmmakers looking to apply to your festival, or to others?

Filmmakers have to make sure they don’t have their own private presentation or world premiere of their films prior to exhausting all possibilities to have their film premiere at a film festival somewhere.

What is your advice to audience goers for how best to enjoy your festival?

The selection process of BIFF is base on the artistic quality of the films. All selected films have great production quality. They are all selected by a committee of about 35 people who know nothing about the production prior to the preview process. So all films must speak for themselves in order to get selected. The final line up of the festival always includes compelling and high quality films with good production value. Which make it very enjoyable to attend.