British Urban Film Festival
The official logo for the British Urban Film Festival
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| Established | Formed in July 2005 |
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| Headquarters | Greater London, England |
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Senior executive
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Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe |
| Website | www |
The British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) was formed in July 2005 to showcase urban independent cinema in the absence of any such state-sponsored activity in the UK.
Supported by filmmakers and British actors, the organisation was set up by Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe and established as BUFF Enterprises Ltd.
BUFF bears no relation to the BUFF International Film Festival established in 1984 in Malmö, Sweden. The London-based organisation was initially created in partnership with organisations like The Screen.Biz (UK) and The Hip-Hop Association (USA) to mobilise & develop young, up and coming homegrown British urban talent in the independent film & TV sector. With offices in Greater London, the company has also devised projects including 'The Search for BUFF', a reality-TV-talent contest designed to find people who 'look buff' who are then 'appointed' as ambassadors to promote the annual British Urban Film Festival. Filmed on location across the UK, the pilot was screened at the headquarters of ITV in London's South Bank and made its Christmas Day broadcast debut on BEN Television in December 2005. The first series aired from January - April 2006. The second series also aired on BEN Television from May - August 2007 in addition to the annual staging of the British Urban Film Festival - a unique event as it is the only one of its kind in the UK which is free to attend by the general public. Although the annual festival is free to attend, it does charge entry fees to film-makers who wish to submit their films in what is, according to Film London, 'an important and emerging genre which is not otherwise seen regularly in the capital's cinemas'. The Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel and The Oxford House in Bethnal Green are venues in London's East End forming part of the 2008 festival. The Stratford Picturehouse Cinema in Newham forms part of the 2009 festival which is being supported by 3 London boroughs: Newham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge. The 2009 festival is also notable for its screening of 'Disoriented Generation', a privately financed UK independent film co-produced by and starring actor Wil Johnson (who also appears in the short film Colour Blind also premiering at the festival).
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