Niagara Falls
THE
NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER
LOCAL NEWS  •  LOCAL VOICES  •  LOCAL MATTERS
Niagara CountyNiagara Falls

FILM FESTIVAL COMES TO NIAGARA FALLS

R
Reporter  ·  September 8, 2017
FILM FESTIVAL COMES TO NIAGARA FALLS
SharefXin✉

THE BUFFALO NIAGARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL RUNS SEPTEMBER 20 TO OCTOBER 1 AT FOUR SEASONS THEATER; PUBLIC WELCOME

For the first  time ever, The Buffalo Niagara Film Festival (BNFF) will be held in Niagara Falls.

The filmmakers’ event, now in its 12th season, will run from September 20 to October 1 inside the six theaters at Four Seasons Theater on Military Road in Niagara Falls.

More than 400 films films will be screened. A distinguished panel of judges will vote on the winners of different categories and genres of films. The public is invited to attend.

Hundreds of filmmakers submitted their films for screening and judgement. The BNFF is one of the top ranked film festivals in the USA and an award is considered a felicitous boost for the resume of a filmmaker and a shot in the arm for any film that wins it.

While the festival is widely known in the film industry, it is not as equally well known locally. Sponsored in part by the Niagara Falls Reporter, the BNFF is produced by Bill Cowell. At the request of the Reporter, Mr. Cowell arranged to locate the film festival in Niagara Falls for the first time in its 12 year history.

Tickets are available online or at the door. Those who want to see new and oftentimes first screenings of films are urged to attend. Many of the filmmakers come to the festival to be on hand for the screening and meet other top industry leaders who attend the event.

Locals will get a rare opportunity to see the film industry at work up close and in ways rarely afforded locally.

“The BNFF is not only for filmmakers and screenwriters but for film-lovers in general,” said Mr. Cowell.

The festival is attended by numerous celebrities and noted film industry leaders, some of whom are looking for emerging talents both in acting and various other expertise in the industry.

This year a screenplay competition open to both professional and amateur filmmakers will be judged by successful screenwriters. A seminar on Hitchcock Suspense will be hosted by writer and independent filmmaker Jeffrey Michael Bays.  The film screenings include features, shorts and music videos.

Director, actor, producer, and acting coach Tom Todoroff is offering an intensive, two-day acting workshop. The public can sign up to attend.

In addition, screenwriter John Steppling will be on hand as well, as well as actress and producer Nikki Moore, film, TV, and stage actress Holly Fain, actress Lynn Lowry, actor, screenwriter, director, producer and jazz vocalist Robert Davi, martial arts legend and film choreographer Frank Dux, actress and filmmaker Catherine Oxenberg and others.

The Four Seasons Cinema is located at 2429 Military Road, Niagara Falls.

Tickets are on sale now. For more info visit:  www.thebnff.com or call 716-297-1951.

 

The lobby of the Four Seasons has a vintage appeal for movie goers.

 

SharefXin✉

Comments (0)

Leave a comment

More From Niagara Falls Reporter

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge
Featured

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge

By tony Farina · September 16, 2026

By Tony Farina I’ve covered many court proceedings and trials in my more than 35 years as a newspaper and television reporter and I want to make the point at the beginning of this story that whether elected or appointed, some judges are fair and honest and many others fall short of the mark. In other words, the word jurist does not convey skill and knowledge of the law; it is just a role that some serve with distinction, and others do not. By definition, a jurist is a person who has expert or thorough knowledge of the law but

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers
Featured

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers

By tony Farina · September 15, 2026

By Tony Farina There are certainly many questions swirling around the mayor’s declaration of a state of emergency in Niagara Falls over trash, blight, and deteriorating streets that was declared back on July 20 and has been extended several times since because, according to Mayor Robert Restaino, the City Council refused to approve contractor agreements. But some observers point to depleted staff at City Hall, like in Public Works and Code Enforcement and other departments, as really self-inflicted wounds that are the underlying reasons work is not getting done in the city. Or is there even more to the story,

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.
Featured

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.

By Niagara Reporter- · September 11, 2026

The  Data Center That Answers Hochul’s Objections There was a time when Niagara Falls did not ask Albany whether it was permitted to prosper. The river was here. That was enough. The town had something Albany couldn’t give it. It used what was here. Water. Power. Work. Jobs. Industry. A future. In 1895, the Adams plant took the river and put it into wire. The current went to Buffalo. It changed the industrial world. Tesla supplied the designs. Westinghouse built the machines. Niagara supplied the falling water. Then industries came. Electrochemical. Electrometallurgical. They came because Niagara offered abundant, inexpensive electricity.

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth
Featured

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth

By tony Farina · September 8, 2026

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls, N.Y., boasts one of the world’s greatest natural wonders that people from around the world come to see, but despite incredible tourism numbers of more than nine million visitors a year, the city of now less than 50,000 people is still pretty darn poor. Niagara Falls does not have a tourism problem; it has a tourism-capture problem, and the distinction should be a starting point for a serious new discussion about the city’s future. And ladies and gentlemen, that discussion needs to start now. The question is no longer whether Niagara Falls