Bishop's University Film Festival (BUFF)

About BUFF

The Bishop’s University Film Festival (BUFF) celebrates the creativity and skill of Bishop’s students, no matter what program they are in, through an annual competition in digital filmmaking. Students can submit any kind of short film – fiction, documentary, or experimental, as long as it’s less than six minutes long – and at our Gala Awards Night near the end of the winter semester, we project your fabulous work on the giant screen in Centennial Theatre, hand out unique awards and lavish prizes, feed you and fete you, and generally treat you like the next Xavier Dolan.

Select BUFF films are presented at the Festival Cinéma du Monde de Sherbrooke held annually in April, and one BUFF film (selected by the BUFF executive) competes in the student competition at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal in October. BUFF films submitted in the “Resarch Film” category may also be entered in the national SSHRC “Storytellers” and NSERC “Science, Action!” competitions. Be sure to check the additional rules for those competitions.

Our Seventh Year of Research Films!

You can be a part of BUFF by making a film about a research project, funded or unfunded, carried out by a BU professor, or by a student who has done a research assistantship, an Honour’s project, an independent study, a summer research experience, or an M.A./M.Sc. project. And don’t worry if you’ve never made a film before. We can connect you with other students who have the technical skills to get your film made. Just ask!

2024 Gala Screening and Awards Show for our TENTH ANNIVERSARY!

Films will have their public, big-screen debuts at our Gala Screening and Awards Show in Centennial Theatre on Friday, April 5th, 2024. Come out to this red-carpet event to see the films and be seen with the stars. Witness the inflating of egos and the making of careers as our illustrious panel of judges names the best work in many categories. The chance to vote for the “Audience Choice” award is included with your ticket, available after Reading Week. Details will follow.

How To Participate

There are numerous ways for you to get involved with BUFF:

1) Come up with your own idea for a film, gather together your cast and crew from your pool of talented pals, and get that thing in the can before the deadline for submission, which is usually late in March. (Make sure you register for BUFF by the registration deadline in January).

2) Volunteer as part of the cast or crew for a film.

3) Make a film for a class and submit it as part of the festival. We usually offer ENG 383 Digital Filmmaking or ENG 384 Documentary Filmmaking in the fall term every year, courses in which you’ll develop filmmaking skills and apply them to the making of a number of short movies, one of which you can then submit to BUFF.

4) Join the BUFF organizing committee. Every year, a group of students organizes and overseas the BUFF competition, designing promotional materials, finding sponsors, crafting our unique BUFF awards, and planning the gala. If you’d like to be involved, contact Dr. Woodward.