Bainbridge Island Film Festival

Bainbridge Island Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual four-day film festival held on Bainbridge Island, Washington, United States during the second week of November. Venues include the Lynwood Theatre, Bainbridge Cinemas, and the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.^[1] It is one of the largest festivals in Washington, featuring a variety of independent American and international films, as well as a significant selection of documentaries, with a focus on films produced in the Pacific Northwest.^[2]

The festival—originally called the Celluloid Bainbridge Film Festival—was founded in 1998, launched by Kathleen Thorne (Program Manager for the Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council) and the nonprofit Arts & Humanities Bainbridge, and hosted out of the Lynwood Theatre.^[3][4] Originally, the festival was a part of the Bainbridge Island Arts Walk, however it soon developed into a standalone two-day event.^[5] The scope of the festival was films made by Bainbridge Island filmmakers or filmed on the island.^[6][7] In 2016, organizers decided to expand programming selection to include films made by filmmakers from all of Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia.^[8][9]

After running annually as a two-day festival for nearly two decades, the Celluloid Bainbridge Film Festival concluded in 2018.^[4] In 2023 filmmaker and Cornish College of the Arts professor Charles Poekel, with the support of Arts & Humanities Bainbridge, revived the festival, rebranding it as the Bainbridge Island Film Festival and expanding its venues and length.^[1]