The Rural We: Kelley Vickery
As founder and artistic director of the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF), Kelley Vickery has built a strong international festival that is about to go into its 16th season June 2-5. Its inaugural weekend in 2006 featured 40 films; this year BIFF will screen 25 documentaries, 27 narrative features, 15 short films, and 13 animated shorts. The festival brings together filmmakers, industry professionals and fans not just for the screenings but for a robust lineup of events including post-film conversations, tea talks, a “Next Great Filmmaker” competition and, of course, parties. Here, she tells Rural Intelligence about her life before BIFF, and highlights some of the festival’s lineup. The full schedule and tickets are available at the BIFF website.
I’m from Denver, and after college moved to Washington DC, where I worked at the Kennedy Center in the press office. I got married and moved with my husband for his job overseas. We lived in Frankfurt, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and had three kids abroad. I had a photography business in Hong Kong, and a variety of businesses in the other places we lived. While we were in Singapore, we bought a house in West Stockbridge and made it our summer home. We had a joyous five summers; the kids did sports and went to camp. When my husband got transferred back to the States, we moved to Lenox. I needed a flexible job, and BIFF afforded me to have that. Some friends gave me some seed money and introduced me to film distribution partners to help me get started.
Like every organization, we had to scramble the last two years. We became a virtual festival, and we learned that the virtual side is a really great side. We’ll continue to be a hybrid festival. But we decided that this year, we were going to forge through in person no matter what. Our industry partners are coming back in, and everyone’s excited to be back.
Our opening night film, “Art & Krimes by Krimes” is a documentary about Jesse Krimes, who was incarcerated for selling cocaine. During his five-year prison term, he went through a lot of introspection, and got into his artistic side. He created beautiful, profound art with whatever he could get in jail —bed sheets, hair gel, newspapers. The film tells the story about Krimes and his fellow inmates, also artists. An all-female team created the documentary, and the team and Jesse Krimes himself will be in attendance.
Of course, I’m beyond thrilled about our 2022 BIFF Honoree: Alfre Woodard. She’s a delightful person and a prolific actor—funny, bright, and kind. She also has ties to the Berkshires.
Our closing night film is the award-winning feature, “Pretty Problems.” It has won awards in all the festivals and we’re the last place on the circuit before it goes to theaters. The director, writers and cast members will be here. I haven’t seen a funny narrative film like this in a long time.
We have dozens of directors coming, and two great tea talks, one about the future of women in filmmaking. There’s also a short film about the sculptor Don Gummer; he and the director will be in conversation with Kristy Edmunds, the new director at MASS MoCA. As in all other years, we’ll be screening films at the Triplex and the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, but this year we’ll also have a presence at the Tanglewood Learning Institute in Lenox. It’s quite an honor to have BIFF at Tanglwood. My suggestion is to pack a lunch, have a picnic on the grounds after a movie, then go back for another film!
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