Valkyrie International Film Festival (VIFF), a new annual event spotlighting films directed by women, has announced its first-year Official Selections. Altogether, 63 films have been selected. 10 of those films were created by local artists.
We first featured VIFF shortly after its launch in 2022. At the time, cofounders Tamar Lamberson and her daughter Kaelin Lamberson stated, “We want to create a unique event where women support each other’s work.”
Now, that vision is coming to pass, as the inaugural festival date draws near. From Friday, March 24 to Tuesday, March 28, the broad-ranging films will be screened at the Screening Room Cinema and Arts Café in Amherst. Film categories include short and feature-length documentaries, experimental, and narrative films, with domestic, local, and international divisions.
On the same day the mother-daughter programmers notified filmmakers of their acceptance, five out-of-town directors announced their intention to attend VIFF.
“We were surprised by the consistent high quality of the submissions,” stated Tamar, who has produced three feature films in Western New York, most recently the action film Guns of Eden. “We only had a few months to get everything together because we want to screen during Women’s History Month. Halfway through our submissions period we had to expand from four days to five to include as many of the films we loved as possible. Rejecting films that you like is the hardest part of this process.”
Festival judges include indie film actress/director Debbie Rochon, who will judge the local films, and Julianne Donofrio, who will judge the U.S. documentary shorts.
Ultimately, VIFF’s mission is to celebrate films directed by women, and to advance the cause of women in film.
“I’m doing this because we want to uplift women,” said Kaelin, who is 16 years old.
“We want this to be an event where women can come together, screen their work for each other and an audience, and support each other,” Tamar says. “We’ve traveled to film festivals and know female directors are often under-represented.”
The full list of selected films is available on the VIFF website, and a schedule should be announced in one week’s time.
The five-day Pegasus Pass will go on sale for $50 at the Screening Room box office.
The Screening Room Cinema & Arts Café | 880 Alberta Drive | Buffalo, New York 14226
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