The Brickfilmer's Guild Film Festival (originally called the Brickfilmer's Guild Animation Festival, and often abbreviated to BFG Film Festival) is an annual event held by The Four Monkeys and the Brickfilmer's Guild to recognize brickfilms released within a year that excel in various categories. It has run every year since 2012. Films must be submitted by their creator/s in order to be considered for awards.
The festival features main categories such as Best Brickfilm, Best Cinematography and Best Animation, and also includes less formal Honorable Mention categories. These are often more specific categories, such as Best Star Wars Brickfilm or Best Video Game Themed Brickfilm, and change each year. They are mainly included for fun, and have not featured prizes.
Starting with the 2017 awards, The BFG Film Festival also began awarding brickfilmers for overall community involvement. The Community Award is decided by a BFG member vote, and after a brickfilmer places first in one year, they become ineligible to place again. Starting with the 2021 awards, there was also one inductee into the Brickfilmer's Guild Hall of Fame announced each year. These are decided by The Four Monkeys with input from other trusted members.
The first Brickfilmer's Guild Animation Festival was announced in 2012 by The Four Monkeys, who were also the judges.[1] Entrants were allowed to submit up to three films each, and over 250 entries were received. Prizes for the eight main categories were provided by BrickWarriors, BrickStix, Dave Pickett, Spencer Olson and The Four Monkeys.[2]
The 2013 Brickfilmer's Guild Animation Festival was again judged solely by The Four Monkeys. Starting from this edition, entrants could only submit one film rather than three,[3] and 70+ films were submitted.[4] Two new categories, Best Lighting and Best Music Score, were added. The only category to receive a prize was Best Brickfilm of Festival.[5]
In 2014, the name of the event changed from Brickfilmer's Guild Animation Festival to Brickfilmer's Guild Film Festival. This was the first year to include a panel of judges, with each one representing a different brickfilming website: Dave Smith (Brickfilmer's Guild), Dave Pickett (The Set Bump), Shelby Pritchard (Bricks in Motion), Steffen Troeger (BrickBoard) and Bruno Lefèvre (Brick à Brack). There were no physical prizes,[7] and the Best Lighting category was removed, so that lighting could be judged as a component of the cinematography. 42 films were submitted.[8]
The 2017 Brickfilmer's Guild Film Festival was judged by Dave Smith, Seán Willis, Mirko Horstmann, and Marc-André Caron.[14] 54 films were submitted.[15] This year added a new annual award, the Brickfilmer's Guild Community Award, for a different brickfilmer each year whose achievements and leadership promote the art of brickfilming.[16]
The 2018 Brickfilmer's Guild Film Festival was judged by Dave Smith, Shelby Pritchard, Chris Salaises, Bruno Lefèvre, Michael Hickox, and Seán Willis.[17] 63 films were submitted.[18] The new category Best Digital Effects (CGI) was added, and the category Best Music Score was changed to Best Original Music Score. The Brickfilmer of the Year and Community Award categories had top threes rather than just one winner announced, and they were both voted on by BFG members, whereas the Community Award winner was selected by The Four Monkeys in the previous year.[19]
Zombie Survival - Rob O'Dwyer, "JelloApocalypse", Zach Macias, Lee Hardcastle, Adam "YourMovieSucksDOTorg" Johnston, Jordan Johnson, "DatVoiceGuy", and James Smith
Jesus Heals a Paralytic in LEGO - Jason Hewett, Josh Maple, Reed Kriner, Matt Prosser, Jackson Trent, T. Michael Harris, Craig Hart, Sam Lee, and David Kim
The 2021 Brickfilmer's Guild Film Festival was judged by Chris Major, Lewis Townley, William Osborne, Alexander Leitner, and Dave and Kim Smith.[24] 52 films were submitted.[25] In this year, the category "Best Brickfilm of Festival" was split into two categories; "Best Brickfilm of Festival by Single Animator", and "Best Brickfilm of Festival by Multiple Animators".
Das Meer ist voll! - Steffen Staudenmaier, André Hoffman, Hans Präßler, Rainer Storck, "JackyKolasVoice", "LM1999", "WoulFrand", "MC", "Thomasalisson", "Frau vom Knauser", Frank Denzer, "OSKAR!", "Kante Film", Marcus Ramacher, and "Gammast"
Daredevil: Guardian Devil | Episode One - "Honora Patrem Tuum" - Logan Grasso, Ross K. Foad, "Probably Josh", "FrostByte Films", "TheLegoDirector", Lucas Perry, Ty M. Levy, "MadBat Productions", "Fineline", "Airborne_Productions", "BetterCallHuxler", "Snink Umms Studios", Carson Campbell, and Stephanie Martinez
