The banks of the east river may be a far cry from Cannes’ French Riviera, but over the next few weeks Brooklyn is going to be a haven for film lovers and makers. Three film festivals, which are all worthy of your consideration, are set to touchdown in the borough between May 29 and June 28. Included in this group are the Brooklyn Film Festival, Northside Film and BAMcinemaFest. Here’s what you need to know about each of them:

Brooklyn Film Festival – May 29-June 7

Now in its 18th year, the Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) is the oldest and biggest of the three. The programming is united under a single theme, and while the fest is international in scope, there are always a selection of indies with a NYC/Brooklyn connection.

For 2015, illuminate is the theme and the fest is set to unspool over 100 features and shorts, many of which have picked up awards at other, mostly smaller festivals. The Wythe Hotel and Windmill Studios are BFF’s main venues, with Nitehawk Cinema, Made in New York Media Center by IFP and BRIC House also hosting events. At the conclusion of BFF, $50,000 in prizes and services will be awarded for best of the fest.

BFF’s festivities kick off on May 29 with the East Coast premiere of Manson Family Vacation, which stars Jay Duplass and Linas Phillips as brothers who reconnect over the course of a Charles Manson-themed road trip. Among the narratives, other notables include Onur Tukel’s Abby Singer/Songwriter, Frank Hall Green’s Wildlike, and Harvey Mitkas’ Devil Town, which stars Alex Karpovsky, Sophia Takal, Lawrence Michael Levine, Alex Ross Perry, Caveh Zahedi and many more. As for the documentaries, on your radar should be Ryan Wise’s I Am Thor, Abhay Kumar’s Placebo and Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli’s Frame by Frame, which looks at Afghanistan through the eyes of four local photojournalists. For tickets and more details, visit the Brooklyn Film Festival website.  

Northside Film – June 8-10

Northside Film is part of Northside, a three-tiered fest in North Brooklyn that models itself after SXSW. A bit scrappier than the other two, Northside Film focuses on the work of emerging filmmakers. A few years ago, it introduced the Northside DIY Film Competition which sees filmmakers competing for prizes and a post-festival victory screening with an afterparty. Screenings take place at various venues in the Williamsburg area. 

Félix de Givry in EDEN.

In addition to its features and shorts, Northside has added an episodic series section this year. You’ll also find that Northside and BFF have some feature films in common, so if you miss a film at one fest, you may be able to catch it at the other. Northside is also screening sneak peeks of two soon-to-be-released films, Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s The Stanford Prison Experiment, and Eden, Mia Hansen-Løve’s exploration into the electronic dance movement in Paris in the 90s. You can click over to the fest’s website for full details. 

BAMcinemaFest – June 17-28

BFF and Northside Film are fine places to get your film on, but BAMcinemaFest, which incidentally is one of our favorite festivals, is the place to go if you’re looking for this year’s best in American independent cinema (think New Directors/New Films, but with only American indies). Hosted by BAMcinématek, this cinematic celebration is now in it’s seventh year and presents a manageable 23 feature films in its main slate, all of which are New York Premieres. The fest runs its course over 12 days and in years past has showcased Boyhood, Short Term 12, Sleepwalk with Me, Drinking Buddies, Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, and a host of other indie gems. 

Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel
in The End of the Tour

Among the highlights of this year’s extravaganza are James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace drama The End of the Tour, Sean Baker’s Tangerine, and Alex Ross Perry’s Queen of the Earth. The fest is also holding a free outdoor screening of Richard Linklater’s Slacker, a 20th Anniversary reunion of Larry Clark’s Kids, and restoration of Penelope Spheeris’ classic rock doc The Decline of the Western Civilization. Tickets go on sale to the general public May 29. Visit BAM’s website for a complete download.