The Balagan Film Series is a nonprofit organization that organizes screenings of underground and experimental films in Boston, Massachusetts year round and has been continually active since 2000. Screenings usually take place at the The Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. When possible, the Balagan Film Series screens works on 16mm or 35mm film and has the artist(s) present for post-screening discussion. Each program in the series is a curated, themed evening.
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History
The Balagan Film Series was founded by two filmmakers, Jeff Daniel Silva and Alla Kovgan in 2000. The idea came out of the filmmakers' difficulties in finding screening venues for their own experimental works. Inspired by Amos Vogel's famed Cinema 16 Film Society and the film programming work of Jonas Mekas in New York City, Silva and Kovgan began setting up their own micorcinema events of alternative film in Boston. New England's "strong and extremely diverse community of experimental filmmakers" needed a screening venue. In 2011, filmmakers Mariya Nikiforova and Stefan Grabowski joined Balagan as co-programmers and organizers and continue to run the series with Jeff Silva. Coinciding with Nikiforova and Grabowski's addition to the team, Balagan relaunched the series in December 2011 at the Brattle Theater and a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for programming and events. The campaign was successfully funded in January 2012.
Balagan Today
Today, The Balagan Film Series continues to put on year-round bi-monthly programming at The Brattle Theater and occasionally outdoor screenings at other venues around Boston, Massachusetts. A calendar of events can be found on their website. They are one of the longest running microcinemas dedicated to experimental, niche programming in the New England, North Eastern US region.