Big Dreams & Silver Screens: A Timeline
A look at the past, present, and future of the Westfield International Film Festival and Big Dreams & Silver Screens.
October 3-6, 2019
Save the date: 4 days of short and feature films, networking parties, and seminars at the James Ward Mansion!
May 11, 2019
Save the date: We celebrate our 4th anniversary as the Big Dreams Youth Film Festival in Westfield!
September 20-23, 2018
We expand once more to include 4 days of short and feature films, networking parties, and seminars at the James Ward Mansion!
3rd Annual Big Dreams Youth Film Festival
May 19, 2018
We celebrate our 3rd anniversary as the Big Dreams Youth Film Festival in our new home!
5 Years and a New Home!
September 22-24, 2017
A giant leap of faith brought us to a new home at the James Ward Mansion in Westfield to celebrate our quinquennial anniversary!
2nd Annual Big Dreams Youth Film Festival
June 3, 2017
We celebrated our 2nd anniversary as the Big Dreams & Silver Screens Youth Festival!
Big Dreams & Silver Screens is born!
March 22, 2017
Big Dreams & Silver Screens is incorporated as the official 501c3 non-profit organization managing the film festival! Big Dreams is also responsible for our Youth Festival and additional programming throughout the year.
Our Youth Festival is born!
May 21, 2016
Rahway Film Festival Junior was born to celebrate young New Jersey filmmakers in grammar and high school! Winners receive an interview on the television show, "Classic Movies with Ron MacCloskey" and an award!
Four Years of Fun!
October 21-23, 2016
We celebrated our final year at the Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts with 12 feature films and 50 short films in competition!
3 Days for 3 Years!
August 28-30, 2015
To celebrate our third anniversary, we grew into a full weekend event, encompassing three days and began screening both short and feature films in competition, alongside our filmmaking seminars and networking parties!
RIFF Grows!
July 12, 2014
After a successful inaugural year, the festival grew into a full day event, growing to include 20 short films in competition and two filmmaking seminars! To top it all off, we also hosted an outdoor street fair complete with food, a live DJ, and local vendors.
Rahway Film Festival is born!
June 21, 2013
Celebrated as a one night only affair at the Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts in Rahway, we showcased 14 short films in competition with a special presentation by Oscar-nominated animator, Bill Plympton!
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CONTACT BIG DREAMS & SILVER SCREENS
PO Box 2933 Westfield, NJ 07091