Kweighbaye Kotee, founder of the Bushwick Film Festival, is developing a documentary called The Bushwick Diaries about neighborhood change and lived experience in Bushwick.
She found that newer residents—those there about a decade—were often the most likely to say “Bushwick is over.”
The film focuses on diverse resident interviews to show how people in the same neighborhood can experience completely different realities.

Kweighbaye Kotee, founder of the Bushwick Film Festival, is directing The Bushwick Diaries, a documentary capturing Bushwick through residents’ oral histories.
The film highlights everyday people and the neighborhood’s rapid change, displacement pressures, and layered community life.
She launched a Kickstarter to fund post-production, framing Bushwick as “ordinary but full of extraordinary people.”

Kweighbaye Kotee founded the Bushwick Film Festival in 2007 to bring film, culture, and creative opportunities to underserved communities in Brooklyn.
Born in Liberia and raised in Newark, she turned a grassroots community idea into an internationally recognized platform for independent filmmakers and diverse storytelling.

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A North Brooklyn developer and Bushwick Film Festival founder Kweighbaye Kotee launch an $80,000 arts grant initiative to support local artists and cultural projects across Brooklyn neighborhoods, aiming to ease tensions between developers and creative communities through direct investment in art and storytelling.

Technology keeps us connected, but it can also leave us feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from ourselves. In this piece, the Bushwick Film Festival team reflects on the importance of stepping away from screens, practicing mindfulness, and investing in real human connection.
The article encourages small daily habits like unplugging from devices, meditating before checking social media, and spending intentional time with people offline to maintain balance in a fast-paced digital world.

The Bushwick Film Festival continued to grow as one of Brooklyn’s leading indie film events, showcasing diverse stories from around the world while staying deeply connected to the local community. Founded by filmmaker and festival director Kweighbaye Kotee, the festival combined screenings, workshops, and panels focused on storytelling, social impact, and independent creators.
From documentaries about wrongful convictions to conversations around women in film and crowdfunding, BFF became a platform for culture, activism, and emerging voices in Bushwick.

The Bushwick Film Festival screened David & Me, a documentary about Bushwick resident David McCallum, who maintained he was wrongly convicted of murder as a teenager. The film highlighted issues of wrongful incarceration, police coercion, and justice reform, while bringing the story back to the very neighborhood where McCallum was arrested nearly 30 years earlier.

The 2014 Bushwick Film Festival showcased independent films and conversations centered on feminism, immigration, social change, gentrification, and artistic freedom. Alongside screenings, the festival hosted panels on conscious filmmaking, crowdfunding, and women in film, reinforcing its mission to use storytelling as a tool for community dialogue and cultural impact.

The Bushwick Film Festival was highlighted as one of Bushwick’s must-attend fall events, celebrated for transforming from a grassroots festival into a recognized film industry platform since launching in 2007. The event brought together filmmakers, artists, and the local community through screenings, networking, and red carpet celebrations that reflected Bushwick’s growing creative culture.

Founded by filmmaker Kweighbaye Kotee in 2007, the Bushwick Film Festival grew into a polished, community-driven celebration of independent cinema in Brooklyn. The 2014 festival featured international and local films, industry mixers, workshops, panels, and parties across multiple Bushwick venues, highlighting the neighborhood’s creative energy and collaborative spirit.

The seventh annual Bushwick Film Festival returned in October 2014, continuing its role as a growing platform for independent filmmakers in Brooklyn. The festival’s expansion reflected Bushwick’s rising creative energy and helped position the neighborhood as an emerging hub for film, art, and nightlife culture.

The Bushwick Film Festival is open for submissions of features, shorts, documentaries, and experimental work, with a deadline of June 15 and a $35 entry fee. Films are reviewed through an online submission process, with no need for physical reels. Selected filmmakers gain industry exposure and professional consultation in development, distribution, and audience outreach valued at $5,000.