Batumi International Art-House Film Festival (BIAFF) was established in 2006.

The founder and organizer –Batumi Art-house  "ARGANI", official partner - Batumi City Hall. BIAFF is annual event and is held in second half of September. Festival is focusing on art-house cinema.

-     2010 - Fifth International Film Festival in Batumi – BIAFF program presented 45 full-length films in the main section and 30 short length films in young filmmaker’s competition section from 22 countries. The head of the main section’s international Jury was famous Polish filmmaker - Zbignev Rybchinski, and the rest of jury were Judith Blackburn - Chicago Irish Film Festival   Director (USA), Bojidar Manov  - Film Critic (Bulgaria), Nino Kirtadze  - Film maker (Georgia), Siddiq Barmak  - Film maker (Afghanistan). There was arranged the retrospectives and master classes of Zbigniew  Rybczynski  and Abbas Kiarostami (Iran).

-     2009 - “BIAFF (Batumi International Art-House Film Festival) Preparation Support”funded by OSI (Open Society Institute) under the Arts and Culture Network Program - The  project’s major focus was support of  the BIAFF organization in terms of an improved informational campaign in preparation period, improving professional skills / competences of BIAFF staff and volunteers (actively involved in organizational issues) through specialized training courses/seminars, improved technical capacity of BIAFF, popularization of the modern cinematography in Adjara region and to increase interest in cinema and the festival.

-     2009 Fourth International Film Festival in Batumi – BIAFF program presented 52 full-length films in the main competition section and 35 short length films in young film makers competition section from 21 countries. The head of the Jury was Jos Stelling (Netherlands). Beside the main competition section of feature and documentary films there was the retrospective of famous Georgian film director Mikheil Kobakhdize (currently living in France), Turkish cinema section, and the Master collection. The honorable guest was Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland). This year (2009) BIAFF introduced a Young Film Makers international competition section. This was to facilitate involvement of youth and students and to contribute to the development of cultural networking through joint projects among local and foreign film makers.  The geographic area of films presented at BIAFF included Europe, Post-Soviet area, and Asia among other countries.

-     2008 Third International Film Festival in Batumi – BIAFF program presented 50 films from 20 countries. The head of the Jury was Pawel Pawlikowski (UK). Beside the competition section of feature and documentary films there was the retrospective of famous Polish Film Director Krzysztof Kieskolwski, and French film director – Eric Rohmer among others. 

-     2007 Second International Film Festival in Batumi – BIAFF program presented 40 films from 18 countries. The head of the Jury was Mr. Christopher Kamyszew (Director of Chicago International Documentary Film Festival).  A retrospective of the famous Polish Film Director Andrzej Wajda was presented and honorary guest Mr. Krzysztof Zanussi attended.

-     2006 First International Film Festival in Batumi – BIAFF program presented 35 films from 22 countries.  The head of the Jury was Hans-Joachim Schlegel (Germany). 

BIAFF program outline 

1. Opening and closing film
2. International feature competition 
3. International Doc  films competition 
4. Silk Road countries - (Turkey, Iran, Caucasus countries, Central Asia etc.)
5. Masters’ collection  - films of well-known film directors 
6. Meet the  JURY section - films of jury member film directors
7. Young film makers  international competition – 25 films (short films up to 35 minutes length)

BIAFF Awards

The international jury for three sections (consisting of five members each) gives awards for films in main competition section in the following   nominations:

International Feature Competition

1. Grand Prix
2. Best Film director
3. Best actor
4. Best actress
5. Jury Special prize

International Doc Competition

1. Best Documentary film

2. Jury Special prize

Short Film competition section

1. Best film
2. Jury special prize

 Festival administration has also the following additional awards:

- Lifetime achievement award for contribution to world cinematography (Georgian film director)

- Lifetime achievement award for contribution to world cinematography (Foreign film director)

- Special Prize of Festival organizational committee .