The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), celebrating its 12th anniversary and taking place December 1-12, today revealed the lineup of films screening in the festival’s competition and sidebar sections. The program was announced by BIFF Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool.
This year, the Festival will showcase more than 130 films from 40 different countries including nine international premieres, 28 Caribbean premieres, and all are Bahamian premieres.
The four competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative; Spirit of Freedom: Documentary; New Visions; and Short Film. Additional categories out of competition are World Cinema Narrative and World Cinema Documentary; Caribbean Spotlight Narrative and Caribbean Spotlight Documentary; Comedy; and non-Jury Short Films.
There will be special screenings throughout the Festival of Brian Klugman’s “Baby Baby Baby”, Ben Bowman’s “Knucklehead”, Daryl Wein’s “Consumed”, Julien Leclercq’s “The Crew”, Samuel Benchetrit’s “Asphalte” (Macadam Stories)” and Jean Michel Costeau’s “The Secret Ocean”.
“More than 500 films were submitted to BIFF this year and those films selected shape the festival and its overall global vision,” said Leslie Vanderpool, founder and Executive Director of BIFF. “The Bahamas International Film Festival is one of the world’s leading Caribbean film festivals. As the cultural gateway to the Caribbean, a region that is nascent and erupting for stories to be shared, it is important for BIFF to showcase films that speak to the country, the world and to our souls. Filmmakers expose the audiences to the world, raising social consciousness. The question of freedom of expression is crucial, especially with January’s events in France, the continuing debate over gun control in the USA, and the increasing tensions over immigration and wars of religion and values in Europe and Asia. This is the reason that BIFF is continuing for the 12th year the Spirit Of Freedom category.
“For 12 years, the Bahamas International Film Festival has offered a platform to promote diverse culture, introducing the film industry to our region and providing an economic booster to The Bahamas. The Festival has upgraded the scale of its events and in turn, its social impact through the years, and also helped substantially in promoting cultural exchanges and professional collaborations.”
The official BIFF feature lineup is comprised of the following films:
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (NARRATIVE)
EADWEARD (Canada) / Director: Kyle Rideout
SHOWING ROOTS (USA) / Director: Michael Wilson
SIN AND ILLY (Germany) / Director: Maria Hengge
THE SLEEPING TREE (Bahrain) / Director: Mohammed Rashed BuAli
unINDIAN (Australia) Director: Anupam SHarma
WILDLIKE (USA) / Director: Frank Hall Green
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (DOCUMENTARY)
ALL EYES ALL EARS (China, USA) / Director: Vanessa Hope
GAZELLE – THE LOVE ISSUE (Brazil) / Director: Cesar Terranova
I AM THALENTE (South Africa) / Director: Natalie Johns
INDIA’S DAUGHTER (India) Director: Leslee Udwin
MY LIFE IN CHINA (USA) Director: Kenneth Eng
QUEEN MIMI (USA) Director: Yaniv Rokah
SPEED SISTERS (Iran) Director: Amber Fares
MADINA’S DREAM (Sudan) Director: Andrew Berends
CROCODILE GENNADIY (Ukraine) Director: Steve Hoover
NEW VISIONS (Sponsored by JetBlue Airways)
A BEAUTIFUL NOW (USA) / Director: Daniela Amavia
AFTER THE WEDDING (USA) / Director: Claudia Cifuentes
BAD MOON RISING (Japan) / Director: Hiritaka Asano
EMPIRICA (USA) / Director: Patrick Shanahan
GOLDEN KINGDOM (Myanmar) / Director: Brian Perkins
JACKRABBIT (USA) / Director: Carleton Ranney
JOHNNY WALKER (USA) / Director: Kris De Meester
THE PREPPIE CONNECTION (USA) / Director: Joseph Castelo
SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE (USA) / Director: Lanre Olabisi
THE AMBASSADOR TO BERN (Hungary) / Director” Attila Szasz
THE CENTER (USA) / Director” Charlie Graik
SINGAPORE SLING (Brazil,USA) / Director: Marcus Sigrist
LA EXTRANA (Dominican Republic) / Director: César Rodríguez
WORLD CINEMA NARRATIVE (Sponsored by CornèrTrader)
ANTI SOCIAL (UK) / Director: Reg Traviss
OMBRE (Bulgaria) / Director: Zachary Iliev Paunov
JASMINE (Hong Kong, USA), / Director: Dax Phelan
MEET PURSUIT DELANGE (UK) / Director: Howard Webster
NORTH VS. SOUTH (UK) / Director: Steven Nesbit
REMITTANCE (Singapore, USA) / Director: Joel Fendelman
WEEPAH WAY FOR NOW SOUND (USA) / Director: Stephen Ringer
WHY DO YOU SMELL LIKE THE OCEAN (USA) / Director: Kevin Baggott
LET”S DANCE TO THE RHYTHM (India) / Director: Bardroy Barretto
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY (Sponsored by CornèrTrader)
GORED (USA, Spain) / Director: Ido Mizrahy
HYDRO (USA) / Directors: Rafa G. Sánchez, Xavi Tello
NEW CAMBODIAN (Cambodia) / Director: Isabella Astengo
WHEN VOICES MEET (South Africa) / Director: Nancy Sutton Smith
EVERY CHILD COUNTS (Canada) / Director: Wendy Loten
CARIBBEAN SPOTLIGHT NARRATIVE (Sponsored by Dermalogica)
BATTLE DREAMS CHRONICLES (Martinique) / Director: Alain Bidard
BAZODEE (Trinidad & Tobago) / Director: Todd Kessler
STONE SHACKS (Bahamas) / Director: Tyrone Burrows
TRAFFICKED (Trinidad & Tobago) / Director: Sean Hodgkinson
CARIBBEAN SPOTLIGHT DOCUMENTARY (Sponsored by Dermalogica)
CONGO BEATS THE DRUM (Israel, Jamaica) / Director: Ariel Tagar
DREADLOCKS STORY (Jamaica) / Director: Linda Aïnouche
EXUMA (Bahamas) / Director: Colin Ruggiero
VANISHING SAIL (The Grenadines) / Director: Alexis Andrews
COMEDY
ART ACHE (USA) / Director: Berty Cadilhac
DEPENDENT’S DAY (USA) / Director: Michael David Lynch
DRIVING WHILE BLACK (USA) / Director: Paul Sapiano
IT HAD TO BE YOU (USA) / Director: Sasha Gordon
THE FUNERAL GUEST (USA) / Director: Matthew Kohnen
THE RIGHT JUICE (UK, Portugal) / Director: Kristjan Knigge
In addition, a list of the 94 short films screening at the festival in and out of competition can be found online at http://www.bintlfilmfest.com/the_festival/film_guide/program/89
BIFF 2015 kicks off on Tuesday, December 1st and will run through Saturday, December 12th. For the fourth consecutive year, BIFF will be coming to Harbour Island on December 1-4, showcasing ten feature and short films and hosting the Screenwriters Residency Program. BIFF will then screen all short films in a festival-within-a-festival on Governor’s Harbour December 5-8. The Festival then concludes in Nassau with the main program lineup of features and documentaries, along with some select shorts, screening from December 9-12.
Additional announcements pertaining to the Festival and filmmakers attending will be made in the coming weeks. For additional information, please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com.
