Bahamas Film Fest program

Festival Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool today announced the final program details for the 7th edition of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), which takes place December 1-5, 2010 in Nassau. The Weinstein Company’s highly acclaimed period drama “The King’s Speech” has been selected as this year’s closing night film.

Based on the true story of the Queen of England's father and his remarkable friendship with maverick Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue “The King's Speech” stars Academy Award® nominee Colin Firth (A Single Man) as King George VI, who unexpectedly becomes King when his brother Edward abdicates the throne. Academy Award® Winner Geoffrey Rush (Shine) stars as Logue, the man who helps the King find a voice with which to lead the nation into war.

The multi-award-winning cast includes Helena Bonham Carter (“Alice In Wonderland”) as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Guy Pearce (“The Hurt Locker”), Derek Jacobi (“The Golden Compass”), Timothy Spall (“The Damned United”) and Michael Gambon (“Harry Potter”). The film is directed by Tom Hooper (“The Damned United”) from a screenplay by David Seidler (“Tucker: The Man and His Dream”).

This year, the Festival will showcase 56 films from 17 different countries, including 27 features of which several are world or international premieres and nearly all Bahamian premieres. The four competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative; Spirit of Freedom: Documentary; New Visions; and Short Film. Special sections include Caribbean and Environmental sidebars as well as a World Cinema showcase.

The official BIFF feature lineup is comprised of the following films:

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (NARRATIVE)
ELISA K (Spain) / Director: Judith Colell
LITTLE ROSE (Poland) / Director: Jan Kidawa
ATLETU (Ethiopia) / Director: Davey Frankel, Rasselas Lakew
REFRACTAIRE (Luxemburg) / Director: Nicolas Steil
MASTER HAROLD (South Africa, US) / Director: Lonny Price

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (DOC)
BHUTTU (Pakistan) / Director: Johnny O’ Hara
REVOLUTION (Germany) / Director: Christian Kohlert and Christoph Lehmann
BUDRUS (Palestine) / Director: Julia Bacha
WAR DON DON (Africa) / Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
FROM SOMEWHERE TO NO WHERE (Switzerland) / Director: Villi Hermann
BOUNCING CATS (US) / Director: Dabi Elderkin

NEW VISIONS
PINOY SUNDAY (Philippines) / Director: Wi Ding Ho
IMMIGRATION TANGO (US) / Director: David Burton Morris
HELLO LONESOME (US) / Director: Adam Reid
CRACKIE (Canada) / Director: Sherry White
NORMAN (US) / Director: Jonathan Segal

CARIBBEAN SIDEBAR
CRAZY LOVE (Bahamas) / Director: Clarence Rolle
GANGS IN PARADISE (US) / Director: Lou Lambert
BENEATH THE BLUE (Bahamas /US) / Director: Michael D. Sellers

WORLD CINEMA
CROCODILES (Germany) / Director: Christian Ditter
SALAM RUGBY (IRAN) / Director: Faramarz Beheshti
CHAIN LETTER (US)/ Director: Deon Taylor
ITS KIND OF FUNNY STORY (US) / Director: Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden

ENVIORNMENT SIDEBAR Sponsored by The Nature Conservancy
MASA GOD FISH (Jamaica) / Director: Nathalie Zenny
LION FISH INVASION (Bahamas) / Director: Matthew Mccoy
GARBAGE DREAMS (Egypt, US)/ Director: Mai Iskander

In addition, a list of the 36 short films screening at the festival can be found online at www.bintlfilmfest.com.

It was previously announced that Sony Pictures Classics’ critically lauded comedy “Tamara Drewe” will be the Opening Film at this year’s festival. The Opening Night Film screening will be on Thursday, December 2nd at the Atlantis Theatre on Paradise Island. Directed by two time Academy Award® nominee Stephen Frears (“High Fidelity,” “The Queen,” “Dangerous Liasons”), the film stars Gemma Arterton (“Prince of Persia,” “Clash of the Titans,” “Quantum of Solace”) in the title role, along with Roger Allam (“V for Vendetta,” “The Queen”), Bill Camp (“Public Enemies,” “Deception”), Dominic Cooper (“Mama Mia!” “An Education”), Luke Evens (“Robin Hood,” “Clash of the Titans”) and Tamisn Greig (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Falling Apart”).

The Bahamas International Film Festival is also continuing its efforts to educate and inspire a new generation of filmmakers. The Festival announced today that it will be expanding its popular Youth Film Workshop during the seventh annual BIFF by partnering with schools throughout Nassau and integrating the workshops directly into classrooms.

BIFF is also proud to be bringing back the Filmmaker’s Residency Program. In years past BIFF has exclusively provided the Bahamian and Caribbean community with the opportunity to receive invaluable mentoring from industry professionals. This year BIFF has expanded to include filmmakers from around the world to submit screenplays that are based in The Bahamas or Caribbean region.

The Filmmakers’ Residency Program nurtures new filmmakers and screenwriters by providing them with an unrivaled opportunity to spend a full day with accomplished professionals who make a living working in the industry from Los Angeles and New York.

BIFF 2010 begins Wednesday, December 1st and runs through Sunday, December 5th. For additional information please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com.

About the Bahamas International Film Festival

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a nonprofit organization committed to providing the local community and international festival-goers with a diverse presentation of films from the Bahamas and around the world. In addition to showcasing films that might not otherwise be released theatrically, BIFF provides unique cultural experiences, educational programs, and forums for exploring the past, present and future of cinema. BIFF aims to raise the level of filmmaking, participation and education throughout the Bahamas and the world.

Key Sponsors of the 2010 BIFF are; Ministry of Tourism, Atlantis, RIU Hotel, Old Fort Bay Club, The Nature Conservancy, Galleria Cinema JFK, Starbucks, Ministry of Culture, Post Boxes Etc., Custom Computers, Bahamas Technical, Vocational Institute, College of The Bahamas, The Tribune, Bahamas Local, Bahamas Weekly and many more.