The 9th edition of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) taking place from December 6-9, 2012 in Nassau will once again be featuring Bahamian filmmakers in their Caribbean Spotlight which will also showcase films from Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, and Guyana.
“I am so proud and love presenting quality Bahamian Films and Filmmakers, who continue to push the envelope year after year,” said Leslie Vanderpool, Executive Director and Founder of BIFF. “We have consistently achieved our goal by showcasing, nurturing and encouraging the Filmmakers of The Bahamas.”
Those screening films this year from The Bahamas will be Kareem Mortimer, Maria Govan, Dominique Knowles, Toby Lunn, Laura Gamse, Marion Bethel, Will Robinson, and Ryan Lightbourn, along with resident filmmakers Karen Arthur and Thomas Neuwirth.
Here’s what to expect from The Bahamas:
25 YEARS OF JUNIOR JUNKANOO ( 28 mins): This year BIFF, Esso Bahamas Limited and BTC are pleased to provide the Youth of our nation with the opportunity to learn how to make a film in a day. 15 students from 4 schools: C.C. Sweeting, Woodcock Primary, A.F. Adderley Jr. HIgh School, C.R. Walker, participated in making a film in a day. The making of this year’s film is “25 Years Of Junior Junkanoo.” This exciting project will educate students on the art of film-making and give them an opportunity to tell the world the story of Junior Junkanoo. The Premiere will be unveiled before the BIFF Closing Night Film, December 9 at 6:30pm.
A MAN WITH A VOICE ( 59 mins) directed by Maria Govan: Chronicles the Bahamian legend, Norman Soloman. Norman Soloman, a journalist, politician, an activist and a business man. This film sheds light on his journey while also illuminating the changing political landscape of of our pre-independent Bahamas to recent. Screening Friday, December 7 / 11:00am and Saturday, December 8 / 3:00pm.
BREATHE (51 mins) directed by Martin Khodabakhshian: William Trubridge attempts to break his own free diving record by going 300 feet with just two bare feet and one breath of air. Screening Friday, December 7 / 12:15pm and Sunday, December 9 / 5:00pm.
BRIDIGY BRAM (35 mins) directed by Toby Lunn & Laura Gamse: Born June 25, 1936 in Nassau, Kendal Hanna is a painter and a sculptor known as one of the Bahamas’ first abstract expressionists. Early in Hanna’s life he began experimenting with abstractions through a process which he describes as his “subconscious mind expressing itself on the canvas.” During his twenties, Hanna was diagnosed with schizophrenia and prescribed an electric shock therapy course of four treatments per week for an unknown period of time. Upon his release two years later, Hanna used art to recover his motor capabilities and mental acuity. Now 75, Hanna has become one of the Bahamas’ most celebrated artists, prolifically releasing work described as “carefully considered and contemplated, provocative and masterful.” In BRIGIDY BRAM, Hanna reveals his inner and outer realities through his artworks, memories and one-of-a-kind sense of humor. The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas celebrated Kendal Hanna with a retrospective exhibition of his art on his 75th birthday. Board chair D. Gail Saunders wrote in the foreword to the catalog: “Kendal’s life was a struggle, but in spite of the numerous difficulties and hurdles, he persisted with his art and endured. His art, which is usually described as abstract, is not understood by everyone. But many have come to love his work and have grown to recognize and connect with the passion he expresses in his paintings and sculpture…..A modest giant, Kendal Hanna today is counted among the leading Bahamian artists of our time.” Screening Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am.
JACKSON BURNSIDE, NATIVE SON (70 mins), directed by Karen Arthur & Thomas Neuwirth: Chronicles the diverse life and times of this deeply respected Bahamian cultural icon. He loved his Bahamas with a burning passion, devoting his life to exposing the rich design, architecture & heritage of his native land. After his education abroad, and becoming an assistant to Louis I. Kahn, he returned to the Bahamas where he further developed his talents as a painter, architect, philosopher, mentor and Junkanoo icon. Screening Friday, December 7 / 7:30pm and Saturday, December 8 / 4:15pm.
SHE (8 mins) directed by Kareem Mortimer: Examines the lives of several female impersonators living in the CaribbeanDuring the annual Ms. Drag Bahamas beauty contest,Kevin Taylor and Kareem Mortimer speak to several drag performers and transgendered. Screening Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am.
STRINGS (1 min) directed by Will Robinson: Sarah and Riley have been best friends ever since he was four and she was six years old. For just over a decade they lived in a globe of bliss. Unfortunately, for a year their world of ecstasy has been rotating like a counter-clockwise timepiece. Nonetheless, the duo endeavors to flee from sadistic forces that reside outside of a once deserted room of a previously eminent building. In the contrary, Riley is unable to escape, for in the time of darkness shrieking sound of ill-fated sous continuously penetrate the walls of the room as well as the dreams of his precious slumber. When awaken by the howling of his parents, Riley seeks consolation from Sarah who is capable of enduring the eerie weeping of her late grandmother. Screening Thursday, December 6 / 3:15pm and Friday, December 7 / 3:30pm.
TRAVIS PORTER: RED ROCK (20 mins) directed by Ryan Lightbourn: When their luxurious tour bus breaks down, budding hip-hop group Travis Porter becomes stranded in the remote town of Red Rock. After the bus driver witnesses a horrific crime, the group discovers the town’s deadly secrets & they must escape by any means necessary. Screening on Friday, December 7 / 9:15pm.
WOMANISH WAYS, FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY (80 mins) directed by Marion Bethel and Maria Govan: Five Bahamian women – Mary Ingraham, Georgiana Symonette, Mabel Walker, Eugenia Lockhart and Dr. Doris Johnson – led the Women’s Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas. The journey to female enfranchisement spanned more than a decade, and took place alongside the dramatic backdrop of the Burma Road Riots in 1942, the General Strike in 1958, the Labour Movement of the 1950s and the quest for Majority Rule. Bahamian women voted for the first time on November 26th 1962. Screening on Friday, December 7 / 1:30pm and Saturday, December 8 / 1:15pm.
This year, the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) will showcase 78 films from 26 different countries, including 45 features and 33 short films. The four competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative & Documentary; New Visions; and Short Film. Special sections include Caribbean Spotlight and Self Discovery as well as a World Cinema showcase.
Tickets are $3 per film or $10 Day Pass and are now on sale at the Coldwell Banker /Lightbourn Realty BIFF Festival Lounge located on Bay Street in the Fort Nassau Building adjacent to the Hilton Hotel. During the festilva tickets can be purchased at Galleria Cinemas RND Plaza Thompson Boulevard / John F, Kennedy Drive.
For a complete listing of the films at this year’s festival, click here.