The Bahamas International Film Festival has unveiled its lineup, which will include Andrew Melby and Reggie Henderson‘s drama Bahamian Son and Travolta Cooper’s documentary The Black Moses.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the festival will showcase 108 films from 32 different countries, including four features that are world premieres.
The four competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative, Documentary, New Visions and Short Films. Other categories include Panorama Narrative, Documentary and out-of-competition shorts. Special sections include the Youth Film Workshop films made by five local schools as well as a World Cinema showcase spotlighting Chinese films provided by the Chinese Embassy in The Bahamas.
The festival will run Dec. 5-13, with Bahamian Son opening the festival and Black Moses closing it. This year marks the first time a documentary has been selected to close BIFF.
“As the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) celebrates its 10th anniversary and The Bahamas celebrates its 40th year of independence, what better way to recognize these milestones then by having Bahamian films open and close the festival,” BIFF founder and executive director Leslie Vanderpool said. “Film Festivals were created for the independent filmmakers, and once again I am proud to present a Bahamian film as the opening night film. Bahamian Son is that story that shares a taste of the Bahamian culture through the lens of a true son of The Bahamas.”
Added Henderson: “We are ecstatic that our film will be headlining BIFF this year. Shooting a semi-autobiographical film was not easy, and it had its challenges, but we had wonderful support from the Bahamian community during the making of this film.”
Cooper said the festival has played a key role in his career as a filmmaker, providing mentors like filmmaker Malcolm Lee and producer Jane Schoettle.
The full lineup, including the 58 short films screening at the festival, can be found at: www.bintlfilmfest.com.
E-mail: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com
Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27
