thebahamasweekly.com - Bahamas International Film Festival Winners Announced

TAKE TWO: Rasselas Lakew (Center)co-director and star of Atletu - The Athlete (Ethiopia) receives his award for Spirit of Freedom (Narrative). Far left is Leslie Vanderpool, BIFF Founder; and the category judges left to right: Hannah Fisher, Morris Ruskin, and Rani Sitty. The film also won the BIFF Audience Award for feature narrative. Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF

Nassau, Bahamas – Competition winners were announced today at the 7th edition of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), which concluded on Sunday evening with a screening of the widely acclaimed period drama “The King’s Speech” at the Atlantis Hotel and Resort.

This year, the Festival showcases 56 films from 14 different countries, including 20 features of which several were 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 included Caribbean and Environmental sidebars as well as a World Cinema showcase.

BIFF founder, Leslie Vanderpool presents the New Visions award to writer, director and producer, Andrew Reid for Hello Lonesome (USA). Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF.

The official 2010 BIFF winners are:

Spirit of Freedom (Narrative)

The Athlete (Ethiopia) – written, directed and produced by Davey Frankel
and Rasselas Lakew

Spirit of Freedom (Documentary)

BUDRUS (Israel / USA) – written, directed and produced by Julia Bacha

New Visions

HELLO LONESOME (USA) – written, directed and produced by Adam Reid

Short Film

CONTACT ZONE (Bahamas) – written and directed by Gustavius Smith

BIFF Audience Awards went to The Athlete for best feature narrative and BOUNCING CATS for best feature documentary.

Gustavius Smith receives his Best Short Film Award for Contact Zone (Bahamas) from judges in that category Sara Nodjoumi (center) and Craig Woods (right). Standing left is BIFF founder, Leslie Vanderpool. Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF

BIFF also brought back the Filmmaker’s Residency Program for the 7th edition of the Festival. BIFF has a tradition of exclusively providing the Bahamian and Caribbean community with the opportunity to receive invaluable mentoring from industry professionals. This year BIFF 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.

Sara Van Acker (center) comes first in the Filmmakers Residency Program. She is seen here with BIFF Founder, Leslie Vanderpool (3rd left) and mentors for this year's program, left to right: Raymond Forchion, Kelly Amber Moore, Andrew Trapani, and Wil Shriner. Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF

The three winning screenwriters from this year’s BIFF Filmmaker Residency Program are Sara Van Acker for her screenplay “Bloodlust” (1st place); Karen Webb for her screenplay “Arthur’s Salvation” (2nd place); and Mark Cerulli for his screenplay “Sunburn” (3rd place).

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

www.photosbyericrose.com

Gustavius Smith with his Best Short Film Award for Contact Zone. In 2007 Smith won the Filmmakers Residency Program award for his film Built For Load. Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF

The official 2010 BIFF feature lineup was 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 .

Green Reel winners from Nassau, Bahamas stand with Festival Founder, Leslie Vanderpool. Their film "Breaking News" won in this category sponsored by the Nature Conservancy. Photo: Eric Rose for BIFF