The Bahamas International Film Festival “has all the elements” to achieve world-wide recognition, and at the same time inspire local talent and showcase bahamian culture, organisers told The Tribune yesterday.
The first film festival to be held in the Bahamas will be launched on Thursday, December 9, with the international premier of Stephen Soderbergh’s Oceans Twelve, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and julia Roberts and will close on Sunday December 12, with the premier of the Life Aqautic with Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murphy and Cate Blanchett.
The Tribune spoke yesterday with a number of the festival’s organisers who emphasized that the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) could rank among the world’s most famous film events.
They said it also has the potential to tap into and develop Bahamian creativity.
BIFF founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool told The Tribune that the festival has all the elements to rank with the world famous festival in Cannes, France.
The Cannes festival, she said attracts people from all over the world because “they want to be seen and they want to see celebrities”.
She said that BIFF will aim to achieve similar status and will be covered by 1000 members of the international press and adjudicated by a panel of recognized film judges. One judge, she said, has been a critic at the Cannes Festival for years. The judging will be moderated by a critic from the New York Times.
Source: Paco Nunez, The Tribune
