{"id":44325,"date":"2013-11-28T21:19:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T02:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=44325"},"modified":"2013-12-04T21:26:36","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T02:26:36","slug":"biff-unveils-official-program-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/11\/biff-unveils-official-program-lineup","title":{"rendered":"BIFF Unveils Official Program Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), celebrating its 10th anniversary and taking place December 5-13, today revealed the complete lineup of films screening in the festival\u2019s competition and sidebar sections. The program was announced by BIFF Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool.<\/p>\n

This year, the Festival will showcase 108 films from 32 different countries, including four features of which are world premieres and all Bahamian premieres. The 4 competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative; Documentary; New Visions; Short Film other categories are Panorama Narrative; Documentary and Short Films out of competition. Special sections include the Youth Film Workshop films made by 5 schools as well as a World Cinema showcase spotlighting Chinese films provided by the Chinese Embassy in The Bahamas.<\/p>\n

Andrew Melby\u2019s and Reggie Henderson\u2019s drama \u201cBahamian Son\u201d has been selected as this year\u2019s Opening Night Film and will kick off the Festival on December 5th, while Travolta Cooper\u2019s documentary \u201cThe Black Moses\u201d will have the honor of closing the 10th edition of the Festival on December 8th.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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,\u201d said BIFF founder & executive director, Leslie Vanderpool. \u201cFilm Festivals were created for the independent filmmakers and once again I am proud to present a Bahamian film as the Opening Night Film. \u2018Bahamian Son\u2019 is that story that shares a taste of the Bahamian culture through the lens of a true son of The Bahamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanderpool adds “BIFF showcasing a documentary as the Closing Night Film is a first. As always, BIFF features quality films that tell stories dealing with current issues with global application. \u2018The Black Moses\u2019 is one of those films, providing a subjective commentary for people to derive their own opinion.”<\/p>\n

The official BIFF feature lineup is comprised of the following films:<\/p>\n

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (NARRATIVE)
\n9 FULL MOONS (USA) \/ Director: Tomer Algamor
\nA PLACE ON EARTH – Une Place Sur La Terre (France) \/ Director: Fabienne Godet
\nBRAHMIN BULLS (India) \/ Director: Mahesh Pailoor
\nHOME (USA) \/ Director: Jono Oliver
\nSIDDHARTH (India) \/ Director: Richie Mehta
\nVIVA BELARUS (Poland) Director: Krzysztof Lukaszewicz
\nWHEN I SAW YOU- Lamma Shoftak (Jordan) Director: Annemarie Jacir<\/p>\n

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (DOCUMENTARY)
\nCAST THE FIRST STONE (USA) \/ Director: Nicolas Cuellar
\nFINDING HILLYWOOD (Rwanda, USA) \/ Director: Leah Warshawski
\nFLY BY LIGHT (USA) \/ Director: Ellie Walton
\nGARIFUNA IN PERIL (Honduras) \/ Director: Ali Allie
\nISOLATED (USA, Indonesia) Director: Geoff Clark, Justin Le Pera
\nSILENT MUSIC (Antigua, Barbuda, USA) Director: Melissa Gomez
\nTHE LAST SAFARI (Kenya, USA) Director: Matt Goldman
\nTWO: THE STORY OF ROMAN & NYRO (USA) Director: Heather Winters<\/p>\n

NEW VISIONS
\nCALLOUSED HANDS (USA) \/ Director: Jesse Quinones
\nONE SMALL HITCH (USA) \/ Director: John Burgess
\nSAL (Argentina, Chile) \/ Director: Diego Rougier
\nSIBERIA, MONAMOUR (Russia) \/ Director: Slava Ross
\nTARIF NA SPASENIE (Russia) \/ Director: Georgiy Soldatov
\nTHE LONG DRIVE HOME (USA) \/ Director: William Tyler
\nTRUST, GREED, BULLETS & BOURBON (USA) \/ Director: Scott Kawczynski
\nTUTTI GIU (Switzerland) \/ Director: Niccolo Castelli<\/p>\n

PANORAMA NARRATIVE
\nSOME VELVET MORNING (USA) \/ Director: Neil LaBute
\nI\u2019LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN (Canada) \/ Director: Richie Mehta
\nNEARLYWEDS (USA) \/ Director: Marc Griffiths
\nHANK AND ASHA (USA), \/ Director: Bryan Pick
\nVINO VERITAS (USA) \/ Director: Sara Knight
\nKARAOKE GIRL (Thailand) \/ Director: Visra Vichit-Vadakan
\nLAST LOOK (USA) \/ Director: Hernando Bansuelo
\nMURDER IN THE DARK (USA, Italy) \/ Director: Dagen Merrill
\nNAI RIVER (China) \/ Director: Bin Luo
\nSIDE BY SIDE (UK) \/ Director: Arthur Landon
\nGOLDEN MESH \u2013 FIOS DE OVOS (Brazil) \/ Director: Ma\u00edra B\u00fchler, Matias Mariani<\/p>\n

PANORAMA DOCUMENTARY
\nBROTHERS HYPNOTIC – MUSIC (USA) \/ Director: Reuben Atlas
\nHAITI THE EARTH (Haiti, Belgium) \/ Director: Jean-Claude Riga
\nSANCTITY OF SANCTUARY (USA) \/ Director: Blis Hanousek DeVault
\nTALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE (Canada) \/ Director: Ric Esther Bienstock
\nWILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL (USA) \/ Director: Ben Nabors
\nROUGHCUT (Greece) \/ Director: Eliana Abravanel
\nBAYOU MAHARAJAH: JAMES BOOKER (USA) \/ Director: Lily Keber
\nCOMEDY WARRIORS \u2013 COMEDY (USA) \/ Director: John Wager
\nCONTRARIAN \u2013 MR. TEMPLETON (USA, Bahamas) \/ Director: Mary Mazzio<\/p>\n

CHINESE SPOTLIGHT
\nCAUGHT IN THE WEB (China) \/ Director: Kaige Chen
\nFENG SHUI (China) \/ Director: Jing Wang
\nPAINTED SKIN: THE RESURRECTION (China) \/ Director: Wuershan<\/p>\n

In addition, a list of the 58 short films screening at the festival can be found online at www.bintlfilmfest.com.<\/p>\n

“We are ecstatic that our film \u2018Bahamian Son\u2019 will be headlining BIFF this year. Shooting a semi audio-biographical film was not easy and it had its challenges, but we had wonderful support from the Bahamian community during the making of this film,\u201d said writer and producer of \u201cBahamian Son,\u201d Reggie Henderson. \u201c\u2019Bahamian Son\u2019 may be a small indie film, but it’s big in heart and content. The Bahamas is not just a resort destination and it gives us great pleasure to share with the rest of the world what we’ve learned, which is The Bahamas is a beautiful island, rich in culture, history and tradition. What a great honor to be a part of BIFF!” adds Henderson.<\/p>\n

“It’s been quite a journey producing \u2018The Black Moses\u2019 and for our little movie to be bestowed such an honor is encouraging and inspiring. Our production team is ecstatic. And I am personally overjoyed because BIFF has undoubtedly played a role in my career as a filmmaker giving me opportunities and lifelong mentors like filmmaker Malcolm Lee and producer Jane Schoettle,\u201d said director of \u201cThe Black Moses,\u201d Travolta Cooper. \u201cAnd now to be afforded such an honor in the same tradition of films such as \u2018The King’s Speech,\u2019 \u2018Juno,\u2019 or \u2018Precious,\u2019 which have closed this festival in the past, means more than I can express.”<\/p>\n

Celebrating its 10th year, the Bahamas International Film Festival has established itself as a marquee international Festival in the Caribbean region, discovering and promoting independent voices and talent from around the world and showcasing a diverse array of international films.<\/p>\n

BIFF 2013 kicks off on Thursday, December 5th and will run through Sunday, December 13th. For the second consecutive year, BIFF will be coming to Harbour Island (December 9-11) and Governor\u2019s Harbour December (11-13), showcasing a diverse presentation of films from around the world accompanied by a group of local and international filmmakers. Additional announcements pertaining to the Festival will be made in the coming weeks. For additional information please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets are on Sale NOW click here<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Opening and Closing Night Films:<\/p>\n

\u201cBahamian Son\u201d stars Constance Anderson (\u201cProdigal,\u201d \u201cProfile of a Killer,\u201d \u201cGods\u2019 Green Earth\u201d), Fatima Cocci (\u201cGods\u2019 Green Earth\u201d) and Leah Eneas (\u201cBeneath the Blue\u201d). The film is based on true events, from the life of the film\u2019s writer Reggie Henderson. The story follows Kevin as he sets out to find his father, whom he hasn’t seen in more than thirty years. During his journey, Kevin examines his own life and the family he has built for himself, during his childhood, having growns up in the projects of North Minneapolis. After Kevin tracks down his father, he travels to The Bahamas to meet him. What happens in The, opens Kevin’s eyes to a world and a history he never knew existed. It is also another test of Kevin’s beliefs regarding family, loyalty, and what it means to be a son, a father, and a man.<\/p>\n

Written and directed by Travolta Cooper (\u201cFounding Fathers: Sir Stafford Sands\u201d \u201cA Miami Trail\u201d), \u201cThe Black Moses\u201d takes a look at Was L.O Pindling, first black Prime Minister of The Bahamas, one of history’s greatest national Liberators, or was he one of history’s greatest national Drug Dealers? The film follows the popular folk ‘moses mythology’ as it was manifested through the life and times of Sir Lynden Pindling. It focuses on L.O Pindling as he sets on a course to bring about social, political, and economic revolution to the British Bahama Islands. The film features Golden Globe nominee Dennis Haysbert (\u201cThe Unit,\u201d \u201c24,\u201d \u201cWreck-It Ralph\u201d) as Black Moses and commentary from the 18th Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, and many others.
\n
\nAbout the Bahamas International Film Festival<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), celebrating its 10th anniversary and taking place December 5-13, today revealed the complete lineup of films screening in the festival\u2019s competition and sidebar sections. The program was announced by BIFF Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[269,30],"class_list":["post-44325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-festival","tag-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}