PRESS RELEASE - February 14, 2007

Festival Favourites To Screen At BIFF 2007

Festival favourites return for 10th anniversary

The Bermuda International Film Festival will mark its 10 th anniversary by reaching into the archives to present three films that were hits with festival goers during the festival’s early days.

             

  • Family Name , a documentary by director Macky Alston, won the Freedom of Expression Prize at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival before winning the Jury Prize at BIFF 1997. The filmmaker searches for descendants of slaves and slave owners from plantations once owned by his family. As he travels from New York to Alabama, he attends family reunions, picnics, housing projects, churches, graveyards as well as the original plantations. Everyone he meets has a story to tell –the filmmaker’s odyssey is an unforgettable experience.
  • Mixing Nia , a romantic comedy by Bermudian director Alison Swan, won the Audience Choice Award at BIFF 1998 while also scooping top prizes at the Acapulco Black Film Festival and Worldfest in Houston, Texas. The film is about a vivacious young woman, Nia, who quits her job in advertising to write a novel. Along the way she meets Lewis, a professor of African-American studies who prompts her to look at herself and others in a new way – from a racial perspective.

  • Jalla! Jalla!, a comedy by director Josef Fares, was a double winner at BIFF 2001, winning Best Feature and the Audience Choice Award. The film tells the story of Roro and Mans, best friends who work as park attendants but still think they’re cool and awesome. This rollicking comedy of love, sex and cultural differences bounds along at a cheerful, youthful pace – and won the Audience Choice Award at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam.

“We wanted to mark our 10 th anniversary festival by presenting three films that really captured the imagination of our audiences over the years,” says festival programmer David O’Beirne. “The films are very different but what they have in common is that filmgoers in Bermuda really responded to them. We are delighted to present them for a second time, and know they will prove to be popular.”

Tickets to BIFF 2007 will go on sale in early March both online at www.biff.bm as well as at the Festival’s physical box office at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, Hamilton.

The mission of the Bermuda International Film Festival is to advance the love of independent film from around the world, and create a community welcoming to filmmakers and filmgoers.