Eight films by first- or second-time directors, including Bermuda-based filmmaker Errol Williams' documentary about controversial civil rights activist Kingsley Tweed, have been selected to screen in the Competition Documentary section of the ninth Bermuda International Film Festival, March 17-25.
The festival's competition documentary category is reserved for first- and second-time feature directors.
Mr. Williams, a Canadian, won the Audience Choice Award at BIFF 2002 for his feature documentary, When Voices Rise…, which focused in part on the efforts of Mr. Tweed before, during and after the 1959 Theatre Boycott that began the process of desegregation in Bermuda. Mr. Williams focuses solely on Mr. Tweed, who lives in London, in his latest film, Walking on a Sea of Glass.
The documentary is one of two local films in the eight-film category. Lucinda Spurling's Rare Bird, about the re-discovery of the Cahow some 325 years after it was thought to be extinct, will also screen.
"When we announced the local films in the festival last week, it appeared that Errol was going to be unable to complete the film in time to screen at BIFF," said festival director Aideen Ratteray Pryse. "But he arrived in our office last Friday to say that he had been successful in securing the necessary additional funding to finish the film. That is great news - and gives us four local films in the line-up."
Four films from the United States, and one each from Canada and Israel, complete the category.
China Blue, by director Micha Peled, takes filmgoers inside a blue jeans factory, where Jasmine and her friends, Orchid and Li Ping, are trying to survive the harsh work environment. Shot clandestinely, the film has won numerous festival awards, including the Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, widely considered the world's best documentary film festival.
Favela Rising, by co-directors Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist, is about Anderson Sa, a former drug dealer in the favelas (shanty towns) looming over Rio de Janeiro. Haunted by the murders of friends and family, he uses the power of music to rally his community to war against the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and sustained by corrupt police.
Just Married, by director Ayelet Bechar, is a startling look at life in Israel for Arabs. Kifah and Sudah are two newly wed Palestinian women coming to terms - or not - with the Citizenship Law. Effective since 2003, the law forbids residents of the Palestinian Authority from entering Israel, even if they are married to Israeli citizens. These two very personal and poignant stories reflect the cruel reality of thousands of couples.
Pirate Radio USA, by director Jeff Pearson, is a fun, clever documentary that challenges the belief that Americans have freedom of speech. The film is deftly light and entertaining - largely due to stand-up comedian Pearson's style of delivery - while posing questions that are big and real. As the debate over who controls the Internet heats up, this film illustrates that the question is not answered easily or quickly since the control over radio, the Internet's elder cousin, is still up for grabs.
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, by co-directors Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Jessica Joy Wise, is an epic journey into the heart of heavy metal music by Mr. Dunn, an anthropologist and lifelong heavy metal fan. He visits heavy metal landmarks as farflung as L.A.'s Sunset Strip, the dreary streets of Birmingham, England, and the dark forests of Norway, interviewing musicians, fans, and social commentators to figure out why heavy metal is consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned by some, while retaining a loyal and enthusiastic following.
King Leopold's Ghost, by director Pippa Scott, is based on the book of the same name, a bestseller about the exploitation of the Congolese people by European imperialists. The villainous behaviour of King Leopold II of Belgium, and explorer Henry Morton Stanley, are scrutinised - as is the courage of journalist George Washington Williams, who worked diligently to expose the brutality and, in the process, coined the term "crimes against humanity".
Tickets for the festival will go on sale Wednesday March 8, online only, at www.biff.bm. The festival box office will open on Saturday March 11 at 10 a.m. at the BIFF Front Room festival headquarters at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, Hamilton.