PRESS RELEASE - March 6, 2007

29 shorts in competition for M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award

Twenty-nine short films representing 16 countries have been selected to screen in competition at the 10 th Bermuda International Film Festival, March 16-24.

 

The 29 competition shorts are eligible for the M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award, the winner of which will be selected by the festival’s short film jury.   The winner of the award will receive a $3000 cash award donated by M3 Wireless.

 

As BIFF is a qualifying festival for the Short Film Academy Award, the winning film will be short-listed for the 2008 Academy Awards.

 

M3 Wireless, the premier Bermudian GSM wireless provider, offers voice and data services through best of breed phones and devices on a network that spans more than 100 countries.

 

“We are delighted to partner with M3 Wireless to make a cash award to a deserving short filmmaker,” says festival director Aideen Ratteray Pryse. “We are all aware how difficult it is for short filmmakers to raise the money for their next film, and this award provides a welcome boost to the director of our winning short film. Now that we are in the second year of offering the M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award, we have also seen how it has had a positive effect on our ability to attract top films to the festival.”

 

“As a leading wireless provider on the island, we are thrilled to team up with one of the Island’s leading arts organisations to help filmmakers achieve their dreams,” says Lloyd Fray, CEO of M3 Wireless. “We are all looking forward to another great festival, and we are keenly anticipating the wonderful line-up of short films assembled by festival organisers.”

 

M3 Wireless offers individual and business users a full range of cellular phones having voice, e-mail, text-messaging, Internet, and video clip capabilities. M3 Wireless also offers high-speed Internet access via their easyConnect service. Services are available from a variety of outlets in Bermuda, including the M3 Wireless retail outlets at 3 Burnaby Street and in P-Tech at 5 Reid Street in Hamilton. M3 Wireless is the exclusive provider of cell phones and service to BIFF staff and volunteers during the annual festival.

 

Click here for a guide to all the competition shorts.

Aside from the 29 shorts in competition, the festival will screen six short animated films for children ages three and up in a short film series named A Walk in the Woods, while a film made by local youngsters in a BIFF Film Academy workshop, Theatre Madness, will also screen at the festival.

 

Tickets to BIFF 2007 are on sale now at www.biff.bm and at the BIFF Front Room festival box office at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, Hamilton. The box office is open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Media Contact:

Duncan Hall

Deputy Festival Director

Bermuda International Film Festival

Tel: 293-3456

Fax: 293-7769

E-mail: deputydirector@biff.bm