The winners were announced yesterday at the 7th edition of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), which wrapped on Sunday evening. The Ethiopian film, Ateltu, about Abebe Bikila the first African to win a gold medal and the first person in history to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the marathon, took the top Spirit of Freedom award for Narrative film.
The official 2010 BIFF winners are:
Spirit of Freedom (Narrative)
ATLETU (Ethiopia) – written, directed and produced by Davey Frankel
and Rasselas Lakew
Spirit of Freedom (Documentary)
BUDRUS (Israel / USA) – written, directed and produced by Julia Bacha
New Visions
HELLO LONESOME (USA) – written, directed and produced by Adam Reid
Short Film
CONTACT ZONE (Bahamas) – written and directed by Gustavius Smith
BIFF Audience Awards went to ATLETU for best feature narrative and BOUNCING CATS for best feature documentary.
The official 2010 BIFF feature lineup was comprised of the following films:
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (NARRATIVE)
ELISA K (Spain) / Director: Judith Colell
LITTLE ROSE (Poland) / Director: Jan Kidawa
ATLETU (Ethiopia) / Director: Davey Frankel, Rasselas Lakew
REFRACTAIRE (Luxemburg) / Director: Nicolas Steil
MASTER HAROLD (South Africa, US) / Director: Lonny Price
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (DOC)
BHUTTU (Pakistan) / Director: Johnny O’ Hara
REVOLUTION (Germany) / Director: Christian Kohlert and Christoph Lehmann
BUDRUS (Palestine) / Director: Julia Bacha
WAR DON DON (Africa) / Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
FROM SOMEWHERE TO NO WHERE (Switzerland) / Director: Villi Hermann
BOUNCING CATS (US) / Director: Dabi Elderkin
NEW VISIONS
PINOY SUNDAY ( Philippines) / Director: Wi Ding Ho
IMMIGRATION TANGO (US) / Director: David Burton Morris
HELLO LONESOME (US) / Director: Adam Reid
CRACKIE (Canada) / Director: Sherry White
NORMAN (US) / Director: Jonathan Segal
CARIBBEAN SIDEBAR
CRAZY LOVE (Bahamas) / Director: Clarence Rolle
GANGS IN PARADISE (US) / Director: Lou Lambert
BENEATH THE BLUE (Bahamas /US) / Director: Michael D. Sellers
WORLD CINEMA
CROCODILES (Germany) / Director: Christian Ditter
SALAM RUGBY (IRAN) / Director: Faramarz Beheshti
CHAIN LETTER (US)/ Director: Deon Taylor
ITS KIND OF FUNNY STORY (US) / Director: Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
ENVIORNMENT SIDEBAR Sponsored by The Nature Conservancy
MASA GOD FISH (Jamaica) / Director: Nathalie Zenny
LION FISH INVASION (Bahamas) / Director: Matthew Mccoy
GARBAGE DREAMS (Egypt, US)/ Director: Mai Iskander
In addition, 36 short films screened at the festival.