“The Rum Diary” starring BIFF’s 2009 Career Achievement tributee and Bahamian home owner, Johnny Depp, will open the 8th Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) on Thursday, December 1st while sports dramedy “Breakaway” starring Rob Lowe will close the festival on Sunday, December 4th.
This year, the Festival, which takes place December 1-4, 2011 in Nassau, will showcase 68 films from 33 different countries, including 42 features of which several are international premieres and all are Bahamian premieres. The four competition categories at BIFF are Spirit of Freedom: Narrative; Documentary; New Visions; First Look; and Short Film. Special sections include Caribbean and Environmental sidebars as well as a World Cinema showcase.
The official BIFF lineup is comprised of the following films:
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (NARRATIVE)
MOTHERS (Macedonia) / Director: Micho Manchevski
MAYA (Albania) / Director: Pluton Vasi
WHERE THE ROAD MEETS THE SUN (USA/Singapore/Indonesia) / Director: Mun Chee Yong
BETTER MUS’ COME (Jamaica) / Director: Storm Saulter
VIPS (Brazil) / Director: Toniko Melo
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM (DOC)
MARATHON BOY (USA/UK/India) / Director: Gemma Atwal
ZERO PERCENT (USA) / Director: Tim Skousen
FAMBUL TOK (USA) / Director: Sara Terry
GIVE UP TOMORROW (USA / UK) / Director: Michael Collins
DONOR UNKNOWN (UK) / Director: Jerry Rothwell
NEW VISIONS
BRINGING UP BOBBY (USA) / Director: Famke Janssen
YELLING TO THE SKY (USA) / Director: Victoria Mahoney
JE T’AIME I LOVE YOU TERMINAL (Israel) / Director: Dani Menkin
RESTLESS CITY (USA) / Director: Andrew Dosunmu
WITHOUT (USA) / Director: Mark Jackson
LOVE.NET (Bulgaria) / Director: Ilian Djevelekov
WORLD CINEMA
FACE TO FACE (Australia) / Director: Michael Rymer
SAVAGE (Sweden) / Director: Martin Jern, Emil Larsson
SWEET LITTLE LIES (USA) / Director: William Saunders
THE WEDDING PARTY (Australia) / Director: Amanda Jane
TIRZA (Belgium/The Netherlands/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) / Director: Rudolf van den Berg
CAPSULAS (Guatemala) / Director: Verónica Riedel
TOAST (USA) / Director: SJ Clarkson
Y-NING? (Trinidad & Tobago) / Director: Emilie Upczak
BOMBAY BEACH, CALIFORNIA (USA) / Director: Alma Har’el
THE CREATORS (South Africa) / Director: Laura Gamse, Jacques de Villiers
BIG IN HOLLYWOOD (India/USA) / Director: Bill Bowles, Kenny Meehan
DO WOMEN KNOW WHAT THEY WANT (USA) / Director: Michael Baisden
REAL VOODOO (Canada) / Director: Sandra Whiteley
SENNA (UK) / Director: Asif Kapadia
SPECIAL SCREENING
THE RUM DIARY (US) / Director: Bruce Robinson
BREAKAWAY (Canada) / Director: Robert Lieberman
A DANGEROUS METHOD (Germany/ Canada) / Director: David Cronenberg
FIRST LOOK
ON THE WINGS OF MEN (USA/The Bahamas) / Director: Calvin Dwight Harris
ISLANDS OF LIFE (USA/The Bahamas) / Director: Bo Boudart
COCOON (The Bahamas) / Director: Giovanna Swaby
TALL TALE OF AN ACCIDENTAL TOURIST (The Bahamas) / Director: Jason Evans
FIVE BONES (The Bahamas) / Director: Tyler Johnston
DEVOTEE (The Bahamas) / Director: June Collie
AMOS (The Bahamas) / Director: Karen Arthur, Thomas Neuwirth
SHORTS
ANYTHING FOR YOU (USA) / Director: Laura Belsey
SEXTING (USA) / Director: Tim Harms
THE SEA IS ALL I KNOW (USA) / Director: Jordan Bayne
THIEF (USA) / Director: Julian Higgins
15 SUMMERS LATER (Norway) / Director: Pedro Collantes
ALAMBAMENTO (Angola/Egypt/USA) / Director: Mario Bastos
AUGENBLICKE (Germany) / Director: Martin Bargiel
HOMECOMING (USA) / Director: Gursimran Sandhu
CHRISTMAS PIGGY (Denmark) / Director: R.S. Soderstrom
GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL (USA) / Director: Todd Cobery
MERCY GRACE & CRAB MEAT (USA) / Director: Jonathan Thompson
MI HATICE (Turkey) / Director: Denis Metin
MISH MUSH (Syria/Canada) / Director: Amar Chebib
KILL BRASS (Canada) / Director: Michael Kandinsky
THE SHORE (Northern Ireland) / Director: Terry George
LAN (USA/China) / Director: Taylour Chang
POST-NUP (USA) / Director: Katharine Woodman-Maynard
TELL-TALE (UK) / Director: Greg Williams
MY BIG RED PURSE (USA) / Director: Giancarlo Iannotta
NORTH ATLANTIC (Portugal/UK) / Director: Bernardo Nascimento
THE BURNT CORK (Australia) / Director: Alexandra Edmondson
THE HAYMAKER (Canada/USA) / Director: Daniel D’Alimonte
TORA (Canada) / Director: Glen Samuel, Wendy Ord
TOY SOLDIER (Australia/France/Israel) / Director: Jeremy Bliss
10 AVE MARIA (Aruba) / Director: Ryan Oduber, Juan Francisco Pardo
INCEST! THE MUSICAL (USA) / Director: Grant Reed
BOFFIN & BOFFIN (USA) / Director: Ed Blythe
MUMBIA CHARLIE (UK/ INDIA) Director: Deepak Verma
Actress/singer Zoe Isabella Kravitz (“X-Men: First Class,” “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” “Yelling to the Sky”), daughter of legendary American/Bahamian musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, will be honored with BIFF’s signature Rising Star Tribute. Kravitz will be on hand for the special award tribute presentation on Friday, December 2nd at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.
The festival will also bring back the Filmmaker’s Residency Program. For the second year BIFF has broadened the program to include filmmakers from around the world to submit screenplays that are based in The Bahamas or Caribbean region.
BIFF 2011 begins Thursday, December 1st in Nassau and runs through Sunday, December 4th.