"Caramel" wins Best Feature Award at BIFF 2008

"Caramel," by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, has won the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 11th Bermuda International Film Festival.

The award was announced at the festival’s Wrap Party and Awards Ceremony at Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel on Saturday night by the Features Jury of director Robert Favreau ("A Sunday in Kigali") and producer Charles Bishop ("Bowling for Columbine"). Ms. Labaki wins a $5000 cash prize.

"XXY," by director Lucia Puenzo of Argentina, was given a Special Jury Mention in the Narrative Features category.

“Caramel, in a very brilliant way, shows us a complex microcosmos where many stories and sub-stories take place,” Mr. Favreau said. “The stories are all well-developed and involve many characters to whom we become strongly attached. We also gave the award to Caramel for its great sense of humour, true tragic breath, for its authentic and subversive feminine perspective, and for its unforgettable scenes without dialogue that made us laugh and cry at the same time.”

The Documentary Jury of filmmakers Linda Hattendorf ("The Cats of Mirikitani") and Peter Raymont ("Shake Hands With the Devil: the Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman") announced co-winners of the Best Documentary prize. The award is shared by "Saving Luna" (d. Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm, Canada) and Souvenirs (d. Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, Israel). The Jury also gave a Special Mention to Steven-Charles Jaffe’s film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird.

“We gave the award to "Souvenirs" for its loving revelation of an intimate and evolving father-son relationship that brought laughter and tears,” Ms. Hattendorf said, “and also for its cinema verite, car-to-car and car mount shooting, and for its heart and terrific scored music.

“'Saving Luna' was an inspiring, mesmerising, spiritual and poetic story. It featured spectacular locations and beautiful cinematography. It was honest, had a grand, theatrical feel and gave us an inside look at filmmakers who became activists.”

The Shorts Jury of Al Seymour Jr. and Ted Bezaire gave the M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award to "Toyland" (d. Jochen Freydank, Germany). Mr. Freydank wins a cash prize of $3000. Mr. Michael Beckles represented M3 Wireless. The Jury awarded Special Mentions to "Ark" (d. Grzegorz Jokajtys, Poland) and "The Legend of the Slow Man" (d. Armando del Rio, Spain).

“We gave the award to 'Toyland' for its beauty, fantastic sound, great acting, and a story that is complete and powerful,” Mr. Bezaire said.

The Bacardi Limited Audience Choice Award, which is voted on by filmgoers, was won by "Red Dust," director Tom Hooper, who receives a $3000 cash prize. Mr. Vernon Pemberton represented Bacardi.

Does anyone remember the name of the film about the woman who took the Dalai Lama's message via film to remote parts of Tibet?
It was shown by BIFF at Southside a couple of years ago.

Many thanks for your help! Helen

Presented during both the March festival of international cinema, and October’s BIFF Kids Children’s Film Festival, our School Screening Series is an important component of the Festival’s commitment to film education for Bermuda’s young people.

Part of our BIFF Film Academy, the Festival’s School Screening Series offers an educational opportunity to nearly 1,000 students from Bermuda’s nursery, primary, middle and secondary schools.

During BIFF Kids, we present a series of educational programmes over two days for kids ages 4-17. Assistant youth librarian and Festival volunteer, Christian Zabriskie, introduces the films and leads discussions. He prepares teaching materials to help integrate the films into Bermuda’s classroom environment.

At the most recent BIFF Kids Film Festival, more than 700 students from 12 of Bermuda’s schools attended the programme.

Each March, we present a free screening of an issue-oriented documentary for Bermuda’s secondary school students, with the director of the film in attendance to introduce the film and engage in a question and answer session with the students. The March programme is designed to stimulate students to think about issues of global importance and to assist teachers in their efforts to educate our young people.

The School Screening Series is presented by the Festival in conjunction with our partners, Butterfield Bank.

BIFF presents eight weeks of film production camps each summer for kids ages 7-16. The camps are held under the umbrella of our BIFF Film Academy educational programme, which also includes our School Screening Series.

Camps cover a wide range of filmmaking skills, including acting, directing, set design, make-up, costumes, camera, sound, lighting and props.

*Stage one camps, for kids ages 7-9, are designed to get students’ feet wet with filmmaking. The accent is on fun.
*Stage two camps, for kids ages 10-13, provide hands-on filmmaking experience in almost all filmmaking roles.
*Our two-week, stage three, boot camp, for kids ages 14-16, exposes teens to all filmmaking roles. Each student performs all duties, including writing/directing his or her own movie.

The camps take place Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., with after-camp care available until 5 p.m.

All of the films made during our summer camps are screened during our BIFF Kids Children’s Film Festival in October.

Our BIFF Film Academy Summer Camps are presented by the Festival in conjunction with our partners, Butterfield Bank.

Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Award for Best Narrative Feature: "Sweet Mud"
Directed by: Dror Shaul (Israel)
and "Cashback"
Directed by: Sean Ellis (UK)
Shared Prize of: $5000

Best Documentary Feature : "The Cats of Mirikitani"
Directed by: Linda Hattendorf (USA)

M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award: "I Want to be a Pilot"
Directed by: Diego Quemada-Diez (Spain)
Prize: $3000

The Bacardi Limited Audience Choice Award: "A Sunday in Kigali"
Directed by: Robert Favreau
Prize of $3000

Special Mention for a Narrative Feature : "Does It Hurt? The First Balkan Dogma" Directed by: Aneta Lesnikovska

Special Jury Prizes for Documentaries: "Beyond the Call"
Directed by: Adrian Belic
and "Living With Lew"
Directed by: Adam Bardach

Special Jury Prizes for Short Films: "My Backyard"
Directed by: Choy Aming
and "t.o.m."
Directed by: Tom Brown and Daniel Gray