Chewstick’s Bakatown Film Festival

The Chewstick Foundation will be holding their 1st Annual Bakatown Short Film Festival starting Thursday, January 26th and continuing through to Saturday, January 28th.

The 1st edition of the Bakatown Film Festival promises to be one of the best ever, as Chewstick will host a series of events celebrating local film culture, storytelling and production, culminating with a showing of short films from around the world, screened at Liberty Theatre on Saturday, January 28th.

This is a project developed in conjunction with the Future Shorts Film Festival based in England. The Future Shorts Festival allows anyone, anywhere to host a screening of the Future Shorts programme – a feature length programme of the award winning short films from around the world.

The Bakatown Short Film Festival is a celebration of the art of film making. It encourages and supports independent filmmakers from Bermuda and around the world, by bringing to Bermuda a dazzling array of short films from a select group of directors.

The Bakatown Short Film Festival promotes understanding of diverse cultures by displaying the passions and unique vision of these filmmakers, and promises to both entertain and educate viewers.

The Chewstick Foundation is very happy to have received sponsorship from the Economic Empowerment Zones Agency and Digicel.

Erica Smith, Director of the Economic Empowerment Zones Agency stated “The Economic Empowerment Zones Agency is pleased to be supporting the First Annual Bakatown Short Film Festival. North East Hamilton has historically been the hub of culture and arts in the City and throughout Bermuda and it’s events such as this that help to sustain that rich history. Since moving to the NE Hamilton EEZ, The Chewstick Foundation has become a steward of the Community and we look forward to future partnerships with them on this initiative.”

Gavin Djata Smith, Executive Director of The Chewstick Foundation explains that “Apart from Chewstick’s primary aim to be an avenue for personal growth, our secondary aim is to be a positive force in Bermuda generally and “Back of Town” specifically; constantly embedding our youth, arts, cultural and community programs in the heart of this region.

“In this vein we are proud to re-envision this area by embracing the “Back of Town” legacy and reintroducing it as “Bakatown”; to both celebrate the deep cultural history of the area while at the same time marking a new chapter in its history as a revitalized center of Bermudian history, culture and pride.

“The Bakatown Short Film Festival is our first introduction of the theme that we aim to be a major game changer for the North Hamilton Community and Bermuda as a whole. And Future Shorts creates a unique opportunity to embark on this new path”.

The festival events are free of charge with the exception of the Liberty Theatre Future Shorts screening, which will be $30 (20$ for Chewstick Members).

The Bakatown Short Film Festival will take place over three days starting on at The Chewstick Neo-Griot Lounge on Thursday, January 26 at 6pm with a screening of local submissions followed by a discussion on the filmmaking industry in Bermuda.

Panelists include local filmmakers Al Seymour, Scott Neil, Milton Raposo and Donald ‘Detrimental’ Robinson, also Asha Ludwig and Scott Neil, directors of two of the films submitted will participate. This event will provide an opportunity for filmmakers to network, inform and inspire each other about their passion.

The second event will take place on Friday, January 27th at 9pm, with a Local Music Video Launch Party at The Chewstick Lounge. The entire party will be entertained via video DJ with local music videos being projected 12ft x 8ft on the new screen at The Chewstick Lounge.

The Music Video Launch party will feature music videos from local artists such as; Twanee’ Butterfield, Prof-A-C, Jelani, Fiyah Marshall, all the way up to international local artists like Heather Nova, Collie Buddz and Mishka! Entry is free and local artists are encouraged to attend to see their video on the big screen. Snacks and refreshments will be available with donation  accepted to support The Chewstick Foundation.

On Saturday, January 28th will be the main event, featuring the Future Shorts Films at Liberty Theatre, this will be a 250 person event, screening the world class Future Shorts (www.futureshorts.com) collection of film shorts. The collection is a series of six films that range from 6-20 minutes and display genres from real life dramas to stop-motion, and animation.

Each film has received industry awards and the collection boasts winners from The Oscars, SXSW, BAFTA and the Sundance Film Festival to name a few. The relatively new Future Shorts Film Festival has made great strides at celebrating the short film medium around the world and we are proud to be listed as one of the host countries and the first in the Caribbean region to partner with Future Shorts.

There will be an opening reception to kick-off the event which will take place from 6pm in the Liberty Theatre Lobby and will feature a selection of local performers and cocktails and refreshments for sale and a chance to mingle with fellow film enthusiasts. At 7pm the shorts will start in the main theatre.

The screening will end at about 9pm and will be followed by a wrap party at The Chewstick Lounge, where guests will have a chance to mingle with filmmakers, event organizers, and volunteers as they dance to the musical stylings of an array of hot fire dj’s, with inspiring visuals on the big screen while celebrating local culture and storytelling in Bakatown.

Tickets for the 1st Annual Bakatown Short Film Festival Liberty Theatre event (all other events are free) will be sold for $30 and are available at The Chewstick Headquarters on Court Street, www.premiertickets.bm or by contacting Chewstick at 292 2439 or emailing info@chewstick.org. Chewstick Members please contact Chewstick directly to receive your membership discount.

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Category: All, Entertainment, Films/Movies