BIFF Announce Short Film Competition Jury

BIFF today announces the jury, which will preside over the short film competition that forms an integral part of Bermuda International Film Festival being held March 21 to 27.

As BIFF is one of a small number of Academy Award qualifying festivals worldwide, the winner of the Bermuda Shorts Award will be considered for the Short Film – Live Action Oscar in 2015.

The 2014 jury is headed up by film producer Jan Harlan,who worked with his brother-in-law Stanley Kubrick on some of the most famous films in cinematic history such as A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).

He was also Executive Producer for Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence in 2001 and directed a documentary feature about Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures that same year. Harlan has delivered lectures at the British Film Institute and European Film College and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K. in 2011. This will be Harlan’s second visit to the island after he delivered a successful screenwriting workshop at Bermuda College in 2013.

Joining him is award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist film critic, Peter Rainer. During Rainer’s illustrious 30-year career, his reviews have been published byChristian Science Monitor, Bloomberg News, Los Angeles Times and New York Magazine, among others. He is also President of the National Society of Film Critics. Last year Rainer published a collection of his work “Rainer on Film,” which he finished while attending BIFF 2013 and the book is now available on Amazon.com. Its launch was covered by The Hollywood Reporter.

The BIFF 2014 jury is completed by Lauren Wissot, who sits on BIFF’s International Advisory Board. Wissot is an American film critic and journalist, filmmaker and programmer, and a contributing editor at Filmmaker magazine. Wissot is also the programming consultant for the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. Wissot has attended BIFF a number of times in the capacity of a journalist but this is her first time in the role of juror.

The panel will judge the 15 shorts screening at BIFF 2014 in three packaged programmes (see www.biff.bm for scheduling information). The competition shorts were selected from over 500 entries by BIFF’s programming team of David O’Beirne, Andrew Stoneham, Alex MacDonald and Terrance Smart. Entries were received from all over the world and feature a huge array of stories such as a young athlete being doped secretly by his father/coach to improve his performance; a Greek tragedy told through the medium of Chinese pop music; and an innovative love story billed as Blue Valentine meets Jurassic Park.

David O’Beirne, BIFF’s Director of Programming, said: “We were highly impressed by the short films submitted again this year from across the world. We believe that we have the made the broadest selection yet, geographically speaking, with contributions from Australia, Belgium, China, France, Iran and Kosovo, to name a few.

“Feedback tells us that BIFF has a great reputation amongst filmmakers and that is something we are very proud of. We are delighted to once again be welcoming several overseas filmmakers to the island to attend their screenings and Q&A sessions.”

During festival week, over 25 films will screen at BIFF 2014. The online film guide and advance ticket sales are available at www.biff.bm.

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