Award-winning documentary on Elmo and French box office hit to screen at BUEI

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 14: A documentary film about the puppeteer behind Elmo — the most beloved Muppet of all – and a light comedy that topped the French box office in 2011 are the featured films at the Weekend Film Series, screening this Sunday at the Tradewinds Auditorium of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey screens at 3pm, while The Women on the Sixth Floor screens at 5.15pm.

Being Elmo won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival as well as winning Best Documentary at the Black Film Critics Circle Awards.

According to a press statement, the film tells the story of puppeteer Kevin Clash, the hand, voice and soul behind Elmo, who began making puppets at the age of 10. He performed in local shows, graduated to a programme on the local CBS affiliate in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland – and then realised a dream when he was recruited for Sesame Street.

The Women on the Sixth Floor won the Audience Award at the City of Lights — City of Angels French film festival in Los Angeles.

Spanish actress Carmen Maura won best supporting actress at the Cesar Awards, France’s Academy Awards, for her role in the film.

Fabrice Luchini stars as a wealthy stockbroker who lives a staid bourgeois life with his perfectly-presented socialite wife (Sandrine Kiberlain). But when the family’s maid abandons them, into the residence comes a young, hardworking and attractive replacement from Spain.

Maria (Natalia Verbeke) soon rallies the friendship of the other servants who live on the sixth floor (their bosses live on the first five floors of the building) and soon the balance of the household ruptures into wild, cross-cultural chaos.

Tickets to the Weekend Film Series are available from the Oceans Gift Shop at the BUEI, or by calling 297-7314.