Bermuda Docs features music, politics and sport

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7: The history of gospel music, the evolution of the black power movement and the meteoric rise of the West Indies in the world of cricket are the subjects of just some of the award-winning films featured in this year’s Bermuda Documentary Film Festival.

This festival, the fifth over three years, will take place from October 21 to 23 at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

The line-up of ten films includes five award-winners from the Sundance Film Festival, an Oscar nominated film and another which has been tipped as an Oscar winner.

Buck, the story about a real life American cowboy who was the model for Robert Redford’s role in the Horse Whisperer, won the Audience Choice Award at Sundance. The film, which opens the festival on October 21, 6pm tells how Buck Brannaman teaches people how to communicate with horses through leadership and sensitivity as opposed to punishment.

Bermuda’s community could perhaps learn from the documentary The Interrupters which tells the story of three “violence interrupters” at the violence prevention programme CeaseFire.

Festival director Duncan Hall said: “I think the film line-up has real relevance for Bermuda audiences – and The Interrupters, in particular, is an interesting film at a most appropriate time for Bermuda.

“Chicago’s gang violence issues are of a different scale than Bermuda’s, but the impact on our community of gang violence has been immense over the last few years. The approach taken by CeaseFire has been adopted around the US, and indeed overseas in Trinidad and Tobago, and in Cape Town, South Africa. Perhaps it is an approach that could work here, too.”

One of those profiled in the film, Coby Williams, will attend the festival along with co-producer Zak Piper. The pair will take part in a question and answer session after the screening. Shows 8pm, October 21.

Tickets are now on sale at www.bdatix.bm, All Wrapped Up in Washington Mall, Fabulous Fashions in Heron Bay Plaza or by calling 232-2255. Synopses for all the films are available to watch online at www.bermudadocs.com.

The rest of the line-up is as follows:

Gasland, October 22 at 2pm: Nominated for an Oscar in 2011 and winner of a Special Jury Prize at Sundance, Gasland is about the environmentally destructive practice of hydraulic fracturing, pioneered by Dick Cheney’s Halliburton corporation, which is used to extract natural gas from the earth’s core — but at significant risk to the country’s drinking water.

Rejoice and Shout, October 22 at 4:30pm: Covering the history of gospel music featuring performances by Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Wards, the Staple Singers, the Blind Boys of Alabama and many more.

Tabloid, October 22 at 7pm: This film is about former beauty queen Joyce McKinney, who fell in love with a Mormon missionary, followed him to England, and kidnapped him and whisked him away to a ‘love cottage’ in a story the English tabloid press dubbed “The Case of the Manacled Mormon”.

Senna, October 22 at 9pm: The remarkable life story of charismatic Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna featuring never-before-seen footage from the Formula One archives. The film won the Audience Choice Award for World Cinema documentaries at Sundance this year.

The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-75, October 23 at 3pm: A powerful documentary chronicling the growth and evolution of the black power movement featuring never-before-seen footage of Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver as well as insightful commentaries from modern day artists and activists who were influenced by the movement’s leaders. The film won the Editing Award at Sundance this year.

Project Nim, October 23 at 5pm: By Academy Award winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire), who won the Directing Award at Sundance for his profile of ‘Nim Chimpsky’, Project Nim tells of a chimpanzee that was the subject of a landmark experiment that aimed to show that a chimp could learn to communicate with sign language if raised and nurtured like a human child.

You’ve Been Trumped, October 23 at 7pm: a David and Goliath story for the 21st century about a group of proud Scottish homeowners who take on celebrity tycoon, Donald Trump, when he tries to build a luxury home, hotel and golf course development on pristine coastal wilderness.

Fire in Babylon, October 23 at 9pm: The breathtaking story of how the West Indies side of the 1970s and 1980s emerged to dominate cricket at the highest level.

Featuring archive footage of their greatest triumphs, plus interviews with the charismatic members of the team, and a soundtrack featuring Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs and Burning Spear.