---

Dance, cahows and one couple’s intimate relations are three local world premiere films at this year’s Bermuda International Film Festival.

The festival, which this year runs for nine days, begins on March 17 and ends on March 25. More than 20 directors and producers attended last year’s film festival as well as nearly 20 members of the international press corps. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has also recognised BIFF as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the Annual Academy Awards.

This year, three local films will screen at the festival: Feature-length documentary, Rare Bird, short documentary, Three Extraordinary Weeks and short film, Take a Bath.

Rare Bird, directed by Lucinda Spurling, is the story of the Bermuda Petrel, the Cahow, and its fascinating history. The cahow was thought to be extinct for more than 300 years, until it was rediscovered nesting on the Castle Islands. Since then, the bird’s existence has been threatened by manmade development, invasive species, the pesticide DDT, global warming — and, in 2003, by the category four Hurricane Fabian. Spurling’s 81-minute film also tells David Wingate’s story, who, as a 15-year-old boy, helped to find the bird after it was thought extinct. Wingate went on to become Bermuda’s first conservation officer, and dedicated his life to ensuring the continuation of this unique species.

Rare Bird is Spurling’s third film in the festival. She wrote and edited the short film, The Light that Followed, which screened at BIFF 2002. The documentary film, St. David’s, An Island Near Bermuda, which was directed by Spurling, screened at BIFF 2004. As such, Rare Bird will screen in the festival’s competition documentary category, which is reserved for first- and second-time feature directors. It is also eligible for the festival’s jury prize for best documentary feature.

The second local film, Three Extraordinary Weeks, follows young local and international dancers during the National Dance Foundation (NDF) of Bermuda and the American Ballet Theatre’s three-week summer dance institute. The institute was held last August and students from Bermuda, the United States and Canada, chosen by audition, attended the intensive programme, a first for both the NDF and ABT. The film runs for 40 minutes.

“The National Dance Foundation is dedicated to providing world-class training opportunities to Bermuda’s talented dancers, and this first-ever summer intensive was a giant first step towards accomplishing that goal,” NDF chairman Don Kramer said in a press release. “We felt it represented a historic moment in the development of dance in Bermuda and we’re delighted that as an entrant in the Bermuda International Film Festival, we are able to share it with the Bermudian community.”

The third film, Take a Bath, is described as a short, sharp thriller starring Rebecca Hanson and Jym Brier. The film provides a disturbing, voyeuristic view of one couple’s intimate negotiations. Christian Zabriskie wrote the six-minute film and doubles as its director of photography. Steve Gallant composed the score.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale Wednesday March 8, online only, at www.biff.bm. The festival box office will open on Saturday March 11 at 10 a.m. at the BIFF Front Room festival headquarters at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, Hamilton.[[In-content Ad]]

---