Kubrick producer among the BIFF judges

Stanley Kubrick’s brother-in-law, producer Jan Harlan, is one of the Short Film Competition judges for this year’s Bermuda International Film Festival.

Harlan was brought to the island in 2013 by filmmaker Lucinda Spurling to run a screenwriting course for the island’s budding talent.

He worked with 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 (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.

Also on the judging panel is award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist film critic, Peter Rainer. Rainer has had reviews published by Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg News, Los Angeles Times and New York Magazine, among others and he is 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.

Also judging is Lauren Wissot, who sits on BIFF's International Advisory Board 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. She has attended BIFF a several times as a journalist but this is her first time in the role of juror.

The Bermuda International Film Festival is being held from March 21 to 27. The festival is one of only a few 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 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 around the world and feature an 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.