International Film Festival

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The 14th edition of the Belize International Film Festival (IFF) takes place between November 6 to November 10 and will feature a plethora of films from fifty-eight countries. But before the actual festival starts, there was a Wine, Cheese, and Movie event where a viewing of “Sprinter”, a Jamaican film directed by Will and Jada Smith, was premiered.
There, Nigel P. Miguel, Film Commissioner of Belize, shared the commission’s intent to do more projects that are 100% Belizean produced. “This is the type of work that we can do here in this country, from our production partners,” he added. He says that one of the differences for this year’s festivals is that there will be persons who can actually fund the projects available at the festival.
One of the night’s sponsors was the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and to deliver their remarks for the Spotlight Taiwan Grant was Hugh H. M. Liu, Second Secretary. He has only been in the country for a month and while he is very “fresh”, as he calls it, he is eager to begin his work, including their support toward the festival. “A movie is the most important way to know a country so like we can watch this Jamaican movie and know about Jamaica, we encourage everyone in Belize to watch Taiwanese movies and to know about Taiwan,” he said. In the first week of November, when the actual festival starts, there will be the screening of a Taiwanese movie called “On Happiness Road”. “It is a story about a girl, from childhood to when she’s grown up; so it is from the 1970s to 2010s. It is not only her story, but also the history and record of Taiwan in this forty years.”
Suzette Zayden, Associate Director, Institute of Creative Arts (ICA) – National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) and Founder and Director of the Belize IFF then announced the official selection. According to Zayden, this year has seen the most submissions, over 250, from as many as fifty-eight countries, all which had to be selected manually.
In the feature length narrative category, where there were forty-four submissions, twelve were chosen. Those include “10 Seconds to Win”, Brazil; “Black Ashes”, Costa Rica; “Harpoon”, Belize/USA; “Love Lives Here”, South Africa; “On Happiness Road”, Taiwan; “September”, Guatemala; “Sprinter”, Jamaica/USA; “The Black People”, Mexico; “The Bottle”, Belize; “The Sweet Taste of Salted Bread and Undies”, The Philippines; “The Return”, Cuba; and a twelfth closing film which has not yet been announced.
There were over fifty submissions in the feature length documentary category of which eight were chosen. In the short narrative category, only twenty-one items could be chosen out of the more than 100 submissions. Those are as follows: “My Father Belize”, Belize/USA; “Tecuani and the Duende”, Belize; “Deliverer”, Trinidad and Tobago; “We Will Live”, Cayman Island; “Flight”, Jamaica; “Sides of a Horn”, USA/South Africa; “IGF”, Canada; “Oseyi and the Masqueradors”, Dominica; “Amanie’s Veil”, Brazil; “The Infiltration”, Argentina/Brazil; “Fragments of Time”, Mexico; “God’s Door”, Egypt; “Pozole”, USA; “Waves”, Brazil; “My life with You”, Brazil; “Fakana”, “The Black Pen”, and “The Red Ball” each from Tonga; and “Koriva”, “My Mother’s Blood”, and “The Education of Grayson Toki”, all from Papua New Guinea.
Fifty-two submissions were entered in the short documentary category and ten were chosen. In the music video category, approximately thirty-submissions were received, ten of which were chosen. Those are “On Da Radio”, Ras Indio; “Stop the Violence”, T. R. Shine; “Hamala”, The Garifuna Collective; “Bombest Love”, Marilyn Vansen; “Styling”, Nello; “Bun Down Babylon”, Dice Pandy; “Any Means”, T.Y. ft. Rush; “Woodgrain”, Leigh Paris; “A Girl Like You”, Supa G; “Namule”, Concego; “Ratings”, Dice Pandy; “Chocolate”, Marilyn VAnsen; and “Striving”, Trouble.
There are some sidebars, including something called “Green Globe” and “Branded Entertainment.” Bowen and Bowen advertisements were the submissions in the latter segment.