REVIEW

Bermuda International Film Festival Treat
by Sally Fay Cottingham

Kerry Cottingham and Sally Fay Cottingham with Duncan Hall, Director PR of the BIFF. Photo courtesy of BIFF.

Boston's Sally Fay Cottingham, Lisa Kors (DINNER AND A MOVIE), Kerry Cottingham, and Director Peter Riegert (BY COURIER) between screenings at the Bermuda International Film Festival. Photo courtesy of BIFF.

My idea of heaven is sun, ocean, a film festival and a latte in hand! So when I found myself in Bermuda in April all of the above was exactly what I got at BIFF-Bermuda International Film Festival. Rock Island Cafe, one of the festival's sponsors, located right in the center of Hamilton, was the source for info and happenings on Biff. While I drank the best latte I ever had I checked the festival schedule and talked to locals.

Unfortunately, my time in Bermuda was limited so I only made opening night and the next day of lectures. It was luck that my family vacation overlapped with at least part of BIFF! Opening night kicked off with "One Night at McCool's", the first film produced out of Michael Douglas' new production company. The crowd in the theatre that night loved it and roared with laughter. Actually I didn't laugh very much but Peter Riegert, the actor now filmmaker, told me that was because I didn't get it. Maybe it was because my fourteen-year-old daughter was sitting next to me or maybe it was something else. Anyway, go see for yourself. Michael Douglas did not show but it didn't seem to bother the sold-out crowd that night.

I met Lisa Kors, a writer/producer/director, from the Berkshires, who was there with her 35mm on time, in under budget romantic comedy, DINNER AND A MOVIE. Kerry, my daughter and I headed over to another theatre to see her film screened. BIFF used two venues to hold all the screenings. FIVER, a short film from UK filmmaker, Simon Ellis, went before it.

Then it was off to the Opening night party for dinner and dancing. It was more meeting and seeing than anything. Duncan Hall, Dir. P.R. for the festival, was at hand greeting everybody. The night was balmy and the trees were swaying. Kerry and I left appropriately early but I know from seeing people the next morning that a party after that party went on to 2:00 a.m.

The next morning the BIFF workshops were held in Hamilton at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, a lovely setting for out-of-towners to visit. Lots of pastries, fresh orange juice and yes, coffee, were there to greet us as we headed into a lively, interesting panel discussing, "Telling the Story". My "new friends" whom I met the night before, Peter Riegert and Lisa Kors, along with Swedish writer, producer Anette Skahlberg, moderated by Roko Belic, writer/director, GENGHIS BLUES. Peter Riegert has made his directing debut with a 13-minute film based on an adaptation of an O'Henry story. He said he was reading one night and came across, BY COURIER and knew that this was the story for him. Lisa Kors used a lot of her own history and anecdotes trying to make it as an earnest documentary filmmaker as background for her lead character. Lisa didn't set out to make a story of "a love triangle romantic comedy" but with people perceiving it as such she's "selling" it as that! Anette Skahlberg works with her partner, Martin Lima de Faria, who directs what she writes. Moderator Roko Belic appreciates new ways at telling a story bringing up his good friend's film, MEMENTO. It was a dialogue with the audience, too, with a lot of participation from around the whole room.

Then I went to two other really interesting panels: one done on the role of the Press in Marketing Independent Films and one by lawyer, Mark Litwak, Attorney/Author (who by the way gave out a great hand-out of a feature film budget and the different areas a producer has to think about).

I could go on and on raving about BIFF. All I know is that NEXT YEAR I am planning on being there the whole time! It was a beautifully run festival with so many friendly and talented souls about. Plus it was sunny and lovely and Rock Island's coffee was the best.

Sally Fay Cottingham is an actress working in New England and residing in Cambridge, MA. She is a Board Member of Women in Film/Video New England and served as Co-Chairman of their 1999 and 2000 Image Gala Awards.