The 7th Edition of the Belize International Film Festival is breaking records this year as it has received over 120 submissions from 24 different countries. 67 of those films were selected for the festival. But the magnitude of submissions is not the only record being broken.
The festival will open with a Belizean feature length movie directed and produced in Belize with an all Belizean cast.
It took about 6 days of filming, and we have a sneak peak of that for you now.
Matthiew Klinck - Make Belize Films
"The move is called 2012, Kurse a Di Xtabai. It's the first move, as far as I know, that is a supernatural thriller that is shot entirely in Belize with Belizean actors in Kriol. So it's really exciting. It takes place mostly out in the jungle and in the caves out behind San Antonio Village. And it's about a curse. If you've heard about Xtabai, she is basically released from an ancient Mayan, and she curses the village of San Antonio. And the Belizean Government is afraid that this fever that is spreading might leave the village and infect Belize City and other places. So they lock down the village with the military. A group of students escape out into the jungle to try to find a solution to the curse. And Like I say, it's a full Belizean cast, and we had a lot of fun."
Robin Schaffer
"What does this mean for the film festival that a Belizean film is actually going to be showing at it, and has been created for it?"
Mattiew Klinck
"I think that this huge news for the Belize Film Festival, and I think that it's huge news for Belize as well because I think that what we did here is that we proved that it's possible to create a film industry right here in Belize."
But these are not the only features which make this Film Festival exciting. In April we told you about animation workshops that were being held in Belize City. Well, that led to the development of an animation competition which, in conjunction with the Belize International Film Festival, is centered on the theme Maya Heartland 2012. Brent Tombs explained what the competition is about and what it means for Belize.
Brent Toombs - Board Secretary, BAVIA
"In conjunction with the film festival, BAVIA is once again running what we call the 'Show Me' animation competition, and we've tried to create a bit of a brand with 'Show Me'. Last year, we did a short film competition. This year, we are not doing that. We're just saying that it's strictly any animated short film that involved the theme of Maya Heartland 2012. And, we are looking for short films from 2 to 5 minutes in length, and we're going to have different categories. We're going to have 18 and under, and then over 18. For BAVIA, we're mostly concerned with the local production community. We're an association of industry professionals, people that work in audio-visual as our daily sort of bread and butter, and animation is one of the industries in Belize that we're really excited about because when you see the work that is being done, it's something that we want to encourage because obviously the type of work that we're doing, when it comes to animation, can stand on its own anywhere. And so, we're trying to encourage that as an industry association to encourage our members, and people who are interesting in this industry, to look at animation as a viable commercial opportunity."
The grand prize for the animation contest is $1000. Registration information will be announced on the BAVIA website. Tickets for the festival are available at the bliss. It is $50 to attend the opening night and walk the red carpet, and $10 per movie at the princess. The festival begins the 13th and ends on July 17th.
