Bermuda International Film Festival organisers are bringing the winning documentary from last month’s festival back to the screen as the BIFF Film Club’s April selection.

‘The Cats of Mirikitani’ will screen on Thursday, April 19 at 7.30 p.m. in the Tradewinds Auditorium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

The film also won the Audience Choice Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, and finished second in audience voting at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam.

‘The Cats of Mirikitani’ tells the story of 85-year-old Japanese American street artist Jimmy Mirikitani (pictured), who was born in Sacramento and raised in Hiroshima.

Filmmaker Linda Hattendorf finds him living on the streets of New York in January 2001. She decides to make a short film about the four seasons in the life of a homeless man — and in sunshine, rain, and snow, she returns again and again to document his drawings, trying to decipher the stories behind them.

The tales spill out in a jumble — childhood picnics in Hiroshima, ancient samurai ancestors, lost American citizenship, Jackson Pollock, Pearl Harbour, thousands of Americans imprisoned in Second World War desert camps, a boy who loved cats... As winter warms to spring and summer, she begins to piece together the puzzle of Mr. Mirikitani’s past. He has survived terrible traumas and is determined to make his history visible through his art. But what began as a simple portrait of one homeless man is transformed by the attack on the World Trade Centre. The filmmaker finds Mr. Mirikitani choking on the dust from the wreckage, and invites him into her home.

As she finds out more about his past, her plan for a short film evolves into a beautiful and moving documentary that is a heart-warming affirmation of humanity that will appeal to all lovers of peace, art, and cats.

“The film works on many levels to blend history and a story of personal suffering,” juror Stanley Nelson said at BIFF 2007 when awarding the Best Documentary prize to the film. “From the natural beginning of an unlikely friendship it takes us on a fantastic journey to reaffirm the redemptive power of caring and understanding.”

Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.biff.bm or can be purchased at the door. Tickets are $10, or $8 for BIFF Film Club members.

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