The Bermuda International Film Festival 2007 prizewinners Robert Favreau and Linda Hattendorf will return to the Island to sit on the jury of the upcoming film festival.

Mr. Favreau's film, 'A Sunday in Kigali', won the Bacardi Limited Audience Choice Award, while Ms Hattendorf's film, 'The Cats of Mirikitani', won the Best Documentary award.

They are joined on the Jury by Academy Award winning producer Charles Bishop ('Bowling for Columbine'), Emmy and Sundance Award winning director Peter Raymont ('Shake Hands With the Devil: the Journey of Gen. Romeo Dallaire'), Canadian short filmmaker Ted Bezaire (the award-winning 'Pria') and Bermudian filmmaker Al Seymour, Jr. ('Raptiles on de Rock', 'Paper Byes').

The festival jury is charged with the duty of deciding the winning films in three categories: Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Award for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, and the M3 Wireless Bermuda Shorts Award. The members of the jury are:

Robert Favreau is an acclaimed director of fiction and documentary films and television programmes. His film, 'A Sunday in Kigali', won the Bacardi Limited Audience Choice Award at BIFF in 2007 and four other audience awards in festivals throughout the world.

It also won three Best Film Awards and Fatou N'Diaye, the main female character, won the Best Actress Award in Marrakech and Kuala Lumpur. Robert's other features include 'Portion d'eternite' (1989), 'Nelligan' (1991), and 'Trois femmes, un amour' (1993).

Another of Mr. Favreau's films, 'The Orphan Muses' (2000) was nominated for four Genie Awards in Canada, including best director. He is currently working on three projects – 'Big Bang', 'Justice.com', and 'Trapped' – that he hopes to shoot in the next three years.

Charles Bishop's producer credits include the Academy Award winning feature documentary, 'Bowling for Columbine'. Operating his own production company until 1998, he merged with Salter Street Films and began managing the company's production slate.

In 2001, he took on the job of overseeing television series (fiction) worldwide for Alliance Atlantis Entertainment. Mr. Bishop and his business partner Michael Donovan, co-founded Halifax Film Company in 2004. Their most recent film is 'Shake Hands With the Devil', directed by Roger Spottiswoode.

Linda Hattendorf was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and holds degrees in literature, art history and media studies.

She has been working in the New York documentary community for more than a decade, primarily as an editor and more recently as a director and producer.

Her editing work has aired on PBS, A&E, and the Sundance Channel as well as in theatrical venues and many festivals. Ms Hattendorf directorial debut, 'The Cats of Mirikitani', won the Best Documentary Award at BIFF in 2007, and continues to be invited to festivals worldwide. The film has won awards at some 20 festivals, including prizes at Tribeca, Tokyo, Quito, Bologna, Durban, Galway, Seoul, and Lyon. She is currently developing a documentary on peace.

As a filmmaker, journalist and writer, Peter Raymont has produced and directed more than 100 documentary films and series during a 34-year career.

He is the recipient of 35 international awards including a share of the 2007 Documentary Emmy for 'Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Gen. Romeo Dallaire', which screened at BIFF in 2005, and won the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentaries at Sundance in 2005.

Peter's latest film, 'A Promise to the Dead: the Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman', screens at BIFF as a Special Presentation.

Local filmmaker Al Seymour, Jr.has been immersed in film and television for most of his life. Born and raised in Bermuda, he began to make backyard movies and animation with an 8mm movie camera beginning in 1973. He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1984 and in 1999 founded Seymour Artists Animation.

Seymour Artists have produced two animated films, 'Raptiles on de Rock', which have screened at festivals around the world, including BIFF and as far away as Hiroshima, Japan.

He also was Director of Cinematography on Bermuda's first commercially marketed entertainment film, 'Paper Byes' and produced Bermuda's first animated cartoon for television, 'The Blue Manta'. He is currently the Programme Manager of CITV, the Bermuda Government television station.

Theodore Bazaire was born in Windsor, Ontario, where he began making films at an early age. He has directed a number of short films, including 'Stamps', 'The Putting Edge', and the award-winning 'Pria', which have screened at festivals around the world.

Pria screened at the BIFF Kids Children's Film Festival in 2007. He has worked with a variety of professional organisations, including Telefilm Canada, CBC, CFTPA, TV Ontario, and Corus Entertainment.

Mr. Bazaire recently co-wrote and directed the feature film, 'Things to Do', which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and was released theatrically in January in the United States. He is currently living in Toronto, and developing two projects with the support of Telefilm Canada.

Tickets to BIFF 2008 are available now from the festival website, www.biff.bm, or from the box office at Washington Lane, Hamilton. The box office is open daily, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the exception of Sunday, March 30 when it will be open from noon to 3 p.m.

The mission of the Bermuda International Film Festival is to advance the love of independent film from around the world, and create a community welcoming to filmmakers and filmgoers.

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