Bermuda's top prizes go to Girls on the Wall, Music on Hold

The Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) wrapped its 2010 edition last night by awarding its two top prizes to US documentary Girls on the Wall, directed by Heather Ross, and Argentinian screwball comedy Music on Hold (Música en espera), directed by Hernán Goldfrid.

Girls on the Wall, which was especially well received by local Bermudian audiences, is about a theatre programme for teenage inmates of the Warrenville correctional facilty in Illinois. Encouraged to channel their anger into a piece of musical theatre, the ‘girls’ produce a show — under the guidance of veteran theatre director Meade Palidofsky — which is simultaneously emotional and redemptive. The film, represented for TV by PBS International, is currently without a theatrical sales agent.

Argentine comedy Music on Hold, which played at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in November 2009, is about a blocked composer who finds the theme for a soundtrack while on hold to his bank — a process which leads him into an offbeat romantic relationship with a frustrated bank employee. The film has been picked up by US boutique distributor Outsider Pictures.

Other BIFF awards included Best Documentary short, which went to US title Dive, about food wastage in Los Angeles; and Best Narrative short, won by Spanish title Because There Are Things You Never Forget.

BIFF, which ran from March 19-25 and is now in its 13th year, has a competitive section made up of work by first and second-time directors. The programme also includes a World Cinema section, including opening film 9:06 from Slovenian director Igor Sterk. Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric was the closing-night film.