Cannes prize-winnerMoscow, Belgium, directed by Christophe Van Rompaey added another to its mantelpiece of awards by picking up Best Feature Film at the Bermuda International Film Festival, which wrapped at the weekend (March 28), at the end of one of the coldest March weeks in the mid-Atlantic island’s history.

Best Documentary went to SXSW hit Garbage Dreams. Directed by Mai Iskander, the film tells the remarkable story of the ‘Zaballeen’ who, in the absence of a municipal refuse service, collect Cairo’s rubbish and recycle the materials to an extent commercial operations would never dream of.

US director Alex Fazeli’s In the Dark, set in Iran in 1979 in the brief period between the collapse of the old regime and the birth of the Islamic Republic, won Best Short. And the Audience Award went to local film-maker Lucinda Spurling for The Lion And The Mouse, which uses archive film and re-enactment to reveal just how significant Bermuda was in influencing the birth of the United States.

The Festival - the 12th - opened with Danish war drama Flame & Citron, with star Thure Lindhardt (Flame) on hand to answer audience questions; and closed with Nick Stringer’s UK/German/Austrian wildlife documentary Turtle: The Incredible Journey, represented by producer Sam Taylor of Film & Music Entertainment.

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