The Belize International Film Festival Begins
The eleventh edition of the Belize International Film Festival will be held from November tenth to the thirteenth. The international festival brings in international judges to select the winners of music videos, feature narrative films, feature length and short documentaries, as well as short films. While the other categories see participants from around the world, the category that is exclusively for Belizeans is in music videography. This year seventeen videos will be competing for that award. The film festival says that the quality of the videos is exceptional this year. They held a press briefing to discuss this year’s festival. Director Suzette Zayden tells us what we can expect.
Suzette Zayden
Suzette Zayden, Director, Belize International Film Festival
“We have nineteen music videos but seventeen are in competition. There is a reason for that. I just wanted to share this. The music video section is, we are very interested and happy with the selections that came in. We had about thirty four submissions. This category only allows for music videos produced in the last year. It is not for music videos done from many years ago, because we are trying to gauge the progress done in this area. The category is a film category that is why it is a music. We don’t chose the videos based on who the artist is. We choose the video based on the technical production that has been done; how well the director mastered the cinematic language and what sort of story was being told; what sort of effort was made to really create something, instead of taking a camera and just put it in front of someone singing. For us, that is not quite a music video that is just someone singing in front of a camera. So, we looked at those criteria and perhaps the most important criteria are, because it is opened to Belizeans, which for is also Belizeans in the diaspora. It had to be a Belizean artist. We wish to use it to promote Belizean music only. It has to be a Belizean director whether living here or abroad and it has to be shot in Belize; which is another area that we are pushing where people can see Belize as a location. This is why two of them are in there because we really like them but they are not in competition. There are eleven feature narrative films, seven feature length documentaries, ten short films and six short documentaries.”
For a full list of the nominees you can check them on Belize International Film Festival website. This year to get tickets for the festival; you will be able to buy them online or get the regular paper tickets. News Five will be airing parts of the festival.
