Belize has new Films Commissioner

The post of film commissioner was vacant until late last year following the passing of Emory King. And the appointment of Nigel Miguel was largely unnoticed last September, but a release today from the Institute of Creative Arts says that Miguel has been working closely with NICH to set up the Belize Film Commission via which all requests for filming activities in Belize will now be processed. Miguel was born in Belize but grew up to be a six feet five inches tall basketball player for the UCLA Bruins. While in college he made links in the film industry and those links gave him opportunities after an inoperable heel injury ended his basketball career. He has acted in movies such as Colors, White Men Can’t Jump, Forget Paris and the Air up There. Miguel has also worked as a basketball technical advisor on the movies Space Jam and Elizabethtown and also as an advisor for Nike commercials. He has doubled for Michael Jordan and even as alien number four in the sci-fi hit movie Aliens Resurrection. His latest televised appearance was in 2008’s Four Square Miles to Glory, a documentary honoring a string of prized NBA and college players who emerged from Mount Vernon, New York. Miguel says as film commissioner he will push the government of Belize and the private sector to further develop the film industry and build the infrastructure that will allow foreign filmmakers to complete film productions in the jewel.