German feature film 'Paula's Secret' and the Spanish animated film 'Nocturna' took the top honours at the fifth BIFF Kids Film Festival.

The films were judged by a panel of Bermudian youngsters who entered a competition to win places on the jury.

The juries were split into two age groups and sitting on the age five plus jury were: Finn Hutton, aged eight and from Somerset Primary School, and Rosemary Swain, aged nine and from the Bermuda High School.

On the age eight plus jury were: Sophie Moniz, aged 11 and from the Bermuda High School, Alice Graham-Welton aged 11 also from the Bermuda High School and 12-year-old Antoine Jackson from Dellwood Middle School.

The younger jury selected 'Nocturna' as the top feature, while giving its Best Short Award to the Australian short film 'Triple Concerto in D Minor'.

The older jury selected 'Paula's Secret' as the best feature, and the Canadian film, 'Hannah's Story' and the Canadian-Ugandan co-production 'Anita's Africa', as co-recipients of the Best Short Award.

Twenty-eight films from 15 countries were screened during the three-day Festival, in addition to six short films made by Bermudian children in the BIFF Film Academy summer film production camps sponsored by Butterfield Bank.

More than 750 nursery and primary school students attended films as part of the Festival's school screening programme last Thursday and Friday at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute auditorium.