Top British filmmaker Nik Powell will serve as a juror in the upcoming Bermuda International Film Festival.The co-founder of Virgin Records with Richard Branson is also responsible for a slew of award-winning films including ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘The Crying Game’ and ‘Little Voice’.He is currently director of the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom, vice chairman of the European Film Academy and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts board.His job here will be to select the winner of the Bermuda Shorts Award.There are 50 entries in this year’s Shorts category, the largest number that BIFF has seen.The entries hail from all over the world, including Sweden, Peru, Israel, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and feature a wide array of characters from a financially-strapped doctor moonlighting as a taxi driver, to a young female wrestler and a Palestinian boy living in the Gaza strip.“The standard of entries for the Bermuda Shorts Award gets higher and higher every year as BIFF becomes more well-known and established within the filmmaking community,” said David O’Beirne, BIFF programming director. “The decision-making process was incredibly tough this year leading us to decide to present an expanded shorts programme to the jury.“The crowd also gets their say too with an Audience Choice Award.”Over 80 films will screen as part of the 15th annual event. There are five film strands in addition to the Bermuda Shorts programme: World Cinema, Masterworks, Modern Masters, After Hours and BIFF Kids.Other jurors include Bermudian producer Michael Frith, who is perhaps best known for his work with ‘The Muppets’, Fulbright Scholar Leslie Taubman, and film aficionado, Keith Caesar, host of ‘Filmmakers’ Corner’ on Bermuda’s CITV.Due to budget constraints only a select number of short films will screen publicly as part of BIFF 2012.Those selected will screen at Liberty Theatre, either preceding a feature-length presentation or as part of one of the three short film packages.BIFF runs March 16 to 22. See www.tickets.biff.bm for tickets and scheduling information.