THE Bermuda International Film Festival will launch its eighth motion picture showcase next month, the climax of a year-long commitment from a staff of two and a host of dedicated volunteers.

Actual planning of this year's programme began soon after the conclusion of BIFF 2004. Only a few weeks after that event, organisers got together to highlight its strengths and discuss how they could improve on any weak points.

"The first step in preparing the next film festival is reviewing the past film festival," explained BIFF director Aideen Ratteray Pryse. "We do a post-mortem a couple weeks after the film festival while it's fresh in our minds ? things that work; things that didn't work. Things that we can change and so on. And then we have a break."

BIFF is powered by a staff of two ? Mrs. Ratteray Pryse and the charity's deputy director, Duncan Hall. Working in partnership with them is a team of volunteers.

"Aideen and I are on staff, but there's a management committee that helps put the festival together too and they all have people on their committees," said Mr. Hall.

"There's nearly 200 volunteers who actually help put the event on during the week ? who take tickets to theatres, pick people up at the airport, who staff the Front Room ? and when Aideen says 'we' take time off, the entire management committee has some downtime."

The pace picks up at the beginning of summer. Then, the BIFF programming committee begins a closer examination of what's being screened on the festival circuit. Winning and lauded documentaries, shorts and feature-length films are noted.

"Everything is done on a timeline," the director explained. "There is, in fact, a 19-page document called The Timeline. And once we've accomplished one thing, we just move on to the next deadline.

"We look at the summer festivals, the fall festivals. What's winning at the Cannes Film Festival and places like that. The programming committee starts meeting fairly regularly from about the end of June or the beginning of July, and then we start the call for entries."

The call for entries is made through advertisements in film magazines and on film web sites. This year, those efforts yielded close to 400 submissions. An increase over past years, it is explained partially by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' recent acknowledgement of BIFF as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category of the Academy Awards.

are also requested from certain winners on the circuit; according to Mr. Hall, BIFF representation at various festivals and industry connections helps keep them apprised of what's out there.

"We have a presence at the Toronto International Film Festival because it's close and cost effective, but also because it offers the best of the world cinema anywhere," he explained. "And we go to the International Film Festival in Rotterdam (held in January), for fresh content.

"But the members of our advisory board attend festivals too, and can make recommendations. (Advisory board member) David Poland was at (the Sundance Film Festival)made recommendations, and a film was offered to us.

"I wasn't at Sundance but I knew David regarded (the film) very highly, and so I was able to say yes pretty quickly. It helps that we've got a bit of a network and some friends out there now who can make film recommendations."

In tandem with the call for entries process, Mrs. Ratteray Pryse and Mr. Hall hold periodic meetings with the BIFF management committee. As the meetings become more frequent ? usually some time around September ? sub-committees are organised and volunteers are called on board.

With the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel as a principal partner and sponsorship provided by the Elbow Beach Hotel and the Ariel Sands Club & Cottages, a considerable amount of stress is removed for those responsible for finding accommodation for overseas BIFF attendees.

with fund-raising a year-round event, there is more time to devote to more pressing needs in the months leading up to the festival.

"The BIFF Foundation is headed up by Lorraine Hirschberg and Pat Philip-Bassett," said Mrs. Ratteray Pryse. "They are charged with organising special fund-raising events and promoting education and outreach for the Film Festival.

"We've done wine dinners. We've done silent auctions with Christie's. We ran a promotion around one of the movies. Those things take place outside of festival week ? on purpose. There's enough things happening during festival week."

Among the volunteers relied on are those in BIFF's programming committee. This year the group collectively viewed around 380 films.

"It's important that we have some good film watchers out there," said Mrs. Ratteray Pryse. "What we've found in the past is that each film needs to be watched by three people."

Added Mr. Hall: "The intensive film-watching period begins in the fall and goes into January, when we make our final decisions. We have some people ? we call them film watchers ? who help us to identify strong films.

"What comes through over time is a short list which we all watch. We're taking films home every night; people get together at weekends. It's a huge time commitment, especially on the part of volunteers ? we joke that there's a BIFF widows and widower society; spouses are asked to be very understanding. Especially for people who are volunteering, it's a labour of love but it's great fun and very interesting."

While most of the demands placed on the programming committee relax in January, the same cannot be said of other BIFF committees. With March looming, their duties are increased. Most meet every week until the festival has concluded.

"The thing about the festival is it's fresh and different every year," Mr. Hall said. "If I could sit down now and know which films will be great next September, October, November, December, my job would be a lot easier. We could do a lot of forward planning. As it stands, it's a lot of work compressed into a short amount of time."

Part of BIFF's success is that its organisers are able to maintain a local and international buzz.

"The local public relations is an ongoing process," Mrs. Ratteray Pryse said, explaining it was done largely through press releases to the media.

"On the international side, we work with the Bermuda Department of Tourism. The island is being marketed these days not just as a place for sand and sun, but as a cultural centre, a sporting centre and we're one of those events they promote."

What becomes an important selling point is that BIFF is able to reinvent itself. As part of that, the group relies on a different theme on which to base its wrap party each year.

"Planning for that probably started in November," the director said. "There's often materials and things that that need to be ordered from abroad, or props that need to be made."

ADDED Mr. Hall: "I think the thing that's fresh about a film festival, what makes it great, is that you reinvent yourself every year. Obviously there's certain guiding principles; things you do every year, but in terms of the film programming, I think that's kind of exciting. (Potential theatre goers) can't say, 'I saw it last year. I'll skip it this year'."

As far as major tasks go, one of the last tackled is finding a household name to host the event.

"That doesn't happen until toward the end of the year," said Mrs. Ratteray Pryse. "Actors and actresses are very much booked in terms of say, if someone drops out of a film they might get a call from someone asking if they can fill the role.

"Two days later, they're on set working on something they hadn't planned to do two weeks before. So we don't actually start to do that until December or January because if you try and do it any earlier, it doesn't fit the way the industry works."

Mr. Hall concurred: "The industry just doesn't work that way except for maybe directors. They tend to know what they'll be doing a little bit earlier because they've been attached to a project and been involved in the financing process.

"But actors and actresses are basically freelancers and when the phone rings, off they go. It'd be great if we could say to somebody we'd love to have you here in March 2006. But not a single person ? unless they're not getting very much work ? is going to be able to commit.

"So we learned a long time ago it's pointless asking until we get closer to the event, where they can see what their work schedule is going to be over the next three or four months."

q The eighth Bermuda International Film Festival will run March 18 through 24. Screenings will be held at the Southside Cinema in St. David's on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of that week with movies on offer at the Liberty Theatre, Little Theatre and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute during the entire week. Tickets will be available online at from Wednesday, March 2.

The box office opens at the BIFF Front Room ? located in the Number One Passenger Terminal on Front Street ? on Saturday, March 5 and will remain open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and also Sunday, March 20.