Five films from the Oscar shortlist, plus award winners from the world's top festivals, will screen at the Bermuda Documentary Film Festival (Bermuda Docs), April 23-25. The festival will be held in the Tradewinds Auditorium of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Tickets, $15, go on sale today at www.bdatix.bm, at the i-Store, 46 Reid Street, Hamilton, and at Fabulous Fashions, Heron Bay Plaza, Southampton. Tickets may also be ordered by phoning 232-2255.

'Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country' (Denmark), 'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers' (United States), and 'Which Way Home' (United States), were among the five documentary finalists for the Oscar. 'Mugabe and the White African' (United Kingdom-Zimbabwe-South Africa-Namibia), and 'Soundtrack for a Revolution' (United States), made the 15-film shortlist.

'The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls' (New Zealand) won the first People's Choice Award for Documentaries at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, widely considered North America's top film festival.

'The One Man Village' (Lebanon) won the Best International Feature award at the 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, widely considered North America's top documentary film festival. 'His and Hers' (Ireland) won a cinematography prize at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the top awards at the Galway and Dublin film festivals, while 'Sins of My Father' (Colombia-Argentina) screened at both Sundance and International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, widely considered the top documentary festival in the world. 'The Jazz Baroness' (United Kingdom) screened at the Hot Docs, Telluride and London film festivals.

The film line-up also features a nine-minute sneak preview of a work-in-progress series about democracy by Bermudian filmmakers Charles Reilly and Walt Cudlip, and their Canadian filmmaking partner Wendy Loten. 'Democracy 2.0 – Have You Upgraded Yet?' will screen on opening night.

"I am delighted with the quality of the festival line-up, which features the world's best documentary films," says festival director Duncan Hall. "It's a diverse programme, featuring comedy and music, love stories, highly personal films, as well as issue-oriented documentaries. I am pleased that two of the films, 'His and Hers' and 'Sins of My Father', will screen at Bermuda Docs before going on to screen at Hot Docs in Toronto a week later." Bermuda Docs is presented by Mini, and sponsored by Stella Artois, North Rock Communications Ltd., St. John's Trust Company Ltd., and the Bermuda Arts Council. Bermuda Docs is on Facebook.