The upcoming BIFF Kids Film Festival was born out of the larger cinematic event that has captivated adult audiences for the last 11 years. In October, the children of Bermuda will be treated to films from all over the world and have the opportunity to judge, for themselves, which movies will take home the top prize in the both the feature and short film categories. BIFF Festival Director, Aideen Ratteray Pryse sat down with Mid-Ocean News reporter Lindsay Kelly to chat about how she get into the movie business, the importance of filmmaking and what's in store for the Kids Festival.

Q: You trained as an urban planner and then worked for the Department of Planning. How did you get into doing something so different?

A: When I was at university I was always liked watching films so that part is not new. In fact, I was involved in the film society when I was at McGill University.

On coming back to Bermuda, I helped out the Bermuda Festival where they did have some element of film in their programming but it really didn't take off.

It was a thought on the part of my father, (former Cabinet Minister) Dr. Stan Ratteray and another gentleman, Stan Chetkowski who were both very much involved in the Bermuda Festival and thought that film could be showcased in Bermuda.

So they bounced the idea to a group of us friends who all liked film and we thought about it, had a few meetings and decided a film festival would be the way to go because we could screen films that wouldn't ordinarily get to Bermuda. So the idea was always to screen films that wouldn't necessarily show up in the local theaters. It's not Hollywood fare, it's more independent.

Q: What was the first year of the BIFF?

A: The first year of the Bermuda International Film Festival was 1997, so this upcoming year will be our 12th year.

Q: Have you created any or been in any movies yourself?

A: No (laughs). I'm not that creative and I certainly can't act to save my life.

Q: In your opinion, what is the cultural, political and educational importance of films?

A: (The cultural, political and educational implications) of film are hugely important. It's one of the things that I think has ensured that the Film Festival has been as popular as it is and a reason why it continues to be a sought-after event. You can learn so much through film. People who can't be bothered to read a book can learn about a country or a society and their cultural traditions through film. The potential to learn is fantastic.

Q. Has BIFF been popular right from the start?

A. It was definitely successful from its first year. It wasn't as large as it is now but if you measure success in terms of people enjoying the movie selection, filmmakers having a great time, sponsors enjoying the event, all the elements that need to come together to make something be more than just a flash in the pan, came together in that first year.

It turns out that through hard work on the part of what is largely a volunteer situation, we have developed a reputation of being one of the really good film festivals on the film festival circuit.

It was an interesting start because we didn't have a lot of sponsorship in place when we first started and we decided to go ahead and do it anyway.

We had BTC, Logic, which was called Internet Bermuda Ltd. at the time and PartnerRe who obviously saw something special in the event and have supported us ever since, which is just fantastic.

First year we had 22 films, including short features, documentaries, etc., and we have now settled on between 75 and 80 for the 2009 festival in March.

Q: Wow - that's a huge increase in films.

A: There are film festivals out there that screen 300 films so ours is what they call, in the U.S., a regional film festival.

Q: What are some of the bigger film festivals?

A: There are films festivals that filmmakers will always want to have their films screened at. The major ones are Sundance, Toronto, Cannes and Berlin.

Q: The BIFF Kids Film Festival is coming up - how did that get started?

A: We started the Kids Film Festival in 2004 so this is the fourth year. Initially, with the Bermuda Film Festival, we didn't screen any children's movies. However, we had some requests by the members of the management committee who had children to screen some children's films. So we started to do that and quickly realised there was a demand for these types of films.

At the time Butterfield Bank was interested in becoming more involved in the event and when we sat down to discuss the possibilities, we realised we could actually have a separate BIFF Kid's Film Festival if we had a sponsor in place. Fortunately, for us, Butterfield Bank was interested and the Kid's Film Festival has been presented by Butterfield Bank ever since.

Q. Have you received a lot of good feedback about the event?

A: Yes, the interesting thing about the Kid's Film Festival is that a number of the better children's movies come not from the US but more from Europe and Canada.

As a result, we are screening films with subtitles for children even at a pretty young age. If a film is for children aged nine and up, we expect them to be able to read the subtitles. And you know what? They can. I think if you challenge children, they will rise to the challenge and will succeed.

As you would expect in Europe, where they do get a lot of the Hollywood films, they are subtitled in that country's language so those children grow up expecting to read subtitles.

On the Western side of the world, however, you don't expect subtitles. So I think one of the positive things that is coming out of the film festival is that we are expanding the horizons, certainly cinematically, of children in Bermuda. Also in terms of subject matter we try and mix it up a bit and include some documentaries in the line up so there are distinct learning opportunities.

Q: Tell me about the judging element - children are the judges who will pick the winning movie?

A: We have been having children as judges from the beginning. That element came about because we, through some of the other education programmes we do with children, for example our animation workshop, discovered there were quite a lot of children who were interested in film.

We found that they were happy to sit and watch films for several hours at a time and then go through the process of what they liked about it, what they didn't like about it, what they would give the movie on a scale of one to five. They were willing to absorb the experience.

The first year we did it, I remember there was an eight or nine-year-old girl who entered the essay contest to be on the judging panel and we had selected her. I don't think the girl's mother had realised she had entered the competition so her mother was tentative asking "How many movies does she have to watch?"

The girl had to actually watch quite a lot of movies and the mother said, "Well, I'll bring her the first day but if she's really tired, I don't know if she'll be able to do the second day."

But as it turns out - both days were no problem. The girl was keen and attentive and I remember one of the films she watched was actually dubbed and afterwards the girl leaned over to Vicky Zabriskie, who was in charge of the jury that year and said: "Well, do I need to consider (when judging) that the characters lips aren't moving in time with the sound?"

A very keen and perceptive comment for an eight or nine year old. She was just wondering if that was one of the aspects that she needed to take into consideration.

Q: How many kid's films are there this year?

A: There are 20 to 30 films that we have on the programme list and then there are 11 films that were made by campers from our summer camp.

Q. Are there any films that are of particular interest this year?

A: There are a couple films, including Hannah's Story which is a short documentary about Hannah who, at the age of five, sees her first homeless person. A year later she had begun a foundation to feed and shelter the homeless. We see her at the age of 11 - truly inspiring.

Anita's Africa is a short documentary also that shows the daily life of ten-year-old Anita who lives in Uganda (see below). It is eye opening and delightful at the same time.

JUMP! is a feature-length documentary that is just amazing. It follows five teams of teenagers competing in jump rope competitions. This is not to be confused with the skip rope you remember from junior school - this is serious. Modern jump rope is part extreme sport and part art form and the competitors are incredible.

Paula's Secret is an absorbing fiction film that deals with discrimination, class inequalities and justice. Paula is a young girl living a privileged life whose backpack is stolen. When she, with a friend, tries to recover the backpack she is introduced to the underworld of illegal child labour. The movie provides for an unusual learning experience that is not at all preachy.

Q. What do you think is the hardest part of making a movie?

A. I've never made a film but certainly from years of watching them, it seems to me, that the hardest part of making a movie is having discipline in the editing stage. That would be my take as a viewer.

There are so many films that start off well and when you get to the end you just think "Why didn't they cut out 15 minutes or why did they jump from this subject to that subject. It could have been so good!" Sometimes I think it's because the movie is the filmmaker's baby and they don't want to leave any of it on the cutting room floor because they think all of it is relevant but the reality is that it's probably not.

Q. Who is your favourite actress?

I've been asked this question before and it's curious that my answer has not changed. I think that Meryl Streep is talented beyond belief. I'm not sure I could point to a particular movie of hers, I just think that overall out of all of the performances that I've watched over the years, whenever someone asks me this question, the name that always comes to my mind is Meryl Streep. Here ability to completely absorb the character and become the character is very impressive.

Q. What about your favourite movie?

A. I can't give a one-movie answer because it's impossible. You only give a list of movies. The genres are so different, you have romantic comedies, dramas, documentaries, science fiction and I like everything, except for Westerns.

For more information about the BIFF Kid's Film Festival visit www.biff.bm