The Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) will this year boast an all-female jury, headed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Eva Orner.

Ms Orner produced the 2007 documentary ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’, which detailed the killing of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar who was beaten to death while being held in extrajudicial detention. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2008.

The Australian filmmaker also produced ‘Gonzo: The Life and Works of Dr Hunter S Thompson’, ‘The Human Behaviour Experiments’, ‘Herbie Handcock’s Possibilities’ and ‘The Network’, which will be screened at BIFF this year.

She will be joined in the jury by multi-award-winning director Julia Loktev, whose 1998 documentary ‘Moment of Impact’ won the Directing Award at Sundance and the Grand Prize at Cinema Du Reel in Paris.

Film publicist Susan Norget will be the third juror on the panel. Her company, Susan Norget Film Promotion, has championed celebrated filmmakers including Lars Von Trier, Werner Herzog and the Dardennes Brothers.

The trio will this year judge a line-up of 30 short films — narrowed down from more than 500 submissions — with the winning film becoming eligible for consideration in the 2014 Academy Awards for the prize of Short Film (Live Action).

A spokeswoman for the film festival said this year’s short films boast a wide variety of characters, including a rogue scientist, an explorer in the North Pole, a professional safe-cracker and the Queen’s dog walker.

David O’Beirne, BIFF’s Programming Director, said: “We were bowled over by the quality and volume of short films submitted this year.

“We are using well-known industry software, Withoutabox, for the first time this year to allow online submissions, which has helped to streamline the process and offer budding filmmakers across the globe a chance to screen in Bermuda.

“Feedback tells us that BIFF has a great reputation among filmmakers and that is something we are very proud of, and we are delighted to once again be welcoming several overseas filmmakers to the island to attend their screenings and offer Q&A sessions.”

The Bermuda International Film Festival will be held between April 12 and 18. Tickets are available online at www.ptix.bm.