Directors, actors and filmmakers begin a series of panel discussions today as part of the Bermuda International Film Festival.

The “Talks with Film Professionals” runs through Friday at the City Hall lobby lounge in Hamilton, beginning at 5.30pm.

Film screenings will begin on each of those days at 6.30pm in the Earl Cameron Theatre at City Hall.

The discussions will feature a range of guests including Bafta award-winning director Mike Newell; Bermudian actress Joanne Tucker; Bermudian filmmakers Antoine Hunt, Bayard Outerbridge, Lara Smith and Milton Raposo, and visiting filmmakers, including longtime BIFF attendee Neil Leifer.

Today's talk, “Producing across Borders”, will feature an all-Bermudian panel of filmmakers Lara Smith (The Isles of the Queen: Bermuda), Milton Raposo (FABRIC: Folklore) and Antoine Hunt (A Story of Mezcal).

The Isles of the Queen: Bermuda, the documentary on which Ms Smith and Mr Raposo worked, screened on Sunday in the Tradewinds Auditorium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Mr Hunt's documentary film will screen this Saturday at 6pm in the Earl Cameron Theatre.

Tomorrow, Being on Camera will feature Bermudian actress Joanne Tucker, whose credits include The Report, Listen up Philip, and Gayby.

On Thursday, Shooting on Location will feature Mr Outerbridge and short filmmakers Amanda Renee Knox (Night Call, winner of the Bermuda Shorts competition at BIFF in 2018), Brian Long (My Name Is), and Tracy Chutorian Semler (Playing with Matches).

Mr Outerbridge's short film >i>Aleppo screens on Saturday at 6pm in the Earl Cameron Theatre. It is paired with the documentary, A Story of Mezcal.

On Friday, “Director/Producer Corner” will feature Bafta award-winning director Mike Newell, who will receive the Prospero Award for Excellence in Film from BIFF at the festival's Awards Celebration on Sunday; producer Peter Raymont from Toronto's White Pine Pictures, whose film The Corporate Coup d'État is screening at BIFF; producer, director and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member Neil Leifer, whose short film Playing with Matches is screening at BIFF, and Cheryl Staurulakis, principal of Orama Filmworks and co-founder of Global Film Fund.

Mr Raymont's documentary film will screen on Friday at 3pm at Earl Cameron Theatre, while Mr Leifer's film will screen on Thursday as part of the competition shorts film set at Speciality Cinema, which runs from 12.15pm to 1.45pm.

Attendance at the panels is free.

Tickets to festival films and the Awards Celebration are on sale now at biff.ptix.bm.