7 News Belize

Belize International Film Festival In Full Swing For Sixth Year
posted (July 15, 2011)
The Sixth Belize International Film Festival is underway at this hour with a red carpet opening.

And while most of us won't make it to that gala event, public relations officer for the even YaYa Marin says there's plenty for everyone to see, and best of all, it's super affordable...

Yaya Marin - Public Relations Officer - Film Festival
"Saturday and Sunday, from 3:15, they will begin to show films at the House of Culture, and Bliss. We have 16 feature films from around the world: Cuba, Jamaica, Barbados, Bangladesh, China, Venezuela. You name it, Belize, Belize, Belize. Belize has a developing cinema industry. We have films from Belize touching on environmental issues, social issues. The films, over all, are international films. A lot of them are sub-titled in English. And it addresses issues that we can relate to. It's an opportunity to travel vicariously through the film, and only $5 to see the film. We have quite a bit of the directors in the country. So you don't only go to see the film, you get to meet the directors. So please, people, come out. We like to say that we don't have anywhere to go, and The films start from 3:15. Thats the first showing. 5:15, 7:15 and 10:15. So you can't complain. It's an opportunity to bring out the whole family. My personal opinion, there is a film called Climate Refugees, and this particular film addresses how climate change affects people's lives. So you have, in this particular film, about 25 million displace people because of climate change. And it's not a political thing; it's a geographical reality for a lot of people. Well they have so many other films that I would recommend. I would recommend A Hand fist of Dirt. It's the one that deals with the land issue, where the family wants to hold onto the land because it's in the family for years, and somebody wants to sell the land because they need the money to "come up". That's important. You have Havana Eva: a movie out of Cuba - I love Cuban Films - where the sister wants to "come up", but she has a man that's lazy but looks good. And she has another one that offers her some money to allow her to "come up", and he has to choose between the two lovers. We have some Belizean Films. They have this one film - "Ah Kiant tek it noh moh", I believe it's named - where the brother needs a job; no job is out here. So he decides to sell some herb, and what's the reality of that. We have a documentary out of Colombia. And a major drug dealer, his son, and his wife, are telling their story, what it's like to have that lifestyle."

A correction to what YaYA said, the showtimes are 3:00, 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45. The festival runs form the 15th to the 19th July. You can learn more at the website, which you can find a link to a t 7newsbelize.com.

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