Bahamas International Film Festival Dailies

Most Diverse BIFF Yet Opens and Closes With Strong Female-driven Academy Award® Contenders

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) announced today the two features that will bookend the Festival as the Opening and Closing Night films. Director Todd Haynes’ beautiful feature film, “Carol”, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara will raise the curtain at this year’s festival as the official Opening Night Film in Nassau on December 9 while Amy Berg’s critically acclaimed Janis Joplin documentary, “Janis: Little Girl Blue”, will bring the week’s festivities to an end in celebratory fashion as the official Closing Night film. The announcement was made today by BIFF Founder and Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool.

Vanderpool, said, “I’m excited to be showing two amazing and powerful films to open and close the Nassau component of our Festival this year. ‘Carol’ has created such a buzz internationally and our Caribbean premiere of Todd Haynes’ film on Opening Night will be a highly sought-after ticket at BIFF. ‘Janis: Little Girl Blue’ is an important documentary and a very special choice for BIFF”s Closing Night screening. It’s a culturally important film and is a fitting finale to our Festival program as we expand BIFF with our “Music and Film” component, and continue our important focus on women in film. Both films are likely frontrunners in the coming Awards Season in Hollywood.”

“Carol” is set in 1950s New York and tells the story of Therese, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman named Carol. The movie features luminous, highly-praised performances from multiple Oscar® winner Cate Blanchett (“Truth”; “The Monuments Men”; “Blue Jasmine”) and Rooney Mara (“The Social Network”; “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) and masterful direction from Todd Haynes (“I’m Not There”; “Far From Heaven”.) The screenplay was written by Phyllis Nagy, adapted from the novel “The Price Of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”; “Strangers On A Train”). Producers are Elizabeth Karlsen (“Hyena”; “Byzantium”) Tessa Ross (“Room”, “12 Years A Slave”) Christine Vachon (“Still Alice”; “I’m Not There”) and Stephen Woolley (“Great Expectations”; “Byzantium”). The film is a Weinstein Company release in the U.S.

Officially long-listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 87th Annual Academy Awards®, “Janis: Little Girl Blue” is an inspiring celebration of Janis Joplin’s life and music. Amy Berg wrote and directed the documentary based on the life of the iconic singer/songwriter. On stage and on camera, Joplin frequently projected an image of being high and happy-go-lucky. Berg's film reveals a more vulnerable character who cycled in and out of addictions and channeled her emotions into her art. Contemporary singer Cat Power (a.k.a. Chan Marshall) does an uncanny job of recreating Joplin's voice in readings from her letters. But the dominant voice is Joplin's own, in extraordinary performances drawn from both classic and rare footage. Academy Award®-winner Academy Award® winner Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side,” Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”) produced the film through his Jigsaw Productions banner with Amy Berg, Jeff Jampol (“The Doors: When You’re Strange”) from JAM, Inc. and Katherine LeBlond. Content Media handles international sales for the film.

A sixties-themed Gala Closing Night Party at the Graycliff will follow the screening on December 12, and tickets to the screening and the party – as well as the Opening Night Film and Reception – are available online at http://www.bintlfilmfest.com/box_office or through the BIFF Phone App.

BIFF 2015 kicks off on Tuesday, December 1^st and will run through Saturday, December 12^th, showcasing more than 130 films from 40 different countries, including nine international premieres and 28 Caribbean premiers.

For the fourth consecutive year, BIFF will be coming to Harbour Island on December 1-4, showcasing ten feature and short films and hosting the Screenwriters Residency Program. BIFF will then screen all short films in a festival-within-a-festival on Governor’s Harbour December 5-8, and will also present a Master Class for Music and Film there. The Festival then concludes in Nassau with the main program lineup of features and documentaries, along with some select shorts, screening from December 9-12.

About the Bahamas International Film Festival

The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a nonprofit organization committed to providing the local community and international festival-goers with a diverse presentation of films from The Bahamas and around the world. In addition to showcasing films that might not otherwise be released theatrically, BIFF provides unique cultural experiences, educational programs, and forums for exploring the past, present and future of cinema. BIFF aims to raise the level of filmmaking, participation and education throughout The Bahamas and the world. For additional information, please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com