Bahamas International Film Festival: Zoe Wittock’s Jumbo wins New Visions prize

Zoe Wittock’s Jumbo has won the New Visions prize at the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF).

It is the latest festival credit for the France-Belgium-Luxembourg co-production, which started at Sundance 2020 and has also worked at Berlinale and Jeonju. It was chosen for the Discovery prize at last year's European Film Awards.

The movie is loosely based on a story where a woman falls in love with a theme park attraction. The movie plot shows a character named Jeanne- a shy young female who works in an amusement park. The story shows that she is fascinated with carousels and still lives at home with her mother. That's when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park's new flagship attraction.

Wittock's debut feature stars Noémie Merlant as a young lady who works in an entertainment park and finds herself invited to the new flagship ride.

The BIFF Spirit of Freedom winners were Niav Conty's US drama Small Time, which debuted at Cinequest Film Festival in the US last year, and Brazilian indigenous rapper documentary My Blood Is Red, directed by Marcelo Vogelaar, Thiago Dezan, and Graceila Guarani. Shorts prizes went to Dekel Berenson's Nepalese title Ashmina, and a special notice for Mathieu Maunier-Rossi's Haitian short Three Blades.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the event was held virtually so that people from across the world could participate in the event despite being at their homes.

Coronavirus pandemic has forced all events to go online due to the social-distancing guidelines and travel restrictions on several countries.

Late last year, BIFF founder and managing director Leslie Vanderpool had also talked about the decision to run an online-only event and the ways in which the festival aimed to keep the spirit alive in a digital format.

Founder & Executive Director Leslie Vanderpool founded the Bahamas International Film Festival in 2004. The Bahamas International Film Festival is a non-profit composed film celebration that exhibits films from throughout the world to the local Bahamian community and international visitors.

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