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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
February 2005 marks the third successive year of the Belize International Film Festival and the inauguration of the PALAPA Center for Audiovisual support and Development. Palapa is a not for profit company with the mandate of providing training opportunities to Belizean audiovisual industry professionals and our youth as well as that of being the umbrella organization for future festivals.
For local movie buffs, the Belize International Film Festival has come to symbolize their opportunity to see independent films from all over the world that they might otherwise never get a chance to see in Belize; as well as the opportunity to socialize with friends, old and new, who share similar interests.
For the growing audiovisual industry sector of Belize, this festival serves as an impetus to create their own films by providing them with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills by participating in production workshops and trade seminars hosted by international filmmakers as well as the chance to network with other players in the local, regional and international filmmaking industry who have been invited to Belize especially for that purpose. |
Suzette Zayden
Festival Director
Owner, Fer de Lance Productions
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The Belize International Film Festival is a vibrant cultural industry onto itself that is well on its way to becoming an established forum for filmmakers in the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico. Last year we forged regional links with Barbados, Jamaica and Guatemala . This year our invited guests hail from Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and include the director of the first feature film ever made in the English speaking Caribbean, The Right and The Wrong (Trinidad & Tobago, 1969) as well as the Director of CINERGIA, the first film production fund set up specifically for film projects from Central America and Cuba.
Welcome to Belize. A dynamic festival of entertaining films and networking opportunities awaits all who dare to take advantage of it.
Suzette Zayden
Festival Director
Owner, Fer de Lance Productions
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