BOSNIAN director Srdjan Vuletic's feature film debut yesterday received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the seventh Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF).

Jury members Willem Dafoe, Carlos Cuaron and Guillermo Arriaga had high praise for the film, which depicts the seamier side of Sarajevo as seen through the golden light of summer.

"The film is very lyrical, but also very tough," said Mr. Dafoe, the Jury Chair. "It is poetic but not sentimental. Even though the genre is familiar to us, the story is told in a very fresh, character-driven way that undermines and toys with our expectations and normal patterns of empathy."

Other main festival prizes were won by (Best Documentary Feature, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman) and (Bermuda Shorts Award, director Andrea Arnold). Director Chris Shepherd's film earned an Honourable Mention in the short film category.

In , Ms Briski and Mr. Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children of prostitutes they come to know in the red light district of Calcutta after Ms Briski, a professional photographer, schools them in her medium and gives them cameras.

Jury members for Best Documentary Feature were Patricia Flynn (BIFF 2003 documentary winner for ) and magazine's Mark Salisbury.

Said Mr. Salisbury: "is a truly special film. Seeing the film is a life-changing experience. It has reset my life's barometer. The things I moan about now pale into insignificance. Zana is a truly astonishing woman for what she has achieved, and the difference she has made in the lives of these children with her foundation."

Ms Flynn agreed it was a film that left a great impact on its viewers.

"The film is a perfect example of socially committed film-making," she said. "The directors became very involved in the realities they were depicting, and the story is told from the point of view of the people in the film. You really feel that you are there with them, living their lives."

Helen Lee (2003 Bermuda Shorts Award winner for ) and Shane Smith of the Canadian Film Centre and the Worldwide Short Film Festival juried the shorts category. They had high praise for , which chronicles the life of a young single mother who lives on a bleak public housing estate in England.

"From the first frame, the performances were outstanding and the characters created had real dimension to them," Mr. Smith said. "You really got a sense of the milieu they were living in, which was captured from the opening frame. The film has a real Ken Loach, Mike Leigh feel to it."

Added Ms Lee: " is complex in its simplicity. I like the focus on seemingly small events. The people in the film lead a very dark life. To me, one of the hardest things is to find hope in that darkness and there were those moments throughout the film."

Honourable Mention in the Bermuda Shorts category went to , by director Chris Shepherd, whose compelling story of friendship and denial, is told through a series of ghostly reminiscences and visual flashbacks of a young man's fragmented memories from his past.

"has incredible technique, style and power," Mr. Smith said. "It was a disturbing film, and will stay with me for a long time."

Seventy-one films from 26 countries screened at BIFF 2004, the largest line-up ever.

Said a BIFF spokesperson yesterday: "Our film line-up was the strongest yet, and that has been reflected in our attendance, which will set a record for the event."