THE Bermuda International Film Festival this week announced that eight documentaries will screen in competition as part of the March event.

The category, limited to first- and second-time feature directors, includes two local films ? Lucinda Spurling's , a documentary about the rediscovery of the cahow some 325 years after it was thought to be extinct, and Canadian film-maker Errol Williams' documentary about a controversial civil rights activist, Bermudian Kingsley Tweed.

Mr. Williams won the BIFF Audience Choice Award in 2002 for his feature documentary, which focused in part on Mr. Tweed's involvement in the 1959 Theatre Boycott which began the process of desegregation in Bermuda.

"When we announced the local films in the Festival last week, it appeared that Errol was going to be unable to complete the film in time to screen at BIFF," said Festival director Aideen Ratteray Pryse. "But he arrived in our office last Friday to say that he had been successful in securing the necessary additional funding to finish the film.

"That is great news ? and gives us four local films in the line-up."

Four films from the United States and one each from Canada and Israel complete the category. , a feature-length film by Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist, "is about Anderson Sa, a former drug dealer in the (shanty towns) looming over Rio de Janeiro. Haunted by the murders of friends and family, he uses the power of music to rally his community to war against the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and sustained by corrupt police."

Also in the line-up is , by director Micha Peled.

As described by a Festival spokesperson, the documentary "takes film-goers inside a blue jeans factory, where Jasmine and her friends, Orchid and Li Ping, are trying to survive the harsh work environment. Shot clandestinely, the film has won numerous festival awards, including the Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, widely considered the world's best documentary film festival.", by director Ayelet Bechar, is described as a "startling look at life in Israel for Arabs". The film follows Kifah and Sudah, two newlywed Palestinian women and their experiences with the Citizenship Law which has been in effect since 2003. Under those regulations, residents of the Palestinian Authority are forbidden to enter Israel even if married to Israeli citizens.

", by director Jeff Pearson, is a fun, clever documentary that challenges the belief that Americans have freedom of speech," the spokesperson continued. "The film is deftly light and entertaining ? largely due to stand-up comedian Pearson's style of delivery ? while posing questions that are big and real.

"As the debate over who controls the Internet heats up, this film illustrates that the question is not answered easily or quickly since the control over radio, the Internet's elder cousin, is still up for grabs."

is by co-directors Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen and Jessica Joy Wise.

"(It is) an epic journey into the heart of heavy metal music by Mr. Dunn, an anthropologist and lifelong heavy metal fan. He visits heavy metal landmarks as far-flung as L.A.'s Sunset Strip, the dreary streets of Birmingham, England, and the dark forests of Norway, interviewing musicians, fans, and social commentators to figure out why heavy metal is consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned by some, while retaining a loyal and enthusiastic following."

The final documentary in the category is by director Pippa Scott. Based on the book of the same name, it highlights the exploitation of the Congolese people by European imperialists.

"The villainous behaviour of King Leopold II of Belgium, and explorer Henry Morton Stanley, are scrutinised ? as is the courage of journalist George Washington Williams, who worked diligently to expose the brutality and, in the process, coined the term 'crimes against humanity'."