Some 30 filmmakers, 24 of them from overseas, are attending the ninth Bermuda International Film Festival, March 17-25.

The visiting filmmakers, and their Bermuda-based counterparts, will add to festival week by introducing their films, conducting question and answer sessions after the screenings ? and sitting on lunchtime Chats With? panel discussions at # 6 Passenger Terminal, Front Street, from Monday through Thursday.

Feature filmmakers coming to the island include Glory Friend (King Leopold?s Ghost), Mark Duffield and Tom Waller (Ghost of Mae Nak), Steve Simpson (Retribution), David Scheinmann (The West Wittering Affair), Annie Griffin (Festival), Matt Mochary (Favela Rising), Jeff Pearson and Mary Jones (Pirate Radio USA), Thomas Allen Harris (Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela), Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (Metal: A Headbanger?s Journey), and Micha Peled (China Blue).

Bermuda residents Errol Williams (Walking on a Sea of Glass) and Lucinda Spurling (Rare Bird) will also introduce their feature documentary films, and conduct question and answer sessions. Crew Leslie Saltus and Brian White will also represent Walking on a Sea of Glass, while Connie Rinehart and Tom Donahue will be here on behalf of Rare Bird.

Short filmmakers coming to the Island include Lluis Quilez and Jordi Herreros (Avatar), Tony Hagger (Half Term), Rene Mohandas and Durdana Shaikh (Elephant Boy), Mathijs Geijskes (50 Cents), and Gayle Knutson (If There Were No Lutherans, Would There Still Be Green Jell-O?).

Bermuda residents Wendy Davis Johnson and Jonathan Rogers (co-directors, An Extraordinary Three Weeks), and Vicky and Christian Zabriskie (director and screenwriter of Take a Bath) will also be at the festival.

?We try to bring in as many filmmakers as possible because it adds to the festival experience for our filmgoers,? says the festival?s deputy director Duncan Hall. ?Our filmmakers come from far afield ? this year, for example, from Spain, Holland, United States, Canada, Thailand and the United Kingdom.?

A number of the filmmakers will be travelling here direct from other festivals, including Thomas Allen Harris (Thessaloniki, Greece) and Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (South by Southwest, Austin, Texas). Micha Peled is also in Thessaloniki but will travel home to San Francisco before making the jaunt to Bermuda. The filmmakers will be joined on Island by some 13 members of the international press corps, who will file stories about the festival and Bermuda for their various outlets. Coming to the festival are: Wendy Mitchell (Screen International), Rachel Vigeon and Tony McGrath (ITN Showbiz Networks), Peter Rainer (National Public Radio), Jack Pattillo (Ain?t It Cool News), Mike Takeuchi (filmfestivals.com), Michael Ferraro (Film Threat Magazine), Emmanuel Itier (Book LA), and Theo Wargo (WireImage Photo). Journalists visiting the Island to write Tourism-related pieces include Sandy Lang (Charleston Magazine), Scott Huver (In Touch Magazine), Suzy Buckley (Fodor?s), Courtney Hazlett (OK! Magazine) and freelancer Jordan Simon.

@EDITRULE:

More than 14,000 listeners to a radio station in The Netherlands entered a contest to win a trip to the Bermuda International Film Festival.

Listeners to YORIN FM, a national radio station that targets the 18-39 demographic, had to identify quotes from films. The quotes were broadcast on five different shows each day. All participants with correct answers were entered into the final draw.

The winner is Sheila Fase, who will travel to Bermuda with a guest on Tuesday for a five-night stay at Elbow Beach Resort. Included in the winning package is a flight from contest sponsors British Airways, and film and party tickets courtesy of BIFF.