The Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) is coming up on March 20 to 26 — and the organisation today announced the jury that will preside over one of its main offerings, the short film competition.

The 2015 jury will headed by Christine Vachon, multi-award-winning American independent film producer, who will be joined by the Academy Award nominated screenwriter, Craig Borton.

Hilary Saltzman, a producer and writer and the daughter of James Bond film producer Harry Saltzman, will round out the jury.

Twenty short films, chosen from more than 500 entries, will be screened at BIFF 2015.

Entries were received from all over the world, featuring a wide array of characters such as a struggling farming family in Hungary, a women suffering from Alzheimer’s in Paris, a Mexican bus driver who works as a drag act by night and a young girl who has just received a live chicken as a birthday present in the former Yugoslavia.

The short films were selected by the festival’s programming team of Andrew Stoneham, David O’Beirne, Alex MacDonald, Dawn Robinson and Terrance Smart.

As BIFF is one of only a small number of Academy Award qualifying festivals worldwide, the winner of the Bermuda Shorts Award will be considered for the Short Film — Live Action Oscar in 2015.

“Once again, we were struck by the enormous talent within this year’s Bermuda Shorts entries,” said Mr Stoneham, who directs the festival.

“BIFF’s profile as an Academy Award qualifying festival continues to grow and with it the volumes of short films we receive from all over the globe. I would like to thank the selection committee for dedicating the winter months to the process of selecting the finalists to be screened. We are excited about getting to meet some of the filmmakers coming to Bermuda to see their film screened, and of course spend some time enjoying the island during the festival.”

A full programme of feature films has also been curated for BIFF 2015. The online film guide and further details are available at www.biff.bm.