The screenwriters’ residency will take place from December 7 to 9, 2026. The Bahamas international film festival will be held from December 7 to 14, 2026.
Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is proud to announce Academy Award winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher will join the roster of mentors for BIFF Screenwriter’s Residency Program, held this year on the picturesque shores of Harbour Island. Fletcher made history as the first African American to win an Oscar in a writing category for his adaptation of Precious.
In 2009, Precious closed out that year’s Bahamas International Film Festival as its official Closing Night Film. Also in attendance for the screening and Q&A was cast member Lenny Kravitz, who is of Bahamian heritage. Months after the film screened at BIFF it went on to earn six Academy Award nominations. More than fifteen years later, BIFF welcomes Fletcher back, this time shape the next generation of storytellers.
BIFF Residency pairs aspiring writers with A-list producers and writers for a multi-day intensive of one-on-one mentorship, held against the backdrop of Harbour Island at one of the most storied film festivals in the Caribbean. Fletcher’s addition to the mentor faculty marks one of the most significant names to join the program to date and reflects BIFF’s continued commitment to developing the next generation of storytellers.
Fletcher’s screenplay for Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire and directed by Lee Daniels, earned him the 2010 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, alongside honors from the Independent Spirit Awards, the Black Reel Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards, among others. His subsequent credits include the feature film Violet & Daisy, which he wrote and directed, and Trial by Fire, starring Laura Dern and Jack O’Connell. He has taught screenwriting as an adjunct professor at both NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University. (BIFF)
