Caribbean identity to make the cut at film festival
Three dozen pieces for screening
A glimpse into the future perhaps, the CARIFESTA Film Festival will survey the work of the filmmakers who are examining the Caribbean identity in the final frontier of creative expression in the region.
The film festival will run from August 23 to August 30 at the International Convention Centre at Liliendaal, with indoor and outdoor screenings to showcase nearly three dozen full-length features, shorts and documentaries by Caribbean filmmakers working at home and in the Diaspora. In the last two decades, there has been a steady stream of attempts to examine Caribbean life through film, a relatively young art form for practitioners within the region.
According to the head of the CARIFESTA sub-committee for film, Martin Goolsarran, it is hoped that the festival will generate more interest in film-making and encourage more people to get involved. “We do have people who have attempted to make feature films, dramas and sitcoms,” he says. “We are trying to stimulate an interest and to develop partnerships to give people the resources to produce films and documentaries.”
Goolsarran says that there is a need for productions from within the region, especially in light of the predominance of exports from the United States and other places. And while cost is one of the factors that make the medium prohibitive, he cites Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados as places that have been sustaining the growth of the film industry in the region. Indeed, out of recognition of the important role film is expected to play in the future of the Caribbean, the University of the West Indies introduced a B.A film programme in 2006. (Before the launch, the co-designer of the programme, Dr. Jean Antoine-Dunne told the St. Augustine News that the programme acknowledges the unique nature of the Caribbean perception and the extraordinary creativity of the region, “which properly channelled can and should provide a basis for a challenge to the hegemonies of the established international film industries.”)
There are no official film-making workshops scheduled for CARIFESTA, but Goolsarran says that the festival itself will serve as forum for an exchange of ideas and networking between veteran and novice practitioners. The festival will open with the Guyana premiere of Ian Valz’s award-winning film “Panman, Rhythms of the Palms.” The film, which recently took top honours in the narrative feature film category of the 2008 Hollywood Black Film Festival, looks at the rise and fall of a pannist in St Maarten. Valz, a Guyanese playwright, wrote the screenplay and played the leading role. Among the other titles that will be featured are “Calypso Dreams,” the documentary-film about the evolution of calypso in Trinidad and Tobago; “On The Map,” a Trinidadian documentary about immigration in the region; “Once More Removed: A Journey Back To India,” Shundell Prasad’s quest to trace her origin; and Mickey Nivelli’s “The Right and the Wrong.” Additionally, the committee has also received permission to screen the historical epic “Guiana 1838,” which also features the talents of local actors.
Goolsarran says films are still being submitted and he could not provide a comprehensive list of the titles that will be screened, but he says a complete list would be published along with screening dates before the start of the festival.
Submissions have been received from Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, St. Lucia, Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. In addition, works have also been received from India, China and Austria. Goolsarran says there was an open call for submissions, and selections have been made primarily based on the work’s relevance to the Caribbean and, in particular, the ‘Caribbean identity.’
‘Guyanese identity’
For local filmmaker Michael James, the ‘Guyanese identity’ is central to his work. He is among the local filmmakers whose efforts will be featured at the festival. Based in Linden, James, 35, makes low budget films that are set in the mining town. A cinephile from a young age, he graduated from writing short stories, church skits and eventually plays, to writing and directing his own films. James is a “local filmmaker” in the truest sense. His first two features, “The Coal Pot Saga” and “Ole House Pun Ole House” were produced locally with all Guyanese casts who he sourced from his Mic.James Drama Group. He boasts that his films use the Guyanese creolese accent and treat with local issues.
James’ third feature, an “Old House Pun Ole House” sequel, will be screened at the festival and he is hoping to use the occasion to promote his work to the wider Caribbean. “It’s important to me for marketing,” James says, pointing out that, “There’s a craving for local stuff.” But he quickly adds that the absence of enforced copyright laws is a disincentive, a sentiment that was echoed by Goolsarran. James says that creators will not invest in productions that will not bring returns. “A lot of people want to get into [film-making], but it doesn’t make sense if as soon as you put something out a man on the corner is selling it for two hundred dollars,” he explains.
Meanwhile, running parallel the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) will also host a mini-film festival featuring works that were previously screened at its annual “Painting the Spectrum” festival. It will be part of a number of events SASOD will be hosting during the CARIFESTA X celebrations.
According to Vidyaratha Kissoon, CARIFESTA is an opportunity for SASOD to highlight the diverse attitudes in the region to gay and lesbian persons. He notes that while the discussions about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) issues tend to be dominated by Jamaica, there are many more perspectives across the region. He says the decision to host a film festival was influenced by the lessons learned from the group’s annual film festival, now in its fourth year. “We have learned that film is an important medium for teaching, for generating controversy and for stimulating thought and debate,” Kissoon says, adding that that several Caribbean films screened during the festival in June offered various views on sexual orientation and gay and lesbian rights issues.
The SASOD festival will feature “Float” (Bahamas), “Not in my Family” (Belize), “Fresa y Chocolate” (Cuba), “Dos Patrias: Cuba y la Noche” (Cuba), “Coolie Gyal” (Guyana), “Songs of Freedom” (Jamaica), “Devil’s Day,” “Sea of Blood” and “Paradise Lost” (Trinidad). On the selection, Kissoon says the films were requested based on the previous screening, with the exception of “Float.” The festival will be held at the Polo Sports Bar, at the Majestics building on Middle Street. There will be free screenings at 7 pm on August 25, 26, 28 and 29. A full programme can be found at the group’s website, www.sasod.org.gy.