“Eating Papaw on the Seashore” is at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The festival, which began on August 2 and ends on August 12, is in its 72nd year and has on its programme 214 films, along with forums for filmmakers and other attendees.
“Eating Papaw on the Seashore”, co-directed by Rae Wiltshire and Nickose Layne, joins several other films from this region showing at the prestigious festival, including two from Suriname.
During a conversation. I had asked a friend if Suriname produced films – she did not know. Days later, while in that country in transit to Switzerland, I saw a list which revealed two Surinamese filmmakers will be premiering their films at Locarno. Films from this region are hard to access because many of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean do not have a large film industry. The films are never properly marketed and do not reach a wide audience. It is exciting that I will meet two filmmakers from Suriname.