Looking Backwards — Looking Forwards

It's hard to believe that this year marks our 10th anniversary. We began this festival with the idea that film is one of the great means of communicating; it's a way to break down some of the walls that divide us from each other. We felt that by providing a space to show films from all over the Caribbean basin and beyond, we could help bridge some of the natural barriers of language and distance, and build a place where people from across the region could meet and share their cultural experiences, using cinema as a vehicle.

Our first year we brought films and filmmakers from Martinique, Jamaica, Venezuela and Cuba. The next year we added Columbia, and Guatemala, then Guadeloupe, Brazil, Mexico, Haiti, France, Mauritania, Trinidad and Tobago, and even Guinea Bissou. The interaction that has emerged is remarkable. When Raoul Peck presented Lumumba, the audience was spellbound, and afterwards the questions went on so long we had to turn out the lights. Similarly, last year Patrick Chamoiseau and Jose Hayot showed Nord Plage, and after the film, Chamoiseau spent almost an hour with a full audience discussing his views on the social development of Caribbean society. Not to mention the overwhelming emotion when Michele Montas presented The Agronomist, a film about the assassination of her husband, Jean Dominque, in Haiti. These are the kinds moments we live for.

Every year we bring a mix of film and people together and see what alchemy emerges from the mix. And this year we once again have a wonderful group of films and guests and we can only imagine what excitement they will bring us. Bon Cinema!

Ellen Lampert-Gréaux
Joshua Harrison

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