We congratulate the Pan African Film Festival on its 21st Anniversary. And this year the festival is screening a record number of Caribbean and Caribbean-themed films, a testament to the growing importance of the Caribbean voice in cinema around the World.
Our Region is coming to voice in Film. A veritable explosion of talent in images and sound is taking place across the Region and the world. Hundreds of young filmmakers from the Caribbean and its Diaspora — Europe, North America, Africa, India, Lebanon, and on — are taking up the camera as powerful weapons for the expression of their unique voices, and many extraordinary film stories are being told.
Together we are defining the Caribbean in film.
These include established and emerging filmmakers – from the French, Dutch, Spanish and English territories; from every ethnic group and combination of ethnicities, driven by the force of our mixed heritages, fierce in the drive to tell the stories of our common experiences and ancestry, in our own words, images and languages, using any means available and necessary.
Maximum congrats to all the filmmakers at PAFF! Here is but a selection of some of the best films on show.
Fish: Sean Escayg's masterful short drama redefines the Trinidad landscape. See the Short film Fish at the bottom of this post.
Akwantu: The Journey – Filmmaker Roy Anderson's important personal tribute to his forefathers who were Maroons from Jamaica – runaway ex-slaves who lived and fought for their freedom in the hills of Jamaica.
Home Again – The husband and wife filmmaking team of Sudz Sutherland and Jen Holness wrote, directed and produced this deftly-crafted feature film, the second from their company Hungry Eyes Film and TV.
Songs of Redemtion – Trinidad-based, Spanish born filmmaker Miquel Galofre, who gave us Why Do Jamaicans Run So Fast and Hit Me With Music, co-directs this compelling documentary set in Jamaica's prisons.
Toussaint L'Ouverture – The Epic story of our greatest hero told by French African filmmkaer Philippe Niang.
Stud Life – The lighter side of Queer cinema. This Quirky Lesbian romantic comedy is the feature debut of iconic British Trinidadian indie filmmaker Campbell X.
There are many more, including most notably Nurse Fighter Boy, the stunning 2008 classic feature from Charles Officer; Elza, the multi-award-winning feature debut from Guadeloupe filmmaker Mariette Monpierre; and Ring De Alarm, an anthology of seven short films by the New Caribbean Cinema filmmaking collective, that includes Storm Saulter (Better Mus Come).
Watch out also for Island Song, Grenada: Colonialism and Conflict, Born In Trench Town, and many more.
Find out more about PAFF…
Here's the complete short film, Fish, from Sean Escayg.
