Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is encouraging Caribbean film-makers not to allow lack of funding to limit their ability to promote the region.
Speaking at the end of an hour-long CARIFESTA XV Fireside Chat featuring award-winning American film-maker, screenwriter and producer Ava DuVernay a t Hilton Barbados on Monday, Mottley pointed out there were many aspects of the Caribbean’s story that deserved to be told to the world.
“We know we have stories to tell,” the Prime Minister said.
“All of us have the ability to tell that story in whatever medium. The difficulty comes in reaching scale.”
She urged potential film-makers not to be constrained by obstacles such as access to funding because of the region’s size. Instead, she suggested taking advantage of technology to get the job done.
“Our music, our story, our colour, our vibrancy, deserve to be told and regrettably they have not been told enough,” Mottley told DuVernay.
“That is one of the reasons we invited you here because people must touch and feel excellence, and you represent excellence.”
She said the CARIFESTA XV theme Global Excellence, Caribbean Roots, was no accident “because we have to be able to tell our story”, whether it is “trying to promote the Bridgetown Initiative for the reform of the international financial institutions; that we are moving for reparations; saying to the UN (United Nations) that small island developing states deserve special and differential treatment, and certainly on the issues of climate”.
The Prime Minister added: “The question has always been, however, how do we create the opportunities, how do we allow our people to understand the standards of excellence so that they don’t settle for less; and in so doing, how do we tell our stories not just from the perspective of sufferation, but also of joy and triumph and love. That sufferation has given us the capacity to build resilience and to allow our creativity to flourish.
“I believe strongly that the Caribbean has that humanising element. We are a microcosm of the rest of the world and in coming together in land spaces that are really very small, relatively speaking, we have been able to forge something that is not perfect, but has not seen the level of bloodshed and strife that other regions have seen.”
That separation, Mottley stressed, has given the Caribbean the ability and capacity to build resilience and allow its creativity to flourish.
DuVernay has made history as a writer, director and producer, and she shared her success story with an audience that included several Caribbean creatives involved in various aspects of film-making. She gave them insights and valuable advice in the question-and-answer session conducted by chief executive officer of the National Cultural Foundation, Carol Roberts. (GC)
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