15-19 October 2003

The Barbados Festival of African and Caribbean Film is the latest manifestation of a growing phenomenon – a recognition of the importance of visual media to the region, and an enthusiastic engagement with the processes of production, distribution, spectatorship and criticism. In other words, we in the region, recognizing the overwhelming power of the media networks of our much larger neighbour, are actively working to assert our own identity, as filmmakers and movie audiences. This involves exerting a choice over what we see, creating awareness of the ‘other’ cinemas of the world and bringing them to local audiences.  

The Festival embraces the cultural diversity of the region and of Africa, by acknowledging the legacies of different colonial pasts whilst forging closer ties of cultural collaboration and interchange.

The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Humanities and Education is playing host to a group of Caribbean and African film-makers, screening their films and creating opportunities for dialogue.

The Festival kicks off on 15 October with a gala opening, featuring a 30th anniversary screening of the much-loved Jamaican classic, The Harder They Come.   Programme highlights over the next four days include a focus on Caribbean women directors from around the region and a section on Nigerian popular video. The Festival showcases a wide range of film practices and genres, from the full-blown realist feature to short experimental works by upcoming younger film-makers, from science fiction to politically radical social critique. 

There’ll be opportunities to interact with the filmmakers at 'Meet the Director' sessions during the day, as well as workshops. The venue for all screenings is the Olympus Cinema, Barbados’ up-to-the-minute cinema complex with facilities including an Internet Café and Jazz Café. As last year, filmmakers will be mingling with cinema experts and theoreticians: Dr Samba Gadjigo (Mt. Holyoke College), an expert in African film and the biographer of Africa's best known filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene; Professor Mbye Cham (Howard University), editor of Ex-Iles: Essays on Caribbean Cinema; Dr Onookome Okome (University of Calabar), Nigerian popular culture expert; and Bruce Paddington, film lecturer at UWI, St Augustine,  film-maker and co-founder of the Trinidadian production company, Banyan.