Published: Wednesday | December 16, 2009
by Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
Following its strong presence across the region last year with the feature film, A Winter Tale, CaribbeanTales, the Canada-based multimedia company run by Frances-Anne Solomon, will be holding the 'Best of CaribbeanTales Film Festival and Symposium' in Barbados.
In an email interview, Solomon said the response to the launch "was overwhelmingly positive", emphasising the importance of the teamwork that is giving the festival a boost.
"One of the most positive aspects of the festival is the strength of the partnerships that we have forged this year. Alongside One Caribbean (the largest media company in the region) which will be co-hosting the Symposium on Global Distribution, UWI's Shridath Ramphal Center, that will co-host a film Market at the festival, and the Barbados Film and Video Association, that will host a workshop at the festival, we also have a stellar core team comprising Mary Wells (Jamaica), Mitzi Allen (Antigua), and Lisa Wickham (Trinidad), that will assist me in the programming, management and promotion of the festival," she said.
Weighing options
She said Barbados was chosen as the host country for three reasons - "it is central, accessible and beautiful and "we expect many people from all over the world to attend because of this location ...".
There is, however, the possibility that the 'Best of CaribbeanTales Film Festival and Symposium' will move around the region, as Solomon said, "in the future we are exploring other islands as possible locations. We have had a number of offers and are weighing options."
She pointed out that, "it's a regional event, and so will bring together people from around the region. It will bring lots of international visitors to the region. It will bring everybody together to strategise about how to create an international vision."
The symposium on Global Distribution takes place on February 24, with the first ever Caribbean Film Market on the following day.
Solomon said the new associate directors are "people who I worked with over the past years, whose work I admire greatly, and with whom I share a vision and commitment to developing an industry that serves the needs of our films and those of the Caribbean film industry as a whole."
Adding, "I have known Mary Wells for several years and she is quietly a very talented, generous and visionary person. You need all these qualities to hold a vision that includes all of our movies and the whole industry. Lisa Wickham is an extraordinary businesswoman and fantastic public relations person, who also has a big picture of what we need to achieve to sit on the world stage as filmmakers and as an industry. And Mitzi Allen is a pioneer and warrior."
The 'Best of CaribbeanTales Film Festival and Symposium' caps off CaribbeanTales' first five years and Solomon said the company "has exceeded my expectations 100 fold. The growth of the company has, luckily for us, mirrored the growth in interest in the Caribbean and its brand, and so we have seemed to ride that wave, at the same time, I believe, as contributing to it".
"The low points have been, as always, trying to raise money. The high points have been connecting with like-minded people from all over the world to do something that helps everyone, and makes all of us special and feel useful and good," she said.
"The projection for the next five years is to take Caribbean film to the international stage and establish it as a brand alongside Hollywood, Bollywood and the British film industry, in terms of quality, viability and audience reach. In order to do this, we have to develop a business model for production and distribution that draws on skills and the help of all stakeholders: government, private sector, broadcasters, distributors, and cinema owners, to make it work," she said.
"That is what we are on course to achieve in the next five years."
Photos: (top to bottom) Frances-Anne Solomon, Mary Wells, Lisa Wickham, Mitzi Allen.
