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5-day Film Festival Opens Monday

Image: Foreign embassy officials, Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Kentry Jn. Pierre, CDF Executive Director Melchoir Henry and filmmaker Kendal John. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]

Latin American And Caribbean Productions To Be Screened.

Image: Foreign embassy officials, Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Kentry Jn. Pierre, CDF Executive Director Melchoir Henry and filmmaker Kendal John. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
Foreign embassy officials, Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Kentry Jn. Pierre, CDF Executive Director Melchoir Henry and filmmaker Kendal John. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
SAINT Lucian filmmakers will have their cinematic works showcased alongside those of Latin American origin at the inaugural Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Festival next week.

The five-day film festival will run from Monday to Friday and feature films from Saint Lucia, Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela. All screenings will be held at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) between 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day.

The Saint Lucian films to be screened include Ted Sandiford’s “The Mango Tree” (fiction), “Saint Lucia We Love” (music video), “Pass Mi Dalla” (animation), “Cephas” (fiction) and “Me and My Pan”. Jelani Paul’s “Allez” (music video), “Luigi” (art film), and “Kirani City” (music video) are also on the playlist.

Works will also come from other Saint Lucian directors/producers, namely Kendal John, Davina Lee, Kermany Loggo, Danielle Du Bois, Skai and Dean Walton, Sean Michael Field, Bernard Fanis, Desmond Etienne, Sherwin Brice, Dale Elliot, Guillame Rico, Mygell Felix, Sant Justin, Lester Daniel, Jason Fulgence, Pierre Chester and Maya Cross-Lovelace.

The foreign films being featured are as follows:

November 9: “The Blue Apple Tree” (“El Manzano Azul”) and “The Liberator” (“El Libertador”), (Venezuela)

November 10: “The Tooth Fairy” (“El Raton Perez”) and “My First Wedding” (“Mi Primera Boda”), (Argentina)

November 11: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (“El Laberinto Del Fauno”) and “Norteado”, (Mexico)

November 12: “Yet” (“Y, Sin Embargo”) and “Esther Somewhere” (“Esther En Alguna Parte”), (Cuba)

November 13: “Taina 2: The Adventure Continues” (“Taina 2: La Aventura Continua”) and “Vinicius De Moraes”, (Brazil)

The film festival is being organized by the respective embassies in collaboration with the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) and organizers are hoping that the festival deepens the friendships among the countries involved. The festival is also being touted as a vital avenue whereby Saint Lucian filmmakers can network with other filmmakers from the wider Caribbean and Latin America.

“This cinematic setting is designed to demonstrate the diversity of the spiritual, material and affective characteristics of our societies which allows us to connect with our histories and facilitate the understanding of our values, beliefs and traditions,” Venezuelan Ambassador to Saint Lucia, Leiff Escalona, said at last Thursday’s press launch.

The ambassador added that the Venezuelan Embassy will also host an exhibition at Blue Coral Mall next Thursday dubbed “Poets of the Caribbean”.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Embassy will also be showcasing some of that country’s art and craft works at a small exhibition at the National Cultural Centre during the film festival.

Admission to all screenings during the film festival is free to the public.

Stan Bishop began his career in journalism in March 2008 writing freelance for The VOICE newspaper for six weeks before being hired as a part-time journalist there when one of the company’s journalists was overseas on assignment.

Although he was initially told that the job would last only two weeks, he was able to demonstrate such high quality work that the company offered him a permanent job before that fortnight was over. Read full bio...

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