ON Friday 27th September, 2019 the Caribbean Youth Film Festival held its 7th annual award ceremony at 758 Bookstore, Gablewoods Mall. Present at this award ceremony were representatives for the sponsors of the festival Sariah Best of Massy Stores, Laura John from Jua Kali Ltd., Roger Joseph representing LUCELEC, awardees and facilitators. Other sponsors included FICS St Lucia and the Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries.
Mistress of ceremonies Sharon Williams Black introduced Colin Weekes who spearheads the Film Festival to give the opening remarks at the event. Also present was NyerereMagloire who facilitated the workshops.
The three films screened were ‘Life of a Plastic Bag’ written by Nyhile Francois and directed by Kaviere Didier, ‘One Man’s Trash’ written and directed by Aaliyah Noelien and assistant director Moise Edmund, and ‘Money Cycling’ written and directed by Kyrra Amédeé. The films were part of the two-week workshop where the participant’s challenge was to produce a film on Reusable Waste. This was implemented through the Massy Stores Environmental Fund.
The mission of the Caribbean Youth Film Festival in Collaboration with CUTTV is to empower, inspire and develop youth through filmmaking, constructive engagement, character building and innovative thinking.
Special awards were given to four participants for their outstanding contributions to the workshops and the making of the films. These participants were Kristian Lawrence, Aaliyah Noelien, Kyrra Amédeé and Geri George.
The Film Festival is an annual activity to encourage youth to participate in the process of filmmaking for the advancement of their development in that arena.