Five Caribbean shorts will be featured as part of the prestigious Derby Film Festival in the UK.
Lisa Harewood, a co-founder of independent film curating Twelve30Collective, announced the films on her Facebook page. The films were curated by Twelve30Colletive and are under the banner "Caribbean Calling."
The five films are:
Cross My Heart, directed by Sontenish A. Myers from Jamaica. Released in 2018. Running time is 14 minutes
Doubles with Slight Pepper, directed by Ian Harnarine Trinidad and Tobago/Canada/USA. It was released in 2012. Running time is 16 minutes
The Book of Jasmine, directed by Melanie Grant from Barbados. It was released in 2017. The running time is 14 minutes
She Paradise, directed by Maya Cozier from Trinidad and Tobago. Released in 2019. Running time is 14 minutes
A Home for These Old Bones, directed by Julien Silloray from Guadeloupe. Released in 2013. Running time is 22 minutes
The Derby Film Festival 2020 streams worldwide from November 19-23.
About the directors:
Sontenish Myers is a Jamaican-American writer-director based in Harlem, NY. She is a graduate of NYU's Graduate Film programme where she’s now an adjunct professor. In her work, racial identity, womanhood, power dynamics, and the heroic journey are often explored. She is particularly interested in doing so across genres, from dramas, science fiction/fantasy, to dark comedies. Her most recent short film, Cross My Heart, follows an American teen who upon visiting her family in Jamaica, discovers a secret that changes the way she sees the people she loves. Source: sontenishmyers.com.
Ian Harnarine was born in Toronto and studied physics at York University and the University of Illinois. He has an MFA from NYU’s Film School where he now teaches along with the Physics Department. His short film Doubles With Slight Pepper, won the Best Short Film Award at Toronto International Film Festival and the Canadian Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Ian is co-writing Time Traveler with Spike Lee, an adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel Soucouyant, and a feature adaptation of Doubles With Slight Pepper. Recently, Ian was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film and profiled in the New York Times. Source: caribbeanfilm.org.
Melanie Grant is a filmmaker and activist, currently completing her final year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Programme at the University of the West Indies. During her career, Melanie has also taken courses in gender and development studies which have guided her purpose as an artist. She holds the belief that cinema should be used as a tool for activism and hopes to use her films to highlight issues affecting women and sexual minorities in the Caribbean. Her short film Pieta, which examines the long-term effects of homophobia on relations, made its international debut in 2016 at the Caribbean Tales Film Festival in Toronto. Source: thirdhorizonfilmfestival.com
Maya Cozier is a filmmaker from Trinidad and Tobago and director of the films She Paradise, Short Drop and For Those Who Mispronounce My Name. She Paradise was featured on Short of the Week and premiered at BAM's 5th Caribbean Film Series. It has screened at Cambridge University for black history month and the USC School of Cinematic Arts Caribbean showcase. Source: mayacozier.com
Julien Silloray was born in Nantes, France in 1982, grew up in the French West Indies and studied Law and Politics at the University of Lyon. A Home for these Old Bones (Un toit pour mes vieux os, 2013) is his first film, shot in Guadeloupe with non-actors. He also directed Ma manman d'lo (2014). Source: spla.org