JCDC Youth Film Award Winner Sets Sights on Oscars

Young film-maker Kimani Bunwarrie has his sights firmly set on becoming a big player in the local and international film industries.

The 18-year-old, who copped the Youth Film Award in the 2024 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) FiWi Short Film Competition, has big ambitions of winning an Oscar.

“I am actually focusing now on writing more scripts for production, and also to start my production company,” he tells JIS News, noting that he is focused on issues surrounding the Jamaican culture.

One of the recent initiatives by the JCDC, the FiWi Short Film Competition began in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused major disruption to the global film industry due to the closure of theatres as a preventative measure against the spread of the disease.

The brainchild of the JCDC’s Drama and Theatre Arts Unit, the competition encourages Jamaican amateur film-makers to use their interpretation of a Jamaican proverb as a basis for the treatment for a short film of between three to five minutes.

Entries may be submitted in genres such as Animation, Documentary, Sci-fi, or Drama/Comedy.

The competition is open to participants in two categories – youth (12-18 years) and adults (19 years and over).

At the time of entering the competition, Kimani, who is a sixth-form student at Jonathan Grant High School in Kingston, was 17 years old.

He tells JIS News that he decided to enter the competition after seeing an advertisement showcasing footage from the 2023 awards ceremony featuring that year’s winners, Joel Miller and George Malcolm.

“I was at home during the summer. It was in June and I saw the promotion and… it actually sparked my interest in entering the competition,” he recalls.

He won the Youth Award for his animation ‘Shades of Resilience’, which explored colourism in Jamaica.

It follows two Afro-Jamaican women as their paths collide upon entering the same national music competition.

From the outset, it is clear that the only similarity between the characters is that they made the decision to enter the same contest.

While one character visibly takes pride in her heritage, her fellow contestant grapples with insecurities and low self-esteem due to experiences with colourism.

The latter character’s poor self-image leads her to resort to skin bleaching in a desperate and, as it turns out, unsuccessful attempt to meet societal beauty standards and win the competition over her opponent.

Kimani tells JIS News that he decided to make colourism the focus of the film after realising the extent to which the issue continues to be a factor in the Jamaican society, including in the film industry, where he is looking to pursue a career.

He notes that most roles seem to go to persons of a lighter hue.

Kimani acknowledges that the issue he chose to depict in his film is sensitive, but says that, ultimately, the message is about recognising the value of self-confidence and self-acceptance.

“Dealing with issues such as these is not easy, but as the film demonstrated, confidence is key, prayer is key, God is key, and I would definitely say, just embrace your culture,” he says.

Kimani’s victory in the JCDC competition came after years of making video content on YouTube.

“My origins in film-making actually began when I was about 10, 11 years old. I used to do short content creation and posted them on my grandmother’s YouTube channels and my aunt’s YouTube channels,” he shares.

With no extracurricular activities in theatre or film-making offered at his school, Kimani’s participation in the JCDC competition was a way to fuel his passion for film-making.

In preparation, he watched films created by past competition winners, including the aforementioned Joel Miller and George Malcolm.

“Their dedication to film-making really inspired me. They pursued their passion actively, rather than just dreaming about it,” Kimani points out.

He tells JIS News that watching the creative content of the two film-makers had a profound impact on him, inspiring his aspirations to pursue Oscar glory.

Kimani says he also admires African-American actor Trai Byers, who is best known for playing André Lyon on the Fox television series, “Empire”.

“His inspiring journey, marked by relentless hard work and a humble demeanour, motivates me to pursue my own acting dreams. I aspire to one day have the opportunity to work alongside him in the industry,” he notes.

Kimani is fully aware that the road to success will be long and difficult and he will have to dedicate a lot of time to perfecting his craft.

He notes that editing is a challenging part of the film production process and one area where he will need to do a lot of work.

“The issues that I had [when making Shades of Resilience], were with editing. Editing requires a lot of hard work. There were many drafts… . It took me a lot of time… I think, one whole month and a couple of days, to finally get the film up and ready,” he recalls.

He says that time management is also crucial.

“Of course, time management is something that I truly respect, and I think that plays a huge part in my journey towards becoming an active film-maker,” he says.

Reflecting on the moment he was announced as the winner of the JCDC Best Youth Film Award, Kimani admits that he did not think he would have won.

“I was shocked… it was unexpected,” he says, noting that he felt a sense of pride and accomplishment.

“I felt proud of myself to see that at 18 years old, I was able to make a short film and win an award like this,” he tells JIS News.

He says winning the award has had a tremendous impact on his life, giving him the chance to meet and network with more experienced film-makers, including his idols, Joel and George.

“They gave advice on film-making so I am able to use that advice to do more professional content creation,” he points out, noting that he is ready to spread his wings.