Black River Film Festival Placing Significant Focus on Youth Empowerment

The inaugural Black River Film Festival, slated for June 28 to 30 in the breadbasket parish of St. Elizabeth, will place significant focus on empowering Jamaica’s youth in the field of filmmaking.

The festival aims to not only unearth budding filmmakers but also ignite creativity within youngsters 14 to 18 years, when they attend a workshop slated for St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in Santa Cruz on June 28.

They will be provided with opportunities to showcase their talents, which have the potential to be extended nationally, regionally and globally.

Addressing a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ at the agency’s Montego Bay Regional Office in St. James on Tuesday (May 14), Project Manager, Kenya Uter-Morrison, emphasised the importance of including young people in the festival.

She noted that the three-day event is intended to open up new avenues for youth in the creative industry, particularly film, pointing that this is an area that has not received as much attention as music and dance in Jamaica.

Mrs. Uter-Morrison said the much-anticipated festival will provide a platform for a wide cross-section of young people to explore potential careers in film and storytelling.

“We have a film festival show that they’re also going to be performing in, in terms of a competition; it will be a short film competition. So, when they submit that short film, we’re going to be screening that, and it gives them an opportunity to start to create content in a healthy productive way that will then start to build their skills out,” she outlined.

Mrs. Uter-Morrison said, “They will also have people who they can work with in the industry to fine-tune these talents at the end of that journey”.

Famed Jamaican writer, Kwame McPherson, will lead a programme on storytelling to nurture the creative talents among young men and women.

The festival will also feature Connie Chiume, known for her role in Black Panther, as the headliner as well.

Mrs. Uter-Morrison further revealed that the festival will include a session titled ‘Penning Pain to Purpose’, facilitated by representatives of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Region Five.

“So the idea of that workshop… is giving young people an outlet. At the moment there are so many young people who are wrestling with anger management and lots of other mental health issues, and this gives them an opportunity to have a voice to journal and to write their stories,” she further stated.

For her part, Festival Founder, Dr. Ava Brown, indicated that the film competition is open to young people across Jamaica.

Participants can use their mobile phones to create a five-minute film, with no restrictions on the subject matter.

According to her, the festival has received submissions on powerful topics such as mental health, reflecting the impact of storytelling in addressing important issues.

Interested persons can visit https://blackriverfilmfestival.com/ or visit X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms.