Film Showcase to Help Jamaicans Learn More About Neighbours

Director of Cultural Policy and Monitoring at the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Tanya Batson Savage, has explained that the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase, being staged in Jamaica from March 8 to 14, is an excellent opportunity for Jamaicans to learn more about their Caribbean neighbours.
“In the face of globalisation we have to be aware of our identity as Jamaicans and also our identity as Caribbean people and this showcase impacts on that, two fold. It will give students, who are the main targets of this showcase, a sense of what the life of other Caribbean people are like,” she said, in an interview with JIS News.
She added that the showcase would also give exposure to local and Caribbean films.
“While we have a film industry, what you often have is that a lot of the films that are created, are short films or documentaries and they cannot reach on the screen of major cinemas and therefore it is important that these films be showcased to Caribbean people,” the Director said.
The showcase will feature 44 films of varying lengths, including documentaries, animated films, short narratives and full-length features. These films will spread across all linguistic markers, to include English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Haitian Kreole.
Films included in this year’s showcase are: Diederik Vaan Roijen’s celebrated feature ‘Zulaika’, as well as the multi-award winning films ‘The Star Fisher’, directed by Marcela Rinc