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Marcia Weekes Announces New Film

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Marcia Weekes Announces New Film

Screenwriter, producer and director Marcia Weekes, the filmmaker behind the Hush trilogy, Chrissy, Vigilante: The Crossing and the documentary Barrow: Freedom Fighter announced her upcoming film Joseph yesterday. The film is about a Jamaican doctor “ [overcoming] family conflict and self-doubt to discover his African origins.”

Born out of Weekes’ desire to connect with her own African roots, she credits Minister of Creative Economy, Culture and Sports, Hon. John King with contributing to the inspiration for the film. Speaking to Zeitgeist, she said that the two had discussed Africa and the conversation cemented said desire.

Weekes explained that Joseph was also inspired by a trip to Rwanda and Ghana’s designation of 2019 as the “Year of Return”; an initiative that commemorated 400 years since the first African slaves were taken to Jamestown, Virginia and encouraged those in the diaspora to return to Ghana, facilitating indefinite stays for those who wished to do so.

Colin Carter – author of the autobiography Walk With Me about growing up in Barbados in the 40’s and 50’s – originally pitched the film to Weekes as a documentary about those returning to Ghana for the Year of Return. Weekes decided to make a narrative film instead in order to reach more people.

Of filming in Ghana, Weekes said that the film industry there is much more developed than that of Barbados and described the crew as “very committed”, “creative” and “industrious”, willing and able to fix anything and make it work; nothing was a problem for them.

Weekes recalled that, on the first day of filming, at the Cape Coast Castle (a slave castle and market with an underground dungeon where slaves were held before being shipped to the Americas), she was brought to tears by seeing how the men and women there worked together. She referred to them as “positive” and “hardworking” and said that seeing this broke down stereotypes. 

Joseph stars local singers Allison Hinds and Shontelle Layne, as well as Kevoy Burton, Christopher McFarlane and Stogie Kenyatta. It was shot in Barbados, Jamaica and Ghana, where its World Premiere will be held on December 7th. The film will be released at Olympus Theatres on January 15th and on January 24th in West Africa. 

MEDIA RELEASE: Honey Jam Concert Launch / Free Songwriting Workshop November 17 Featuring Minister John King

K.F. Cumberbatch
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MEDIA RELEASE: Honey Jam Concert Launch / Free Songwriting Workshop November 17 Featuring Minister John King

Honey Jam Barbados announced their 2019 artist lineup at their recent launch at Wrapsody Café and Wine Bistro. 20 artists will take to the stage as they celebrate their 9th year at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination on Sunday, November 24.  Producer Ebonnie Rowe said: “I think it’s fitting that with the date of the show so close to our Independence celebration that it be in a venue named for the father of Independence. It’s a smaller space, more intimate, up close and personal.”

The lineup will feature some brand new faces, and some familiar ones.  The segment featuring male artists returns, this time with Dario Dvon and Mishael Haynes. There will also be a special group performance finale not to be missed featuring alums Larix, Betty Payne, Sirrah, Adaeze and Rhea Layne.

Along with amazing live performances, there will be a display of art by contemporary artist Alanis Forde who specializes in expressionistic realism portraiture.

As part of the developmental programme, the artists take part in workshops related to the music industry, including a songwriting workshop coming up on Sunday, November 17 at Santosha open to the public featuring artists Krisirie and Leigh Phillips, producers Ritchie “Mixy” Greaves and Adaeze and The Honourable John King, Minister of Creative Economy, Culture and Sport.

Producer Ebonnie Rowe is enthusiastic about this season saying “We’ve had an awesome year so far, with highlights including having Leigh Phillips take part in the Canadian Honey Jam experience which has been ongoing for 24 years and having an artist talk with Beyonce’s publicist Yvette Noel-Schure.  So many of our alums are releasing music and performing internationally, building their fan bases and promoting Barbados around the world – I’m so proud of their accomplishments and look forward to watching them continue to soar.”

The launch ended with the artists singing “We Will Rock You” and promising to do just that at the November 24 concert.

Local Films Celebrated At Visual Media Awards

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Local Films Celebrated At Visual Media Awards

Things Tough won big at Sunday night’s Barbados Visual Media Awards (VIMAS), the closing event of this year’s Barbados Visual Media Festival. The film, written by Shakirah Bourne and directed by Damien Pinder, went into the awards with the most nominations and walked away with the most wins, taking home four awards for Best Cinematography, Best Original Story, Best Actress and Best Film Fiction.

Following closely behind was Liquid Gold with three wins for Best Sound (first time VIMA winner Romario Hunte), Best Director Non-Fiction and Best Film Non-Fiction. The film was produced and directed by Keeping Up With The Joneses creator Rommel Hall, as part of the Barbados Independent Film Festival’s Film Collaboration Grant which Hall was awarded as the winner of last year’s Local Filmmaker Award.

The films Mama’s Story, Tales From The Script: Victor’s Secret and Grief won Best Editing, Best Actor and Best Director Fiction, respectively. The music video for Ch’An’s single “Runaway” won Best Music Video for director Mosi Daniel, who was also a first time winner at this year’s awards.

Film Commissioner Anette Nias received the Award of Excellence. In her acceptance speech said that she will not rest until “our stories” reach a global audience and expressed her faith in Barbadians to make that a reality.

Barbados Film and Video Association (BFVA) president, Damien Pinder, addressed the audience ahead of the award ceremony. He stated that due to a proposal that the association had presented to the government for film practitioners, all persons involved in the local creative industry now have access to duty free concessions through the Cultural Industries Development Act.

Pinder also revealed plans for the future of the relaunched BFVA website. At present primarily a source for information relating to the Barbadian film industry, it will eventually expand to become a meeting point for equipment renters and rentees both local and international, a marketplace for local and regional filmmakers where their films can be listed and purchased and persons will be able to apply for membership and pay their fees there.

Founding member of the BFVA, Penny Hynam, who worked in film for twenty-three years in Canada, used her address to give a personal, historical perspective on the progress that has been made in the development of the Barbadian film industry, starting from the year 1992.

Referring to the industry at the time as “underdeveloped”, she listed five main reasons she had identified as the cause:

“…almost no government assistance or grants for filmmakers – financial or otherwise…a lack of any serious training in all of the crafts within the industry [and] not even a knowledge of  all of the crafts that [there could be] to be trained in…a lack of any incentive for foreign filmmakers to make movies here [and thus] a lack of opportunity for young filmmakers to learn on live, major movie sets and understand the standards that needed to be met…there was no agency or organisation or association that represented the film community…there was only one television station that didn’t farm out any work to the local freelance industry…”

She stated that although a lot of progress had been made in addressing these issues, there was still more work to be done.

She later pointed to a sixth, “psychological” reason, which is “much harder to identify or solve”; the creative’s tendency to work in isolation and “jealously” safeguard their works and ideas. This, she said,  is counterproductive in a medium such as film which relies on collaboration. Adding that we “must learn to create as a harmonious unit together, without fights and power politics and endless harping.”

Visit our Facebook page for a full album of images from the awards.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Music Video
Ch’An – Runaway, directed by Mosi Daniel

Best Cinematography
Kevin Bowen – Things Tough

Best Editing
Chukwuemeka Iweze – Mama’s Story

Best Original Story
Shakirah Bourne – Things Tough

Best Sound
Romario Hunte – Liquid Gold

Best Actress
Portia Blackman – Things Tough

Best Actor
Brandon Blackman – Tales From the Script: Victor’s Secret

Best Director Non-Fiction
Rommel Hall – Liquid Gold

Best Director Fiction
Yvonne Weekes – Grief

Best Film Non-Fiction
Liquid Gold

Best Film Fiction
Things Tough

Award of Excellence
Annette Nias, Film Commissioner of Barbados

MEDIA RELEASE: Local Artists Get Advice From Beyonce’s Publicist

K.F. Cumberbatch
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MEDIA RELEASE: Local Artists Get Advice From Beyonce’s Publicist

Yvette Noel-Schure of Schure Media, in Barbados to take part in the Holetown Leadership Forum, made time to talk with some Honey Jam alumni at Capital Media offices in Limegrove.  Ms. Noel-Schure, Beyonce’s long-time publicist, has also worked with an array of other global music superstars in her decades long career including Mariah Carey, Prince, Will Smith, Adele, Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Wyclef Jean, John Legend, Maxwell and more.

Honey Jam producer Ebonnie Rowe, who coordinated the artist talk with some of her alumni said “As soon as I saw the flyer that she was coming to Barbados I contacted organizer Mark Simmons immediately and he graciously agreed to having her come to talk with a small group of artists as well as to giving two artists Betty Payne and Jahmantha – the opportunity to perform at the forum where Tempo owner Frederick Morton was also in attendance. “

She went on to say “I have so much admiration for Yvette.  She is a very accomplished career woman with a wealth of knowledge about the industry, but also she is a caring and generous human being with a purpose driven life.  She uses her power for good to uplift, educate and to amplify the best in those that she works with, to lift as she rises always giving exposure to and crediting everyone she works with. It was a blessing to be in her presence and to be able to give the artists this incredible opportunity.”

Along with general Music Industry advice, Ms. Noel-Schure encouraged the artists to hold on to their core values so that no one can knock them off their game and to not be discouraged by failure, saying “if you fall down when you go to take a step, you make sure you step higher the next time.”

She stressed the need to go beyond what is expected of them, that no one wants to see a duplicate of what already exists and that by mimicking another artist and not using their unique voice it is a disservice to God and they need to feel confident about what they are producing and understand what a gift they have, to never shrink the fullness of who they are but to expand and grow, going beyond want is expected of them.

One of the artists in attendance, Larix, commented “She is one of the most amazing, beautiful, confident yet humble and easy to talk to, successful yet honours her Caribbean roots, people on the planet.  I’m grateful to her for taking the time to share so much love and knowledge and encouragement with us! What we heard tonight is going to follow us the rest of our lives and music careers.”

2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival Kicks Off

K.F. Cumberbatch
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0
2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival Kicks Off
Damien Pinder, President of the Barbados Film and Video Association.

“This festival is extremely important because one of the things that makes it different from other festivals in Barbados, is that for us it’s about local first.” Those were the words of the president of the Barbados Film and Video Association, Damien Pinder, as he addressed the audience at last night’s opening ceremony of the 2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival at the Accra Beach Hotel.

He went on to say that it was his belief that “film can solve the cultural problem that Barbados has and when you solve the cultural problem, you solve the economic problem”, describing film as an “all-encompassing” industry that creates jobs.

Also in attendance was Film Commissioner of Barbados, Annette Nias, who echoed Pinder’s belief in her own address, stating that the facilitation of overseas productions in Barbados is important to the development of the local film industry and said development is key to the recovery and sustenance of the Barbadian economy.

“Foreign companies continue to come to Barbadian shores to take advantage of the beautiful vistas and charm and we continue to reap maximum benefits from it by simultaneously developing the local film industry as a major engine of growth within the Barbados economy.”

Annette Nias, Film Commissioner of Barbados.

She added that in the past year a number of film shoots from the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, the UK and the USA had come to Barbados and that “[s]everal Barbadian film production companies contribute to and benefit from such activity on an ongoing basis.”

She applauded the BFVA for their contributions to the development of the Barbadian film industry. Namely the Barbados Visual Media Festival, providing avenues for local and international independent films to be showcased, creating educational and developmental opportunities for “audio visual practitioners” and “ the encouragement of new partnerships and relationships.”

She stated that the NCF will continue to provide support for the association.

Pinder also spoke about the association’s “Scritp-O-Rama” script writing competition, which was started last year to highlight local screenwriters and give the winner the opportunity to have their film script produced, and this year’s 48 Hour Film Challenge which saw the most teams entering the competition since its inception – sixteen; twice as many as the previous record. Ten of the teams were able to submit their films on time this year.

The BFVA relaunched its website, barbadosfilm.org, last week, which Pinder described as “…a launch pad for a lot of future successes of the film association and filmmakers in Barbados…”

2019 Script-O-Rama winner Janelle Gilkes.

Following Pinder and Nias’ remarks, two short films – Screwed, about a young man’s harrowing search for a wine opener and When Mama’s Away, a horror film written by the winner of this year’s Script-O-Rama competition, Janelle Gilkes – and the feature length film Too Lickrish – directed by Olympian Tolga Akcayli and starring Seth Bovell, were screened.

The Barbados Visual Media Festival ends this Sunday with the Barbados Visual Media Awards.

For more information on this year’s Barbados Visual Media Festival and the Barbados Film and Video Association, visit the festival‘s Facebook page and that of the association and visit the association’s website.

Present And Future Of Barbados Film Industry Discussed at TalkBack Session

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Present And Future Of Barbados Film Industry Discussed at TalkBack Session

As part of the pre-festival events for this year’s Barbados Visual Media Festival, the Barbados Film and Video Association (BFVA) held a TalkBack Session at Ten Habitat in Bridgetown, on the state of the Barbadian film industry. Moderated by the former Director of the Cultural Industries Development Authority (CIDA), Andrea King, the session included discussions on where the local film industry is at present, where it needs to be in the future and the work that needs to be done to further its development.

Key to this process is the involvement of the Barbadian government, particularly in what was stated to be the best method of building the local film industry; facilitating overseas productions.

Educating the general public is also of great importance. There needs to be an understanding of the scope of what is possible through the use, and the importance of film in boosting the economy of Barbados. Beyond that, the public also needs to have an appreciation of what film, television and video production entails in order to understand its value; momentary and otherwise.

It was explained that by following the examples of not just our regional neighbours like Trinidad, but international nations like New Zealand and the state of Georgia in the U.S., and giving tax incentives and concessions to overseas productions to film in Barbados, this would entice them to film on the island, which will create jobs and generate revenue for the country with the potential to eclipse that generated by the tourism industry.

Special mention was made of the production of the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.That production was one of the top three generators of revenue for the nation at that time, out-earning agriculture.

Further, by including stipulations like hiring a certain percentage of Barbadians to work on the productions’ crews, it would lead to the improvement of the talent available in Barbados and an increase in locally made productions.

However, in order to encourage the Barbadian government to get on board with the development of the local film industry, it was said, the BFVA – the advocating body for those involved in visual media production in Barbados – needs more members to strengthen its voice.

Membership is not limited to persons who have worked or are working in positions such as director, writer, producer or on-screen talent, as these productions require make-up artists, hair stylists, craft services (culinary), carpenters, electricians, wardrobe, sound engineers, musicians, transportation, accountants, marketers etc. The BFVA has free associate membership for persons that are part of other trade associations and organisations.

With more members, the association will be in a better, stronger position to advocate for those involved in the local film industry. The association will also have a better understanding of the needs of those working in the industry and how best it can serve them.

King noted that in the ten years since the BFVA’s creation, film has been included in NIFCA and Carifesta, a local Film Commission was implemented and the BFVA has helped shape legislation that governs the creative industries.

The association also partnered with the Commission of Pan-African Affairs. The two films that were a result of that partnership are nominated in this year’s Barbados Visual Media Awards. Mama’s Story, is inspired by the Barbados folk song “John Belly Mama” and was made by students of The Christ Church Foundation School. It has received nominations for Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Story, Best Director Fiction, Best Sound and Best Film Fiction. General Boussa takes its inspiration from the titular national hero and was made by students from St. Paul’s Primary School. It is nominated for Best Original Story.

It was remarked that film is an especially effective method through which Barbadian culture can be exported.

The suggestion was made for the establishment of a film academy in Barbados for ongoing training and a film centre where industry professionals can meet, network and have discussions, as well as a Master degree film programme.

For more information on this year’s Barbados Visual Media Festival and the Barbados Film and Video Association, visit the festival‘s Facebook page and that of the association and visit the association’s website.

Here Are The 2019 Barbados Visual Media Awards Nominees

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Here Are The 2019 Barbados Visual Media Awards Nominees

With just under two weeks left before the start of the 2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival, the Barbados Film and Video Association this evening released the list of nominees for this year’s Visual Media Awards (VIMAS). The awards will take place on October 27th, the final day of the festival, at Accra Beach Hotel. There are eleven categories overall: Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music Video, Best Original Story, Best Director Non-Fiction, Best Director Fiction, Best Sound, Best Film Non-Fiction and Best Film Fiction.

A total of fourteen films – ten fiction and four non-fiction – and five music videos have been nominated.

Leading the nominees with a total of eight nominations is Things Tough. It is nominated in the Best Actress category, twice,  (Portia Blackman and Nelisa Layne), Best Cinematography (Kevin Bowen), Best Editing (Damien Pinder), Best Original Story (Shakirah Bourne), Best Director Fiction (Damien Pinder), Best Sound (Romario Hunte) and Best Film. Behind Things Tough are Mama’s Story and Tales From the Script: Mission Improbable with seven and six nominations, respectively.

The individual with the most nominations is Rommel Hall (creator of Keeping Up With The Joneses) with six nominations for Best Cinematography (Liquid Gold), two nominations for Best Editing (Liquid Gold and Tales From the Script: Mission Improbable), Best Original Story (Welcome Home), Best Director Non-Fiction (Liquid Gold) and Best Director Fiction (Tales From the Script: Mission Improbable). Damien Pinder is just behind Hall with five nominations and Chukwuemeka Iweze has four.

The five music videos nominated for Best Music Video are “Runaway” by Ch’An directed by Mosi Daniel, “Tiney Winey” by Joaquin directed by Jamar Harding, “She Always Bend Over” by King Bubba directed by Scenes Entourage, “Darlin'” by Shaquille directed by Shaquille Layne and R&M Inc and “Not Your Enemy” by Trinity Clarke directed by Joel Brooks.

See the image below for the full list of nominees. For more information on the Barbados Visual Media Festival and its awards, visit its Facebook page and that of the Barbados Film and Video Association.

Click for full size image.

Gine On?! Magazine’s People’s Choice Awards Are Back

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Gine On?! Magazine’s People’s Choice Awards Are Back

DJ Simmons and Empress Zingha have brought back their digital publication, Gine On?! Magazine’s, People’s Choice Award for the second year in a row. The husband and wife duo started the awards last year not only as a celebration of what Barbados and Barbadians have to offer in the areas of art and culture, but to also showcase said works and give its creators exposure.

For this year’s edition of the awards, five new categories have been added; Motivational Speaker of the Year, Model of the Year, Party of the Year, Poet of the Year and Writer of the Year. Unlike last year where the awards winners were announced via a live stream and digital awards were handed out, this year the winners will receive physical awards and there will be an official awards ceremony.

Over 11,000 people voted in last year’s awards. Speaking to Barbados Today Simmons noted that “[o]nly 65 per cent of those persons were from Barbados. Thirty-five per cent were from Germany, the United Kingdom, New York, Africa…”

User submitted nominations were opened on September 29th and will close on December 31st. Users can nominate cultural practitioners in thirty-seven categories such as Music Video of the Year, Musician of the Year, Fashion Designer of the Year, Sound Engineer of the Year, Event of the Year and Activist of the Year.

The nominees will be announced on January 2nd 2020, kicking off the voting period leading up to the awards ceremony in February.

To submit nominations visit www.gineon.com/Awards and follow Gine On?! on their socials for news and updates here: Facebook, Instagram.

Sundown Superhero Release Concert Video

K.F. Cumberbatch
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Sundown Superhero Release Concert Video

If you’ve never had the chance to watch Bajan pop-punk band Sundown Superhero perform live, here’s your chance.

In June the band embarked on their first ever tour, The Rum & The Reckless Summer Tour, in Southern Ontario, Canada with seven performances over nine days. Yesterday they uploaded the entire one hour set from their June 20th performance at Junction City Music Hall.

While on tour the band also shot a music video for their single “Endless Summer.”

In the concert video, the band performs songs from their two EPs, Wake Up The Neighbourhood (“Midnight Knock”, “California Dime”, “Pretty Girl”, “Honey’s Hit The Floor”) and For What It’s Worth (“Pointless Games”, “Hit Repeat”, “Life After You”, “Endless Summer”) and a cover of The Killers song “Human.”

Watch the band perform below.

Follow the band online:
Instagram
Facebook
Official Website

2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival Schedule Released

K.F. Cumberbatch
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2019 Barbados Visual Media Festival Schedule Released

This afternoon the Barbados Film and Video Association (BFVA) released the schedule for the 6th Annual Barbados Visual Media Festival. The festival – which ran for the entire month of October up until 2016 – will run for four days, starting on Thursday, October 24th and ending on Sunday, October 27th.

On Saturday, October 19th, there will be a free pre-Festival “Talkback Session” with Andrea King, the former Director of the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority (CIDA) at Ten Habitat and a lime at Aeon Bar and Grill.

The festival will open on October 24th with a cocktail hour, opening ceremony and screening of the film Too Lickrish, which was directed by Olympian Tolga Akcayli and stars local comedian and social media personality Seth Bovell, at the Accra Beach Hotel. The following day, on the 25th, will be “Evening of Shorts” in the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) car park. On the 26th there will be a workshop with BFVA President Damien Pinder entitled “Creating Compelling Trailers” at Ten Habitat and the screenings and award ceremony of the BFVA’s 48 Hour Film Challenge at Olympus Theatres.

Finally, on October 27th the Visual Media Awards (VIMAS) will be held at Accra Beach Hotel.

For the full details of the festival schedule, see the image below. Visit the Barbados Visual Media Festival’s Facebook page here.

Click for full size image.
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