18 Aug KITLV researcher Emiel Martens hosts Caribbean film event

On Saturday August 16, KITLV researcher Emiel Martens hosted another Caribbean film event at World Cinema Amsterdam with his non-profit organization Caribbean Creativity. After the successful edition of Yard Vibes, as the event is called, at the international film festival last year, this time Caribbean Creativity organized a Caribbean film program consisting of the Barbadian comedy, Payday, and two short films from Trinidad & Tobago, Doubles with Slight Pepper and Captain T&T.

In his opening speech, Martens emphasized the emergence and development of cinema in the southern Caribbean: ‘After our first collaboration with World Cinema Amsterdam last year, when we did the Inside Jamaica program together, we are very pleased to host another Yard Vibes at the festival today. This time we decided to focus on Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago, two Anglophone Caribbean island nations located in the eastern part of the Caribbean Sea. Trinidad & Tobago has experienced a major period of growth in the film industry in the past few years. ‘

‘With the necessary government support, we are currently seeing many talented filmmakers and good films emerging on the island, from short films and animations to documentaries and feature films. Two great short films from T&T have been selected for screening tonight: Captain T&T made by Trinidadians Christopher and Leizelle Guinness and Doubles with Slight Pepper written & directed by Trinidadian Canadian Ian Harnarine. The two films are very different from each other, yet both are incredibly creative, fascinating, and push the envelope in terms of filmmaking in the Anglophone Caribbean. ‘

‘We will start our screening today with these two short films. They will be followed by Payday, a feature film from Barbados, an island about twice the size of Amsterdam and populated by less than 300.000 people. With no real film industry to speak of, Payday is one of the first feature films to come out of Barbados. The movie was first and foremost intended for local audiences and became an instant hit on the island. Payday is maybe not a film with high production values and a polished narrative style, but an important early attempt of Bajans to develop a national cinema of their own.’