Record number of films screened in Hairouna Film Festival

This year’s Hairouna Film Festival (HFF),was marked as one of the biggest, featuring a record number of screened films and plans by the HFF to contribute to the growth of the film industry in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

Festival director, Aiko Roudette, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday May 29, gave an overview of the fest; its growth, and future plans.

HFF Team – (FROM Left) Festival Director – Aiko Roudette, Programming Director – Shane Slater, Festival Manager – Indira Layne

The HFF, established in 2019, this year featured a total of 14 films, ten of which were Vincentian. This allowed the festival’s second night- Vincy night, to be one of its largest, which Roudette said she’s proud of as it encourages an environment for growth in the industry.

“…so definitely year to year, we can see it’s pretty much growing exponentially. “…this year, we had some of the biggest crowds that we’ve had and the energy and the engagement from the audience with the Q&A- people were really locked into it.”

Roudette said this year, she observed a more engaged audience, adding that she received an out pouring of positive feedback.

“…people learned so much from the festival, they learned things about the Caribbean, they learned things about St. Vincent they didn’t know, they felt connected.”

In respect of this, its fifth edition, there was the addition of the Audience Choice Award. Winning this award was the festival’s featured film, ‘Cartman’. This short film became the festival’s featured after being chosen in its script to screen competition- a product of the Hairouna Film Lab. Roudette explained that this is a process where a number of persons apply with their scripts. Two scripts are selected for further development and mentorship being rewritten three or four times.

“At the end of that process, one of those scripts [is] chosen to receive production funds, and production support.”

There are plans to for the script writing competition to become one of the main staples of the HFF. Roudette said it allows creatives to have a chance to speak on multiple topics in SVG through the art of film.

“In 2019, we were part of a workshop that was taking place in Sandy Bay; and we have this script writing competition. So we want to expand the workshopping element …in the future and have more consistent trainings in addition to this script writing competition.”

Plagued by the pandemic the year after being launched, Roudette’s team was forced to cancel the HFF, but behind that cloud was a silver lining they may not have anticipated when the festival had to be moved online. This allowed the opportunity for the festival to reach a wider audience.

“We were able to generate lots of attention towards what we’re doing regionally and internationally which opened up a number of opportunities,” Roudette shared.

She explained that the HFF was represented at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, and the Berlinale in Berlin, and they participated in an outdoor documentary festival in French Guiana, and screened films at London’s Victoria and Albert Museums.

In spite of this, Roudette made it clear that the HFF is for the Vincentian community. She described the film industry as being a community for people involved in all creative arts. Recounting a comment made by a patron at the recent festival about paying some attention to make-up artists Roudette said she agrees they are “…really essential for making films. Musicians- we need soundtracks, we need caterers, we need all of these things”.

Episode 2 of SEARCHLIGHT’s original film series, ‘SVG Murder Mysteries’ was one of the films screened at the Hairouna Film Festival- a first for the digital and print news outlet.

The 2024 HFF was held over the course of two nights, screening plays from various Caribbean film-makers. Night 1 was held at Flowt Beach Bar in Ratho Mill on Friday May 24, 2024, and Night 2 was held at Bungalow on Saturday May 25, 2024, amidst the effects of a passing tropical wave.