The attendance of local film maker Aiko Roudette at the Berlin International Film Festival last month has opened doors for Vincentian film not only regionally but internationally as well.
The festival, also referred to as the Berlinale, is one of the top five most prestigious film festivals in the world.

Roudette who left these shores for the event on February 14, returned on February 26 and told SEARCHLIGHT in an interview last Friday that the experience, was “incredible”.

“I think one of the main things that was so powerful is that all the people who were represented, different countries, everybody connected in an authentic way and a lot of good partnerships and friendships were developed between the different islands.”

She said regional connections made at these international events are important as the Caribbean is at the moment, an emerging cinema space, and going into these markets, film makers must keep that at the forefront of their thinking.

She said one of the reasons why creating these regional connections is so important is because the Caribbean is an important market for its own films.

“We always look abroad and feel that things need to be sanctioned internationally but there is a lot of barriers to access these (international) spaces and to have our films shown and distributed is challenging and we do ourselves a disservice when we don’t value local and regional connections,” Roudette stressed.

The local ambassador, chosen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to hold SVG’s mantle for the first time at this festival, said regional film makers understand each another while a lot of the times internationally, people do not understand our specificities.

“For anybody making film in St Vincent and the Grenadines, the local and regional audience cannot be dismissed because there is a lot of potential for collaboration and partnership and for showing films in the Caribbean region.

“…so building up a following in the Caribbean and distribution in the region is a plus,” Roudette explained.

The Berlinale was structured to provide highly specialized marketing tools for Caribbean film makers and producers, while facilitating entrepreneurial networking between both Caribbean film industry talents and European film market stakeholders, and Roudette said the regional partnerships that were created are very special.

She noted that organizations which are pioneering cinema in Caribbean countries and people at the forefront were at the event, and there was a strong sense of solidarity even from the larger countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

“Trinidad and Jamaica, they are dealing with a lot of similar issues we have here and there is a lot more that we can understand collectively than we can imagine.

“The experience was incredibly powerful and everybody feels the same, that we made friends and connections and that there will be a lot of collaboration between the islands as a result of this,” Roudette told SEARCHLIGHT.

She said already, the local Hairouna Film Festival (HFF) has been in conversations with various organizations and is collaborating on educational initiatives and other projects.

“So it is already bearing fruits…we were able to access a lot of information and our first time presence, we had a booth where each country was displaying their work and we found that various film makers, distributors, programmers, producers from around the world were attracted and drawn into the stall because they had some connection…”.

Roudette said this enabled the regional film makers to make international connections.

“We did not go to them, they came looking at us and were interested in what is going on in the Caribbean,” Roudette added, stressing that the attention on the Caribbean as an emerging cinema space is growing.

“People are being pushed into looking into their own heritage and what is going on within emerging cinema spaces so this shift means there is a lot of international attention, so there are opportunities for us to take advantage of.

“Apart from my own obvious love of film, I think only positive things, economically and culturally can come to us by developing the sector,” she commented.

“There are many economic benefits, employment for people through developing the film sector, diversification…

“The creative industries employ more young people that any other in the world and it is a great way to get them engaged in things that can celebrate Vincentian culture and create visibility for us…”.

She said also that film festivals and events of this nature, create more visibility and helps push the country as a tourist destination.

Roudette said that for all those reasons, a group has been started with film enthusiasts, and people are being added daily with the purpose of making connections.

“If people need a crew or help with something, they can ask as well as share opportunities,” Roudette said.

She noted also that the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland has a focus on the Caribbean and they want to develop Vincentian projects.

“…what I really want to see is more Vincentians travelling and representing their films and going to these big film festivals and I really want to see our work at a level where we start creating more original Vincentian stories that can compete all over the world.

“This was a very inspiring experience and an overall very incredible experience and I hope I can continue to bring these resources back and support the development of the industry,” Roudette said.

On show at Berlinale from SVG was work from several locals creatives- Jamali Jack (the Digital Marketing Officer at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority and Chief Creative Designer at iMaculate iMagez); Dante Ollivierre (works with one of largest non-profit organizations in the world on their 11th and final European development fund Programme RESEMBID); Tolga Akcayli (writer of the film “Too Lickrish”, selected at six international festivals); Akley Olton (winner of the international Creative Activism Award from the Cultures of Resistance Network); Javed DaSouza (founder of Alpha Studios); Colin Browne (founder of Mr. Retail, an audio visual production company established in 2006); and Hayden Billingy (script writer, author, actor, recording artiste and music video director).

The presence of SVG and other Caribbean countries at the Berlinale was part of UNESCO’s implementation of the European Union funded Programme, Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity.