\n
DORIS HAMBUCH | UAE UNIVERSITY<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION<\/h4>\n
T<\/span>he idea for this special issue originates in the realization that there has not been a follow-up of Mbye Cham\u2019s Ex-Isles: Essays on Caribbean Cinema<\/em> (1992), published more than two decades ago. [1]<\/a> The book review included in this issue highlights the only exception, but the book in question, Explorando el cine caribe\u00f1o <\/em>(2011; Exploring Caribbean Cinema), edited by Luis Alberto Notario and Bruce Paddington, was published in Spanish and with a very limited number of copies. According to the editors, an English translation of their book is forthcoming soon and, as Kristian Van Haesendonck predicts in the end of his review, such a translation should prove invaluable for future studies in Caribbean cinema. A symposium whose theme was identical with the title of the present issue brought together a series of academic presentations during the recent 10th<\/sup>-anniversary edition of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (TTFF), indicating a more optimistic outlook for the future of Caribbean film studies.<\/p>\n Figure 1: Opening Night of the 10th Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival<\/p>\n Scholarship in Caribbean film studies has been scarce even within individual linguistic entities in the region, with the notable exception of Cuba. Important examples of such research include Keith Q. Warner\u2019s On Location: Cinema and Film in the Anglophone Caribbean<\/em> (2000), Joaqu\u00edn \u2018Kino\u2019 Garc\u00eda\u2019s Historia del Cine Puertorrique\u00f1o (1900-1999)<\/em> (2014 [1984]), as well as parts of Carolyn Cooper\u2019s Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large<\/em> (2004) and Lieve Spaas\u2019s Francophone Film: A Struggle for Identity<\/em> (2000). The essays and interviews included in Caribbean Cinema Now<\/em> highlight that the small amount of widely available Caribbean film scholarship is not due to a lack of material. The combination of the diverse analyses and filmmaker commentaries further emphasizes the benefits of cross-Caribbean exchange between producers, other participants in the regional industries, as well as among critics, whether in the region itself or in its so-called diaspora.<\/p>\n Figure 2: Caribbean Film Mart<\/p>\n The launch of the first Caribbean Film Mart and Regional Film Database at this year\u2019s Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (http:\/\/www.ttfilmfestival.com\/<\/a>) may be an economic manifestation of the creative vision expressed by Surinamese director Pim de la Parra in the interview with Emiel Martens:<\/p>\n Caribbean cinema consists of all [the] individual initiatives in the region that have brought about, and brought together, a diverse body of films that are somehow connected through our history, culture, geography and climate. There will always be young Caribbean people who will rise and produce films\u2014and so every now and then such a film could reach the whole world. We just have to keep hoping and to keep dreaming. (8 \u201cA Paradox in Caribbean Cinema?\u201d)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The fact that the Caribbean Film Database is accessible in English, French, and Spanish but not Dutch reflects a chronic underrepresentation of the Dutch-speaking Caribbean in cross-regional studies. Despite extensive efforts on my part, the present collection was not able to remedy this persistent problem to the anticipated extent. The interview with Pim de la Parra and a comparative analysis of Felix de Rooy\u2019s Desir\u00e9e<\/em> (1984) in Ricardo Arribas\u2019s \u201cHac\u00eda una est\u00e9tica relacional del cine caribe\u00f1o\u201d (\u201cTowards an \u2018Aesthetics of Relation\u2019 in Caribbean Cinema\u201d) are in fact the only representations of Dutch Caribbean cinema in this issue.<\/p>\n The combination of interviews and critical essays otherwise provides a diverse and necessarily eclectic glimpse into recent developments in Caribbean cinema. The issue begins with Storm Saulter\u2019s guest artist portfolio, which aptly illustrates the achievements of an impressive career. The subsequent interview with Emiel Martens explains in detail the challenges that apply to filmmaking conditions throughout the region. As a founding member of the New Caribbean Cinema Movement (http:\/\/www.newcaribbeancinema.com\/<\/a>), Saulter is a model activist whose perseverance and creativity have found yet another well-deserved recognition in his recent appointment as filmmaker-in-residence at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.<\/p>\n The third interview places Hyacinth Simpson in dialogue with Frances-Anne Solomon, the founder of Caribbean Tales (http:\/\/www.caribbeantales.ca\/<\/a>), a registered Canadian charity responsible for numerous opportunities in support of Caribbean filmmakers, including scholarships, workshops, and the annual Caribbean Tales International Film Festival (http:\/\/www.caribbeantales.ca\/CTFF\/<\/a>). Like the Trinidad and Tobago Festival, Caribbean Tales celebrated its 10th<\/sup> anniversary this year. Solomon\u2019s interview illuminates her dedication to these institutions as well as her own experiences as prolific filmmaker. Figure 3: Caribbean Tales International Film Festival 2015 Poster<\/p>\n Two of the critical essays are island-specific, providing surveys of production efforts in Puerto Rico and Jamaica, respectively. Maria Cristina Rodr\u00edguez scrutinizes landmarks of Puerto Rican film production throughout the nascent 21st<\/sup> century. She further traces the debt of young Puerto Rican filmmakers to their late-20th<\/sup>-century predecessors in \u201cThe Island Image and Global Links in Puerto Rican Cinema of the 21st<\/sup> Century.\u201d Sabrina Ceccato\u2019s essay \u201cCinema in Jamaica\u2014Legacy of The Harder They Come<\/em>\u201d underlines the legacy of one particular predecessor for Jamaican filmmakers. Perry Henzell\u2019s The Harder They Come<\/em> (1972) is still a model for Jamaican film production. Saulter affirms Ceccato\u2019s argument towards the end of his guest artist interview, stating that Henzell\u2019s film \u201cstill serves as a blueprint for Jamaican filmmakers.\u201d A decade after Jamaica became an independent country Henzell\u2019s film started a movement that challenged representations of Jamaica\u2019s geography, society, and culture in foreign movies. Similar searches for self-representation on screen are detectable throughout the films discussed in this issue. While inspiration and material for indigenous stories abound, the financial burden of high production costs is a prevalent topic throughout the contributions. Do It Yourself (DIY) filmmaking proliferates throughout the region and, as Rodriguez emphasizes, recent technological developments such as digital technology have been conducive to this method.<\/p>\n Christian Lara from Guadeloupe is an exceptional director whose extensive filmography includes comparatively big-budget co-productions. Meredith Robinson\u2019s contribution is a detailed analysis of Lara\u2019s Sucre Amer<\/em> (Bitter Sugar, 1997) and 1802, l\u2019Epop\u00e9e Guadeloup\u00e9enne<\/em> (1802, The Guadeloupean Epic, 2005), both cinematographically impeccable costume dramas. Based in Paris, Lara decided to fill the gap in \u201ccommercial Antillean cinema\u201d (Cham 280). In \u201cChristian Lara: Reconciling Vision and Execution in Sucre Amer<\/em> and 1802, l\u2019Epop\u00e9e Guadeloup\u00e9enne<\/em>,\u201d Robinson advocates an interpretation of the interrelated films that allows a postcolonial recovery of Guadeloupean collective memory.<\/p>\n Ricardo Arribas departs from \u00c9douard Glissant\u2019s concept of the \u201cPoetics of Relation\u201d to advocate cross-Caribbean film studies in \u201cM\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la fascinaci\u00f3n y el horror: hac\u00eda una est\u00e9tica relacional del cine caribe\u00f1o\u201d (Beyond Fascination and Horror: Towards an \u2018Aesthetics of Relation\u2019 in Caribbean Cinema). Aided by thoughtful and revealing analyses of representative films by F\u00e9lix de Rooy, Fernando P\u00e9rez, Fr\u00e1nces Negr\u00f3n Muntaner and Luis Molina Casanova, he suggests that Caribbean film criticism better captures the region\u2019s emancipatory potential in light of a relational film aesthetics.<\/p>\n Co-authored by Matthias De Groof and Kathleen Gyssels, \u201c\u2019Give Me Back My Black Dolls\u2019: Damas\u2019 Africa and Its Museification, From Poetry to Moving Pictures\u201d adds a final unique angle to this issue\u2019s discourse on Caribbean cinema. Not only does their essay remind readers of the wealth of inspiration found in literary Caribbean heritage for future film production, it also includes an actual example of a short film inspired by Guianese L\u00e9on-Gontran Damas\u2019s poem \u201cLimb\u00e9.\u201d Many poems, plays, and novels from across the region would lend themselves, likewise, to audiovisual adaptations. Such adaptations, in turn, revive studies of the writers whose texts engender the films. In this vein, the first\u00a0part of De Groof and Gyssel\u2019s essay focuses on the writer, Damas himself.<\/p>\n Inspired by literary texts or any other source involving Caribbean themes and subject matter, future productions within the Caribbean and its diaspora will certainly benefit from more, and more diverse, widely available Caribbean film scholarship. Caribbean Cinema Now<\/em> will hopefully encourage many other film scholars to build on the legacy of Cham\u2019s Ex-Isles,<\/em> of Notario and Paddington\u2019s Explorando el cine caribe\u00f1o<\/em>, soon available in English, as well as on the many other sources referred to throughout the included essays and interviews.<\/p>\n Figure 4: TIFF15 Awards Ceremony<\/p>\n Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n Cham, Mbye, ed. Ex-Isles: Essays on Caribbean Cinema<\/em>. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1992.<\/p>\n Cooper, Carolyn. Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large<\/em>. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda, Joaqu\u00edn \u2018Kino.\u2019 Historia del Cine Puertorrique\u00f1o (1900-1999)<\/em>. Bloomington, IN: Palibrio, 2014 [1984].<\/p>\n Notario, Luis A. and Bruce Paddington, eds. Explorando el cine caribe\u00f1o<\/em>. Havana: ICAIC, 2011.<\/p>\n Spaas, Lieve. Francophone Film: A Struggle for Identity<\/em>. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2000.<\/p>\n Warner, Keith Q. On Location: Cinema and Film in the Anglophone Caribbean<\/em>. Oxford: Macmillan, 2000.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Online Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n Caribbean Creativity: www.caribbeancreativity.nl<\/a><\/p>\n Caribbean Tales: http:\/\/www.caribbeantales.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n Caribbean Tales International Film Festival: http:\/\/www.caribbeantales.ca\/CTFF\/<\/a><\/p>\n New Caribbean Cinema: http:\/\/www.newcaribbeancinema.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n The Caribbean Film Academy: http:\/\/caribbeanfilm.org\/about-cafa-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival: http:\/\/www.ttfilmfestival.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/strong> Copyright Doris Hambuch. This article is licensed under a <\/span>Creative Commons 3.0 License<\/a> although certain works referenced herein may be separately licensed, or the author has exercised their right to fair dealing\u00a0under the\u00a0Canadian <\/span>Copyright Act<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"3](\"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/3-Opening-Night-TTFF15-WEB.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"2](\"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2-CaribbeanFilmMart-TTFF15-Web.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"1](\"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1-Caribbean-Tales-15-poster-Web.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"4](\"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4-Awards-Ceremony-TTFF15-Web.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n[1]<\/a> Many thanks are due to Mbye Cham, Kathleen Gyssels, Luis Alberto Notario, Bruce Paddington, and Jerry White for their various kinds of support.<\/p>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/imaginations.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/88x31-1.png\" "\\"88x31")
<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"