Screen Barbados needs more than culture-for-export policy

Barbados possesses a rich cultural tapestry woven with dynamic stories that deserve to be shared on screen with the world. But the current approach to developing a film industry focuses too narrowly on attracting foreign productions to use our shores as a filming location and in fashioning more sellers than screenwriters.

While foreign investment can provide economic benefits, we must not overlook the critical task of nurturing homegrown Barbadian filmmaking talent and amplifying the unique perspectives of our people. Nollywood, the home of Nigerian filmmaking, began by reaching across self-imposed barriers with a language that spoke to countless audiences throughout the Diaspora. Story first, and the dollars will follow.

At the moment, government policy tends to film primarily as an export industry or a vehicle for tourism promotion. The mandate of the post of film commissioner reflects this myopia. But film can and should be much more – it is a vital art form for expressing a society’s experiences, making sense of its identity, and affirming its humanity. Drawing inspiration from the pioneering work of the National Film Board of Canada, particularly its groundbreaking work in documentary filmmaking, we can recognise film’s immense power as a nationwide creative endeavour that chronicles and interprets the life of a country.

What might a distinctly Barbadian approach look like? It would put Barbadian writers, directors, and actors front and centre, shepherd projects from script to screen that showcase our stories on our terms. In addition to existing festivals and marketplaces to develop local and regional audiences for our films, Barbadian film needs sustained media education programmes –  and dedicated funding. It would nurture filmmaking not simply as an industry but as a cultural network – interconnected with schools, cultural and community groups, and our museums..

It is not only ironic but telling that while the administration boasts of its recognition of film’s value as a creative industry, Barbadian theatre is near death. One cannot survive without the other.

This exposes critical blind spots in the government’s film policy, such as it is. It does not do enough to actively commission screenplays by Barbadian writers or support the production of local independent films for international release. While plans for training programmes are underway, they lag far behind the pace of development in other areas. We cannot build a film industry without a critical mass of skilled local filmmakers who are free to experiment, fail, start all over, and tell better stories, not merely put more bums on seats.

Nonetheless, we must commend the tireless efforts of the Barbados Film and Video Association (BFVA) to advance the domestic film industry. Their initiatives to provide training, business support, and promised legal services to filmmakers – while maintaining dialogue with the administration – are laying the groundwork for Barbadian talent to thrive. We are encouraged by the Young Filmmakers Initiative which promises to nurture interest in filmmaking from a young age and build vital skills.

The BFVA, with government support, is well-placed to catalyse a vibrant film culture. Beyond NIFCA, BFVA needs a revived Bridgetown Film Festival to showcase independent films to domestic and international audiences. Imagine then, a National Film Fund supported in part by lotteries a la UK and a levy on foreign productions to finance indigenous film projects; the incentive-based approach to overseas business is a tired industrial strategy. One can envisage a BFVA getting the same support from Export Barbados as our roadside mechanics to build creative clusters and media farms on industrial estates to foster partnerships between filmmakers and creative services.

Most importantly, we urge the BFVA to pressure the government to implement policies that put Barbadian stories front and centre as part of the intangible cultural heritage about which the administration waxes so lyrically. We return to a National Film Fund to pump money into script development and production grants for filmmakers. It also means playing an active role in packaging and distributing Barbadian films to international markets.

Rather than assigning the responsibility solely to the National Cultural Foundation, we propose the creation of a National Film Commission of Barbados, not merely a sole film commissioner, as an autonomous public organization – acting at arm’s length from the government – with a mandate to finance, distribute, and promote Bajan films.

This independent, public organisation model of the National Film Board of Canada has championed Canadian stories on screen for over 80 years. We believe a similar institutional focus on developing our filmmakers and amplifying our voices would unlock the rich potential of our film industry for national dialogue. The NCF could retain its vital role in celebrating the arts while a new film commission spearheads our cinema future.

The commission would be the agency managing the National Film Fund to commission indigenous film projects across different genres and formats – animation, documentaries, experimental films, and drama features. This is what a focus on nurturing Barbadian directing and production talent, not attracting foreign studios, looks like in our viewfinder.

Films produced or distributed with commission funding would tell Barbadian stories for domestic and diaspora audiences in the first instance before international release. The commission could facilitate regional filmmaker access and, in an upgrade on the mobile cinemas of old, showcase local films at the community level, not just house our films on multiplex screens.

With the right coordination of grassroots creativity and top-down support, a world-beating Barbados film industry can blossom.

We agree that Barbadian film already possesses tremendous potential. But this requires the government to recognise that domestic film production is not merely a foreign exchange-earning concern, a bid for ‘market share’. Our stories and storytellers can captivate the world – but they can also delight, inspire and enlighten our people. It can only do all this if we commit to developing an ecosystem that amplifies Barbadian voices and puts our images on the screen for ourselves and others to see. Beyond rhetoric, let’s bring Bajan movies more sharply into focus.