Bajan film goes to bootcamp

A workshop to give creatives a leg up in the film industry is underway.

In a four-day screenwriting boot camp organised by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), aspiring filmmakers have been taking part in an intensive workshop and collaborating with international producers, actors and filmmakers.

They will also get the opportunity to pitch project ideas to a group of panellists with a $50 000 grant to each of the top five ideas for the production of 20 to 25-minute short films.

International practitioners who have done substantial work in the United Kingdom and Nigeria – Whittmey Payne, Tamara Aihie and Femi Oyeniran – are working with the 30 boot camp participants.

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop that began on Thursday in the seminar room of Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, film director Daniel Boyce and actor Brandon Blackman said Barbadian creatives like themselves needed more opportunities such as this and more public support in getting their work widely seen.

Boyce said: “Being from a small island, our film industry is almost non-existent in comparison to Hollywood and things going on in Nigeria and the UK. So, inherently, if you have a good script, how do you get someone in the industry to read it? Initiatives like this are tremendous because they’re bringing producers that have industry experience and providing the funding to produce projects for creatives here. [NCF] addressed one of the major hurdles which is getting our product out there and then they are also providing funding. This programme is fantastic.”

Blackman said some of the workers in the industry need to take some of the blame for stunted growth in Barbadian film. He added that investment opportunities were few because some creatives did not do enough to gain buy-in.

“When it comes to the lack of interest in investing in movies, again it’s because we’ve set a bad precedent. We have a lot of movies here that usually follow the same pattern, they’re usually not as interesting, and this is not to knock historical films or cultural films. But when it comes to creativity there’s a whole span; there are thrillers, dramas, horrors and we in the Caribbean we’re very stunted.

“Sometimes we could be very closed off . . . . A lot of the time it’s up to us and the locals to support the creatives here. At the end of the day, some people will see a Bajan movie is in the theatres and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, well, I ain’t got an interest in seeing that’ and they could be missing out on seeing a gem just because they already have a preconceived notion that this may be garbage.”

Senior Business Development Officer at the NCF Andre Hoyte said the activities in the workshop were designed to help the participants open minds and hone skills as creative thinkers and writers. (SZB)