Information Americas, Bridgetown, Barbados, Mon. June 30, 2025: Two filmmakers, Ife Alaba (Canada), and Kerel Pinder (Bahamas), walked away from the Cross Continental Discussion board (CCF) 2025 with grant funding to kickstart co-productions, due to assist from the Inter-American Improvement Financial institution – marking a tangible end result of a weeklong occasion that moved past dialog and into transformation.
The discussion board, introduced by CaribbeanTales Media Group and the Division of Artistic and Performing Arts at UWI Cave Hill, concluded its five-day convergence on June 18 with a daring message: The time to construct is now. Producers and delegates from throughout the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, the UK, Europe, and the U.S. issued a united name to design, fund, and activate native movie ecosystems with out ready for the “excellent” circumstances.
Held beneath the theme Decolonising Co-Manufacturing, CCF 2025 introduced collectively over 50 producers, business delegates, and creatives to interrogate the techniques that decide whose tales are instructed – and the way. The discussion board challenged members to shift their gaze from shortage to alternative. As Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO of CaribbeanTales and co-creator of the discussion board, emphasised: “It’s nice to inform the story—we’re already good at that. The actual query is: the place will you get the cash? Who are you able to collaborate with to make your mission actual? These two factors should at all times be entrance and centre.”
Relatively than reinforcing narratives of lack, the discussion board functioned as a stay, collaborative lab – offering real-world alternatives for filmmakers to forge significant partnerships and start constructing with what they’ve.
Excessive-Profile Contributors Included:
- CCH Pounder – Guyana-born acclaimed actor, CCF Steering Group member, and activist.
- Lorraine Toussaint – Celebrated Trinidad & Tobago-born actor, producer, and cultural trailblazer.
- Ava DuVernay – Famend filmmaker, producer, and founding father of ARRAY.
DuVernay’s digital keynote was a standout second. In a direct message to rising creators, she dismantled the parable that large budgets make higher movies: “In case your first concept strikes you means exterior your price range – pivot. Use what’s round you. The very best movies typically occur within the smallest areas.”
International media powerhouses Fiona Lamptey, former Head of UK Options at Netflix; Joel Phiri, main South African producer and distributor with Identified Associates; Effie T. Brown, Gamechanger Movies, USA, and celebrated Canadian content material creator, Jen Holness, took heart stage over 5 days – main highly effective conversations with producers within the room and serving to to floor onerous truths and tangible subsequent steps.
The discussion board tackled structural obstacles to fairness throughout key pillars:
Day 1 – Decolonising Coverage & Laws: Reforming frameworks that hinder equitable content material creation
Day 2 – Decolonising Financing: Disrupting conventional funding streams to centre Black and International Majority creators
Day 3 – Decolonising Content material: Preserving cultural authenticity whereas scaling attain
Day 4 – Decolonising Distribution: Constructing inclusive, sustainable distribution fashions
Day 5 – Decolonising Co-Manufacturing: Forging cross-border collaboration rooted in fairness
Key stakeholders – together with C15 Studios, Caribbean Artistic Fund, and main companions such because the Inter-American Improvement Financial institution, Make investments Barbados, Barbados Tourism and Advertising and marketing Inc., Barbados Movie and Tv Affiliation, Canada Media Fund, Image NL, and the KZN Tourism and Movie Authority – joined the discussion board to supply funding insights and forge next-step pathways.
Felicia J. Persaud, CEO of Make investments Caribbean, moderated a pivotal panel on financing and pointed to a scarcity of infrastructure: “Few Caribbean international locations have usable tax incentives or co-production treaties. Whereas a handful – like Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad & Tobago – provide tax rebates, many, together with Barbados, are nonetheless taking part in catch-up.”
What’s Subsequent: Turning Imaginative and prescient Into Trade
With over 30 producers taking part in intensive classes, 20 business delegates engaged, and a whole lot extra reached via public programming, CCF 2025 delivered greater than dialogue – it produced a working blueprint for regional movie business progress.
Key suggestions from discussion board attendees embrace:
- Establishing sturdy movie tax incentive packages throughout the area
- Negotiating formal co-production treaties with international locations like Canada, South Africa, and the UK
- Growing inter-island agreements to allow seamless Caribbean collaboration
As one of many few boards of its variety, The Cross Continental Discussion board is a real-time lab for artistic disruption, and with subsequent yr’s utility cycle opening quickly, it continues to place Caribbean and International South storytellers not on the margins – however on the heart of worldwide storytelling futures.
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