Festival set up to advance entrepreneurs in Creative sector

Speaking at the launch of the fourth annual Barbados Visual Media Festival, scheduled to be held from Tuesday, October 24 – Sunday, October 29, 2017. Damien Pinder, President of the Barbados Film and Video Association highlighted, “The environment is definitely better than ten years ago, we have the Cultural Industries Development Act, we have a Film Commissioner and we have been in discussions with the Ministry of Culture in regards to the framework to help guide the decision-makers as how best to help out sector.”

Pinder continued, “The Barbados Visual Media Festival is an initiative of the Barbados Film and Video Association. Its objective is to celebrate the work of local, regional and international independent film makers, while being a catalyst for the development of the Barbadian visual media industry. The festival not only features the screening of local, regional and international content but it also includes a “48-Hour Film Challenge”, Industry Workshops, as well as the Visual Media Awards (ViMAs) for Films in Barbados.

“This festival is extremely important as it gives local filmmakers a platform to have their films shown, it gives them feedback, it helps them to improve, it facilitates networking with other players in the industry which could potentially birth
future projects and it gives them the tools to get their content out to the world.”

The President stated, “The Festival is an extremely important component of the calendar year for the Barbados Film and Video Association and for the audio-visual sector as a whole. We are often faced with our fair share of individual challenges throughout the year but the festival is a nod to the hardwork and this year almost did not happen because funds were scarce, but our sponsors stepped up to the plate; the festival committee stepped up to the plate and we will be making it happen despite the many challenges facing the local film industry.

“Of course, we know that money is a major need but the industry is not only in need of financial investment, but in such desperate need of time-offerings from those knowledgeable in business who can educate the creatives and bring some balance to the fore, as well as educating the public that local films exists beyond youtube, and that there are filmmakers who are telling Barbadian stories with an international appeal. The other challenge is that persons who would generally be willing to produce films shot in Barbados are not aware of how developed the island is and think only of sun sea and sand – and not business, industry and commerce.”

He identified in terms of growth, “The world has become one big market that we can tap into and there is a huge market and a world onto its own with the film industry. It is the one industry that every other industry can benefit from, food, transportation, fashion, engineers, lawyers. et cetera. The way forward in growth and development is to put the framework in place and make the island lucrative for international productions to be filmed here.” (NB)