BY SELINA McCALLUM
When you watch a film, you’re swept into the life of a character that faces hardships, challenges, and conflicts within themselves and others. Whether the film is fiction or non-fiction, a film enhances your perspective and most importantly, makes you feel something. Film festivals are where you find the best of the best films, and this year you can prepare yourself ahead of time to catch the greatest films, or submit your own film, at these following film festivals.
Queens World Film Festival
This year marks the 10th year for this film festival that happens annually in Queens, New York. The Queens World Film Festival takes place from March 19th to 29th at the Museum of the Moving Image and the Kaufman Astoria Studios in the heart of the Historic Kaufman Arts District.
Katha Cato is the Executive Director, and Don Cato, is the Artistic Director for the festival. The annual festival features international and local works including tender films, heartbreaking films, eye opening documentaries and boundary pushing, provocative pieces.
Each year, the festival receives submissions for films coming from all over the globe, 87 nations to date, including Cuba, France, Spain, Serbia, Korea, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Finland and the UK.
After every program, a post-screening dialogue is held to engage audiences from the demographically diverse communities that comprise the borough of Queens.
Aside from the festival, QWFF also includes a youth-oriented educational initiative and year-round screening opportunities for QWFF filmmakers.
Bahamas International Film Festival
The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local Bahamian community and international visitors with a diverse presentation of films from around the world. BIFF provides unique cultural experiences, educational programs and forums for exploring the past, present and future of cinema.
BIFF has created a legacy of excellence in presenting The Bahamas as a premier film destination to the international cinematic community. Apart from showcasing 1000+ local and international films, we have introduced our culture to more than 1 million film professionals and enthusiasts from around the world.
BIFF has attracted A-List celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Danny Glover, Naomie Harris, Zoe Kravitz, Lenny Kravitz, Sydney Tamiia Poitier and many more.
Dead North Film Festival
As Caribbean people, we hate the cold, but this film festival embraces it. Imagine experiencing long, dark nights and temperatures way below freezing for two months, to capture your story with a camera.
Dead North is a short genre film-making festival open to people who live in places like the Arctic. Over the course of two months, filmmakers from the circumpolar world produce original films in some of the world’s coldest climates.
The Film Festival was established in 2012, and takes place in Yellowknife, the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Over 170 short films have been produced and many of them have gone on to screen at major festivals around the world, including Cannes, imagineNATIVE, Blood in the Snow and NYC Horror Film Festival.
Panama International Film Festival
Since 2012, The Panama International Film Festival has been committed to showcasing films from Central America and the Caribbean. One of their programs called First Look, the industry section of the festival, aims to benefiting the culmination of Central American and Caribbean films. The festival hosts approximately 150 guest filmmakers and industry professionals.
First Look opens its call for all the Central American and Caribbean feature films that have passed a first cut in their post-production stage to compete for financial support for its completion and for its subsequent screening in the largest film market in the world, the Cannes Festival.
Filmmakers from Central American countries and the Caribbean Islands can, from November 11th, 2019, until January 31st, 2020, apply their feature films to Primera Mirada, which has funds to support the finalization of the films.
12°N61°W Grenadian Film Festival
The second annual 12°N61°W Grenadian Film Festival (1261GFF) takes place in Grenada from May 2nd to May 9th, 2020. Due to their professionalism and work, it’s hard to believe that they are only entering their second year.
Founded by Meschida Philip, a Grenadian-American filmmaker. The 1261GFF executive group consist of an all-female international team with over 20 years of production and business experiences.
Last year they featured an impressive lineup of fifty thought-provoking films, eight feature-length and forty-two short films from thirteen countries, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, with several films making Grenadian and Regional premieres.
Almost 40% of the films programmed came from female filmmakers. 16% of the films featured were produced in Grenada or featured Grenadian artist/content creators. They also have programs for Children and Teens and for members of the LGBTQ community.
12°N61°W Grenadian Film Festival call for submissions is currently open. All projects sent for preselection must be submitted through the online entry form on FilmFreeway.
The last and final deadline is on January 31st, 2020. They are seeking Caribbean films, films by filmmakers of colour, documentaries, short films, animations, children films and environmental films.
The greatest part about film festivals is that they unite us through our experiences and bring us together as one Caribbean diaspora community.