From de Globe to Global: Caribbean Stories Are Coming Home at CARIFESTAXV

Today I wanna talk TV. Well… the big screen, actually how we does watch it.  Because

growing up in Barbados, TV was timing. Sesame Street meant homework was done and

you could finally run outside to play. Then, that haunting melody would start before the

words:

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives…”

I knew right then it was time for the CBC news… and then bedtime. The TV helped

raise me, if I being honest.

It taught me how to spell, how to feel, how to follow a story arc even when the

characters didn’t look like me, they still felt like family. And if daddy allowed us to go to

The Globe Cinema on a weekend? That meant my negotiating skills were top tier and

my report card was reporting!

Seeing a movie on the big screen felt like magic, but the real magic was the people.

Because Bajans? We have no chill. We don’t just watch the movie we inside it. We

giving commentary like we directing the thing. We shouting, “Looka! How de man gone

and dead jus’ so !” We clapping like the lead actor from down the road. We whispering,

bawling, and laughing like it’s a Granville revival.

Watching stories was and still is a community ritual. And now? We telling those stories

ourselves.

That’s why I’m buzzing about what’s coming at CARIFESTA XV. The Film & Video

Programme is shaping up to be our very own Caribbean Cannes—but with cornpie and

commentary.

Here’s a little sneak peek...

From short films to full-length features, you’ll get to see stories from Grenada to

Guyana, Antigua to Anguilla, and right here in Barbados. Films that honour where we

come from and challenge where we’re going. Diaspora stories. Youth voices.

Documentaries that cut deep. Animated gems. Some will make you cry. Others will

make you shout “yes lawd!”

We sharing how to craft bold Caribbean narratives or shoot something powerful on a

shoestring budget.

There’s going to be a Roots to Reels Bootcamp for young grassroots filmmakers from

across the region, using their cell phones to capture what it means to be Caribbean.

Real, raw, brilliant. By the end of the week? We’ll be watching their short documentaries

on screen, together.

And of course, post-screening limes—because in true Caribbean fashion, we want to

talk ’bout de ting after. The audience, the filmmakers, the mentors—in one space,

sharing reactions, critiques, stories, ideas. That’s where some of the real magic

happens.

But here’s the biggest thing I want yuh to take in:

This isn’t just about film. It’s about ownership. It’s about Caribbean people writing,

directing, and producing our own narratives. For too long, people have spoken about us.

But now, through CARIFESTA XV, we reclaim the pen, the lens, the mic.

Because your voice? That’s your visa.  That’s your power. And this? This is Voicenotes

from the Village.  A space where our stories don’t need translation, don’t need

permission, and don’t need fixing. We telling it like it is, how we live it, for us by us.

So if you ever had to negotiate with your daddy to go the Globe… If you still hear the

CBC News theme and feel your body winding down… If you planned your evenings

around Real Housewives (aka the new Days of Our Lives) and got hype for movie night

with your cousins...

Then CARIFESTA XV is for you.

We’re not just watching stories anymore. We’re writing them. Filming them. Producing

them. And come August? We’re showing them on the big screen our screen with all the

flair and fire only the Caribbean can bring.

Lights. Camera. We ready.

Written by Kim Butcher

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