The Inaugural Windrush Caribbean Film Festival will hold its digital media launch on October 17th, where programming will be revealed. Special screenings October 24th & 31st will feature Shorts Presentation and Panels. The main festival screenings will be held from November 6th through Remembrance Sunday, November 8th.
FRANCES-ANNE SOLOMON, CO-FOUNDER, Filmmaker stated.
George Floyd’s murder recorded by community bystanders on smartphone cameras, launched a global revolution. Our Windrush foremothers and fathers did not have the benefit of smartphones to document their lives, and bear witness to their struggles at the hands of the racist “Mother Country”. Their perspectives matter. WCFF aims to reclaim their stories and ensure that they reach a wide audience. We will do this through resurrecting archive, encouraging the creation of new work, and providing a platform for wide discussion reflection, celebration and debate. We believe that this is important work that we must do on behalf of the generations past: to amplify their voices in the name of Justice. Our digital platforms gives us a global storyboard.
MICROCINEMA CHALLENGE IS NOW OPEN
The Windrush Microcinema Project aims to give emerging and established filmmakers an opportunity to create short 2-3 minute films on the subject of the Windrush generation. The project will facilitate the creation of 10 Digital Stories to premiere online as part of the Windrush Caribbean Film Festival between October 17 to November 8, 2020.
For more information and to apply click here
GARRY STEWART, CO-FOUNDER
The Windrush Caribbean film festival honours the amazing achievements of those who took the brave step to seek out their fortunes in foreign lands. The name of the ship, SS Empire Windrush, is synonymous with the start of mass migration from the West Indies on 22 nd June 1948. The arrival of those passengers, their dreams to rebuild Britain and build a life in the “land of milk and honey” seem so far removed from today’s reality.
Today, some of the children of “Windrush Generation” have featured in the news for the wrong reasons. This piece of history has become marred and tainted by the treatment of the descendants of the pioneering passengers, with many in conflict with the Home Office, wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights and citizenship despite being British subjects. Current campaigns for the Windrush victims in 2020 coincide with the “Black Lives Matter” movement, both fighting injustices inflicted on the Black British community.
Undeniably, however, the Windrush Generation and their descendants have enriched the country through their valuable contributions and have intrinsically become part of the UK’s DNA. It is for these reasons that we, WCFF, believe that it is our responsibility as curators and custodians of Black history to use our skills as film storytellers, historians and filmmakers, to not only document the past and present but to preserve and interpret it for future generations. Having the power to mark this celebratory event is both an honour and a privilege.
The Windrush Caribbean Film Festival (WCFF) is a UK-based charity that aims to engage and educate audiences on the contributions of the Windrush generation and its impact on the country, through screenings and discussions, a micro-cinema challenge and a bi-monthly networking event. For more info: WindrushFilmFestival.com
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