Zwarte Ibis (Black Ibis) is a short poetic film made by Belgo-Dutch grassroots media platform Black Speaks Back portraying a young Black woman’s quest for intimacy in a world where the boundaries between the individual and the collective, the political and the personal, the past and the present, become ever blurrier. The short film is an afro-surrealistic reverie, poetically re-imagining our contemporary conceptions of relationships with the self and with imagined communities through a questioning of historically and culturally imposed views on Black people’s intimate lives in the diaspora.

Caribbean Creativity co-hosted the world premiere of Zwarte Ibis (Black Ibis) in January 2024, and currently serves as the film festival strategist of the film.

Dir: Emma-Lee Amponsah | 2024 | The Netherlands | narrative short | 18 min.

Eating Papaw on the Seashore is a short coming-of-age film produced by the Georgetown Film Festival in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation two queer Guyanese boys, who are navigating their feelings in a homophobic society.

Caribbean Creativity was one of the official backers of  Eating Papaw on the Seashore.

Dir: Nikose Layne | 2022 | Guyana | narrative short | 18 min. | Trailer

Studio Drummie One and the History of Rock Steady Music is a feature-length documentary on the development of rocksteady, the predecessor of reggae, in Jamaica in the 1960s, with a specific focus on the role of the famous Studio One in Kingston. Join Joe Isaacs (aka Drummie One), and the other remaining original members of the Kingston, Jamaica Studio One (1965-1968) rhythm section ‘The Soul Vendors’ (aka Sound Dimension, aka Soul Brothers): Brian Atkinson (bass player), and Hux Brown (guitarist) as they tell the story of how Rock Steady began in 1966 at Studio One. Also starring Bunny Wailer, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, Stranger Cole, Lester Sterling, Otis Gayle, The Heptones, Jack Radics, Sly Dunbar, Ken Boothe, The Melodians, Willi Williams, and more. This film introduces the last living original creators of a genre of music that has spread around the globe over the last 50 years and spawned multiple record empires using the Soul Vendors beats without recognition.

Caribbean Creativity served as the story editor of Studio Drummie One. We also organized the Dutch premiere of the film at Reggae Vibrations on January 18, 2019.

Dir: Guy Ragosta | 2018-2019 | Jamaica / United States | Documentary | 77 min.

Watch the full film 

Gifts from Babylon is an award-winning short film exploring the impact of Africa-EU migration through the lens of a Gambian return-migrant. The film captures the personal and cultural conflicts that arise when Amadou, a young West African, returns to his home country after having lived illegally in the once promised paradise, Europe. Gifts from Babylon shows the return of an African migrant after having lived illegally in Babylon for five years. Babylon is the name that is often used in West Africa when referring to Europe, the idealized destination of many young West Africans when taking the so-called backway, the dangerous and illegal journey to Europe across deserts and high seas. The main character is Amadou, a 28-year old Gambian who took the backway when he was in his early twenties. Back then, he stole money from local gang leader Jimmy to cross the desert by truck and ended up in a smuggler’s boat to Europe. Now, five years later he returns to his home country, to reunite with his family and friends. After a harsh life of hustling on the streets of Italy and the Netherlands, Amadou comes back to the Gambia as a changed man – a bluffing man his family and friends can’t get along with. On top of that, the debts he left behind have not been forgotten by local gang leader Jimmy. While suffering from intense flashbacks of his Babylon life in Europe, and experiencing the poverty and insecurity of African ghetto life all over again, he wonders what has become of him…

Emiel Martens, founding director of Caribbean Creativity, served as the producer and story editor of Gifts from Babylon, which has been shown at 75+ film festivals and other events wordwide and won various awards.

Dir: Bas Ackermann | 2018 | The Gambia / The Netherlands | narrative short | 24 min.

Website Gifts from Babylon  |  Facebook Gifts from Babylon  |  Watch Gifts from Babylon

After being smuggled into Trinidad and Tobago to be with her brother Wei, Zhenzhen, an illegal Chinese immigrant, discovers the true cost of her arrival.

Moving Parts is one of a handful of new feature films being produced within the Caribbean, poised to present new images and stories to the international market. After the death of her father, a Chinese immigrant, Zhenzhen, is smuggled into Port of Spain in order to be with her brother Wei. Unbeknownst to them, the restaurant where Wei has found her work serves more than just food. Zhenzhen arranges for an advance from the restaurant’s owner, Mrs. Liu, in order to pay the money she owes as a result of her illegal entry onto the island, and Mrs. Liu’s narcissistic son, Shin, takes a unwanted interest in Zhenzhen’s future. When a devastating event tears at the very fabric of Zhenzhen’s existence, only through the help of a neighboring art gallerist, Evelyn, and the restaurant’s Cook, does she have a chance at life. Moving Parts is unique in that it is not a thriller, but rather a human drama, exposed from the inside out. Utilising a local context, this film will address one of the most pressing contemporary global social issues, human trafficking. The film will present a fresh approach to a difficult topic through the eyes of female characters, crafted by a female writer/director, shot by a female cinematographer and produced by Caribbean women.

Caribbean Creativityserved as an official backer of Moving Parts through their Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

Dir: Emilie Upczak | 2017 | T&T | drama

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Welcome to the Smiling Coast is a feature-length documentary that offers a rare insight into the daily lives of fifteen youngsters who are struggling to make ends meet in the margins of the Gambian tourism industry. Although the smallest country on mainland Africa, the Gambia has become a popular holiday destination for European tourists, including among older white women. Since 2005 the country typically receives over 100.000 foreign visitors every year, earning its reputation for being Africa’s Costa del Sol. Just a 5-hour flight away, the all-inclusive hotels give them the perfect package for the ‘triple-s’ African adventure of sun, sea and sex.

Ironically, many Gambians, particularly youngsters, reside in poor neighborhoods only a few steps away from the tourist hotels and beaches. With this lure of a better future just around the corner, the dangerous ‘back way’, the illegal crossing across deserts and high seas to Europe, is always lingering in their minds. Do they eventually try their luck abroad or find their peace at home?

Taking a light (and musical) but critical tone, Welcome to the Smiling Coast shows the varied and creative alternative strategies Gambian youngsters employ to secure their livelihood. Capturing their struggles, hopes and dreams, the documentary puts a human and positive face on the informal economy that lies behind the glitter of the Smiling Coast of Africa.

Emiel Martens, founding director of Caribbean Creativity, served as producer and story editor of Welcome to the Smiling Coast, which received its world premiere at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2016, and has since been shown at 50+ film festivals and other  events around the world. Since 2021, we are offering the film for rent at our streaming platform YardVibes.

Dir: Bas Ackermann | 2016 | The Gambia / The Netherlands | documentary | 72 min.

Website Welcome to the Smiling Coast  | Facebook Welcome to the Smiling Coast  |  Watch Welcome to the Smiling Coast

A 12-year-old runaway makes his home in the hills of rural St. Catherine after escaping from an abusive orphanage. The film takes place on the day he sneaks back into town for a routine visit with his best friend. Things don’t quite go according to plan…

Since childhood, filmmaker Aisha Porter-Christie has been obsessed with the story of Peter and Wendy, and Lost Boy (2016) loosely adapts the premise of J.M. Barrie’s beloved classic to a modern, realistic Jamaican setting. It centers on Peter Clarke, an artful, precocious boy with a deep sense of adventure and a bit of a hero complex. When he discovers his best friend Marissa is in trouble, he tries to take matters into his own hands. But as things quickly spiral out of control, he is forced to face the reality that he is only a child, and that not everyone can be saved.

The film casts Jamaica as one massive playground. It highlights the joys of growing up surrounded by overwhelming tropical beauty and a rich, unique culture – as experienced by the film’s director. It is also an exploration of the darker side of paradise as reports of child abuse and child homicide in the island continue to rise. The Jamaican government has also failed to introduce vital missing-children legislation despite the fact that every month approximately 150 children go missing. For a nation with a population of only 2.8 million, this is a crisis. It is a subject the cast and crew are very passionate about, and the filmmaking team hopes this film will help raise awareness on this very crucial issue.

Caribbean Creativity is an official backer of Lost Boy through their Indigogo crowdfunding campaign.

Dir: Aisha Porter-Christie | 2016 | Jamaica | Adventure

Facebook Page Lost Boy 

Onbekend Onbemind (Unknown Unloved, 2015) is a 40-minute documentary on the Surinamese LGBT community in both Suriname and the Netherlands. Homosexuality and other alternative forms of sexuality are still often considered taboo in the (Dutch) Surinamese community. In an attempt to break their silence, this upcoming documentary provides a platform for members of the Surinamese LGBT community to share their personal stories about the difficulties they experience because of their sexuality.

The documentary is an initiative of a group of young filmmakers from Suriname and the Netherlands, including Sabrina Sugiarto (director) and Quincy Lisse (camera and editor). With their film they hope to foster a space for engagement and dialogue around sexual diversity and discrimination of LGBT people in Suriname and the Netherlands.

Caribbean Creativity served as one of the official supporters of Onbekend Onbemind.

Dir: Sabrina Sugiarto | 2015 | The Netherlands / Suriname | Short documentary

Facebook Page Onbekend Onbemind 

Art Connect (2014) is a feature-length documentary that reveals the powerful process of creative intervention in the Success Laventille Secondary School in Trinidad and Tobago.  Levantille is one of the most crime-laden and violent communities in Trinidad and Tobago. But co-existing with the high crime rate and poverty is a thriving arts movement. The Success Levantille Secondary School sponsors the Art Connect Program. This program offers students from high-risk environments a chance to learn ways to express themselves and communicate outside the culture of violence and fear. Partnering with urban artist Wendell McShine, the Freetown Collective, and London’s Company Chameleon Dance Theatre, this program offers exposure to the arts and a chance for growth and hope. The filmmakers gave some of these students cameras to document their lives outside of school and their personal thoughts about participating in the program. By incorporating this footage into the larger documentary, Art Connect (2014) gives us an intimate look at how these young people try to create a world of possibility to counter the often grim realities they face. It is an uplifting journey of transformation and a testament to the role art plays in genuine social change.

Caribbean Creativity served as the official representative of Art Connect in the Netherlands. We entered the film in World Cinema Amsterdam 2015 (Dutch premiere) as well as in the Da Bounce Urban Film Festival 2015. We also organized a high school screening of the film in Amsterdam arthouse cinema Rialto.

Dir: Miguel Galofré | 2014 | Trinidad & Tobago | Documentary

Watch the Trailer of Art Connect  |  Facebook Page Art Connect 

Yurumein (Homeland, 2014) presents the untold story of Carib/Garifuna resistance against slavery that deserves its place in the annals of the African Diaspora. The film recounts the painful past of the Caribs on St Vincent and the extermination of scores of their ancestors at the hands of the British, while building an intimate portrait of Garifuna culture-in-transition today. The film gives firsthand accounts from both Carib descendents who remain on the island of St Vincent and voices of returning descendents whose ancestors were exiled to Central America—where Garifuna traditional culture was able to survive and flourish.

Caribbean Creativity served as one of the official backers of Yurumein.

Dir: Andrea Leland | 2014 | St. Vincent/USA | Documentary

Official Yurumein site  |  Facebook Yurumein