A New Caribbean Cinema Is Emerging

Abstract

This paper considers an Afro-Asian, Black feminist and queer history of Caribbean filmmaking. I came to this work by listening to Caribbean artists –asking what it’s like to create in, and about, a place that many said “didn’t have a film industry.” I was curious about their dreams for an industry, the themes and techniques most precious to their craft, and the precedents for festivals, exhibitions and other organizing efforts that continued a tradition of resistance to colonial ideologies and practices of extraction (enslavement, indenture, industrial agriculture, etc.). From these conversations it became clear that stories about well-being, sovereignty and collective action were of utmost importance – across linguistic and racialized perspectives. Through an anti-colonial and queer of color framework, I engage the films, dreams and collective acts of Caribbean filmmakers from 1988 to 2018.

Presenters

Yasmine Espert
Assistant Professor, Visual Art & Art History, York University, Canada

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

The Form of the Image

KEYWORDS

Art History, Film, Caribbean, Black Feminism, Queer of color critique