Caribbean Tales Awards Ceremony

March 19, 2011

Remarks by Dr. D. Brent Hardt, Chargé d'Affaires for Caribbean Tales Awards Ceremony, George Washington House

Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO, Caribbean Tales Film Festival, 
Neema Barnette, African-American film maker and director, 
Howard and Mitzi Allen, director and producer of "Skin," 
Ladies and gentlemen,

Members of the Media:Good evening. 

I am pleased to welcome you on behalf of the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown to the awards ceremony of the Caribbean Tales film festival.

We are truly pleased to support Caribbean Tales for a second year.  The passion and determination of the festival's directors and, indeed, all of you, to raise the status of Caribbean film to a global level is truly inspirational.

Caribbean Tales film festival is the only stand alone festival that showcases the best of Caribbean cinema from around the world.  The Embassy's support for the festival is a celebration of culture.  It also forms part of the Embassy's ongoing celebration of the International Year for People of African Descent.

The United States is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy with strong ties of family and friendship  to Africa and to the Caribbean that extend back many hundreds of years. 

During the International Year for People of African Descent, the United States is working at home and around the world to create awareness of the diverse heritage, culture, and contributions of our African descendents.  In building this awareness and respect, film is our friend - as you well know, it is a powerful medium through which people can see themselves and through which they can present themselves to the world. The impact of this can be seen quite clearly when you look at the success of Howard and Mitzi Allen's movie "The Sweetest Mango." Antiguans and Barbudans flocked to see their own story on screen and it became the highest grossing film ever to show in Antigua, even outstripping "Titanic."

Crucially, our partnership with Caribbean Tales is also part of the Embassy's support of entrepreneurship in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.  A festival like this serves to advance the dialogue on how to create a sustainable and profitable film industry here in the Caribbean.  .

In New York City, the film industry generates US$5 billion a year and supports 100,000 jobs.  Seattle's film industry employs 4,900 persons locally and contributes as much as US$471 million to its economy -this in a city of just over 600,000 people.  So the message comes through clearly that film entrepreneurship can create economic value for a country.

In the Caribbean,  where there is such a focus on the tourism industry, it is important to also note that a strong indigenous film industry which tells compelling stories helps brand a destination in the minds of potential visitors. Think of all of the movies or television shows that you have ever seen in your life that depicted New York City and I'm sure it would be true to say that everything from "Raging Bull" to "Sex and the City" helped shape your concept of New York and New Yorkers. Not coincidentally, New York City also has a massive tourist industry, with some 48.7 million people visiting every year to see the sights they first saw on a movie screen or television set.

On that note, it is now my pleasure to introduce one of the very same New York film-makers who has done more than her part to contribute to shaping people's concepts and images of Americans  --  of African-Americans, through television and film.  A native of Harlem, Neema Barnette entered into the dramatic arts through New York's High School for the Performing Arts.  She was mentored into a directing career on the advice of legendary producer Joseph Papp, who recognized Neema's special visual style in her production of "The Blue Journey by Oyamo."  She's  won numerous awards for her television and film directing, including two Emmys and five nominations for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Award for her positive portrayals of African-Americans from all walks of life. 

The U.S. Embassy is pleased to have been able to support Caribbean Tales by bringing in this very gifted film director. In addition to presenting her film and participating throughout the week in the festival events,  Ms. Barnette will be leading a master class for aspiring film directors tomorrow morning from 9:00 until 1:00 at the Island Inn.  It is our hope that our support will go some way to achieving the vision of the festival - where films produced by you and other Caribbean-based directors will achieve greater distribution and have an even greater impact on Caribbean economies and societies.

Thank you.