Aspiring filmmakers are invited to sign up to participate in the latest webinar on the film industry being organised by the OECS Competitive Business Unit (CBU).
Director and screenwriter Howard Allen of HAMAFilms Antigua is the scheduled presenter for the webinar which is slated for Thursday, February 13 at 10AM.
“The film industry in the OECS is in its nascent stage of development and requires a new impetus for further growth and development. Every effort must now be made to provide exposure and build the necessary competence of the players in the industry, said a statement from the CBU.
“Over the period 2014-2018, the CBU engaged professionals and groups in the audio-visual and film sub-sectors in a series of activities aimed at building the necessary competencies, confidence, and providing real exposure for filmmakers in the region. This work has been centred to a large extent on building the capacity of filmmakers to tell compelling and positive stories about the lives and times of the people and their rich cultural heritage.
“A three-phased script development training with a partner from Guadeloupe in 2015-2016, resulted in the training of 14 OECS writers and supported the production of the top three scripts for the local and regional film markets. In addition, the CBU supported several films makers to attend and participate at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festivals of 2014 and 2015, as well as to expose them to partners in the film industry in Guadeloupe, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and other parts of the region. In 2016, the CBU also organized a training programme for audio-visual specialists for content creation and marketing for the television industry.
“Most of the work done by the CBU over these past few years, has helped to garner interest and spur greater levels of production among a group of OECS audio-visual professionals. The Unit has remained closely engaged with the sub-sector and has been instrumental in ensuring that they maintain a strong focus on regional collaboration as a means of building quality and consistent products for the market.
“In its quest to further engage the sub-sector, the CBU has sought the support of two of the leading film makers in the OECS to facilitate online webinars on “Film Production”. The first of these webinars was facilitated by Davina Lee of Saint Lucia, who presented on the production of her successful film, “The Knot” on September 26th, 2019.
“Now, we are extremely pleased to be able to have Howard Allen of HaMaFilms of Antigua & Barbuda. Working as a husband and wife team, HaMaFilms has produced, The Sweetest Mango, No Seed, Diablesse, The Skin and is now completing work on their fifth feature film, Deep Blue.
“Howard will be sharing his vast experience in the field with other OECS film makers and so, we expect as many of you will be able to join us for this intervention.”
The webinar will include: 1. Presentation on the experience of producing one of the producer’s’ major film projects – this film project will be used as a case study to highlight the various stages of pre-production, in-production and post-production stages of the film development process;
2. Highlighting the key areas of film production including script development, resource mobilization, budgeting, pre-production issues, cinematography, post-production issues including marketing, promotion and distribution;
3. Opportunities for interaction between the film maker and participants.
The programme is open to anyone working in the film and audio-visual sub-sector who have a deep desire to improve their craft and learn from more experienced professionals in the field of film production work.
To register for the webinar which will be delivered via Zoom on Thursday, February 13 at 10AM use this link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdY8ArvgkLbCt6XrFmdkj7sJ2mLMAxB87riCmzCCxCvYyzJ3w/viewform?usp=pp_url&urp=gmail_link
