Celebrating the richness of Caribbean cinema, the annual St Barth Film Festival is now in its 22nd year and takes place between 25 and 30 April. Baroque Access has all the details
The annual cultural event, St Barth Film Festival, is the cultural spotlight of the month of April and a popular annual meeting place for Caribbean filmmakers to come and screen their work and discuss it. Every evening for an entire week, the 35mm films are screened on the beach in Flamands as well as at AJOE in Lorient and on the dock in Gustavia, providing an exciting form of entertainment to visitors and offering an excellent insight into the Caribbean arts and cultural scene.
In this, the 23rd annual St Barth Film Festival, visitors to this spectacular Caribbean island enjoy screenings as well as an opportunity for notable actors, producers and directors to come together and discuss their work. In addition, there are numerous round-table discussions on cinema in the region and video screenings every afternoon. As the various films are in a number of languages, the festival screens them in their original language as well as with French subtitles. There are two exceptions to this: the film ‘Le Gang des Antillais’ is in French with English subtitles, and the animated movie, ‘The Red Turtle’ has no dialogue.
Since it was launched in 1996, the festival has grown from strength to strength, attracting more and more visitors to St Barth from around the world to come and enjoy the sunshine and the lifestyle on this jet set Caribbean island and learn about the cultural richness of Caribbean cinema.
This year’s films in St Barth
This year’s selection reflects change on both a personal and worldwide level. The Cuban film, ‘Santa y Andres’, tells the story of changing hearts as two people lose their misconceptions about each other.
The film ‘Le Gang des Antilles’ is about changing one’s perspective, while ‘La Tortue Rouge’ deals with change happening when one least expects it. ‘Ayiti Mon Amour’ focuses on internal change and ‘Argentina’ explains how, through music and dance, one can achieve almost anything. In ‘Havana Moon’, The Rolling Stones perform live in Cuba – and that’s just a taste of what’s in store.
St Barth Film Festival 2017 Schedule
Tuesday 25 April – opening night
8pm: ‘Santa y Andres’ – 105 min. Spanish with French subtitles
Wednesday 26 April
8pm: ‘Ayiti Mon Amour’ – 88 min. Japanese, with French subtitles
Thursday 27 April
8pm: “Le Gardien du Non Retour’ – 60 min. French plus ‘Argentina’ – 87 min. Spanish with French subtitles
Friday 28 April 7
4pm: Ciné Woulé: Un Road Movie – 52 min. French plus
Unwritten – 18 min. French with English subtitles plus
8pm: Le Gang des Antillais 90 min. French with English subtitles.
Saturday 29 April
4pm: ‘Tourmets D’Amour’ – 50 min.
8pm: ‘The Red Turtle’/’La Tortue Rouge’ – 80 min. Animation without dialogue.
Sunday 30 April – closing night
7.30pm: Havana Moon – 110 min. English with French subtitles followed by Sound Citizens in concert – a collaboration with the West Indies Regatta