August Town plans film festival for 2013

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All being well, historic August Town will host its own film festival next summer.
This was revealed by Professor Ian Boxill and S. Carlton Alexander, chair of the Department of Management Studies at the University of the West Indies. The festival is to be an expansion of the Greater August Town Film Project, where two short films were made by community members this year 2012.
The project is part of the Centre for Tourism Policy Research’s community outreach component.
One short film ‘August Town Tells A Story, is a documentary on the community on various aspects of the place, from subsistence farming, to shoemaking, and the music of reggae singer Etana, who hails from there. The other film, ‘Fast Lane’, is a movie about a race-car deal gone bad.
Professor Boxill explained the initial fascination with August Town was its proximity to the campus and its potential for community tourism. Centre staff and interns talked with the youth of the area to get ideas on how to proceed.
Citing August Town as an interesting place, Boxill said “We decided to try to let them tape their stories, because they were very concerned about how they were perceived.”
The film festival was conceptualized after the responses in August Town and the University of the West Indies, to student-produced short films. The works were done by five young people went through a five-day course to learn the art of film-making with Bob Harris, who was impressed.
Boxill said “To do this, we will get people within the community who are interested in learning and we’ll put them through a six-week, intensive programme.” After that, the centre will help them develop the films for public showing.
More than 20 students have already been selected from August Town for the community based project, and they will be placed in different groups. Melissa Tulloch, project co-ordinator, said the Tulloch said organisers are aiming to get five, 15-minute films out of the project. The organisation hopes to start training in this second cohort of the programme this week. An introductory session takes place on Thursday.
Harris will again be the main tutor, but actor/playwright Keiran King is among guest speakers expected.
Funds, according to Tulloch, are being sought for equipment and other material, although assistance is promised by the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication. According to her the six-week course is very intensive, covering ‘everything’ from conceptualising and storyboarding, to learning the intricacies of the film industry.
With hopes to make the festival annual she said “we have a lot of plans for the community. We want to use this to attract people to the community… and, of course, we want to generate income and opportunities for August Town. Anything is possible”.

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