On Blank Canvas, host Amard Rolle (the NAGB’s Executive Assistant)is joined by Brigidy Bram co-directors and producers, Kareem Mortimer and Laura Gamse.
By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett
Migration, the moving image, the environment and cultural identity are all a part of the treasure chest of what could be referred to as national or cultural identity. In the context of The Bahamas, cultural identity is distinct and unique because of the archipelagic nature of the country. This, of course, takes into consideration all the nuances and complexities of the differences between–let’s say Bimini and Ragged Island–that have very little in common, but all form a part of what makes up Bahamian national identity.
By Dr Ian Bethell Bennett. We often see the representation of indigenous culture on the screen or read about in books that present it in interesting yet reductive ways. Documentary and docudrama can aid in combating the erasure of identity, space and place that so much of the Caribbean is under. Erasure is not only dangerous but also destructive, as it removes tangible culture from the radar and replaces it with ideas of development that belong nowhere and exist everywhere. As the colonial space shows, the rapidly shifting geographies are real, as climate changes and ideas of development imagines space differently. The important part is to document the shift and what was there before.
On October 18th and 19th, Best Ever Films Ltd. premiered Kareem Mortimer’s “Cargo,” positioned as the largest Bahamian film production ever on home soil, to two quite different audiences. The first a small, boutique event at The Island House (West End), populated largely by Lyford Cay and Old Fort residents and with a good percentage of ex-pats, and the second at a huge, glamorous event at Atlantis on Paradise Island.
Good films are the one true, universal language. They have the power to transcend cultures and different societies. In the hands of a master filmmaker the audience forgets that the film is in Italian or German and is swept away by the story.