"Your film is all that one can hope for from film...it's wonderful........................I cried. Please make more....please......Best....congratulations.......love, Newman"
The Caribbean Film Corner at the Portobello Film Festival was the first of its kind in the UK. On September 16 it presented the work of young, up-and-coming Caribbean filmmakers who have the confidence and enthusiasm to seek a global platform.
The challenging and potent series of short documentaries, dramas and animations that comprised the collection certainly held my attention. A definite part of the allure for me and, I imagine, other members of the audience was the desire to experience Caribbean cinema, an area of film that has not been easily accessible in the UK.
There was ample evidence of compelling content, combined with artistic and technical talent, despite the limited budgets some of the filmmakers had contended with.
I came away feeling very moved and with my mind racing. Powerful and harrowing issues such as race, sexuality, power structures and poverty had been addressed, much of which is equally relevant to both a multi-racial and multi-cultural Caribbean and UK.
The evening opened with a punch with El Regreso Way a powerful Spanish language documentary by Francisco Diaz that charts the life of Ana, a native of the Dominican Republic.
She emigrates from her country of birth as a young adult in the early ’80s to the south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to escape poverty and support herself and her children. The story is told from her perspective as an elderly woman still living in Brooklyn who candidly reflects upon and recounts her biography to the camera.
Ana’s life in both Santo Domingo and New York, although not without its moments of happiness and triumph, is often harrowing and even devastating in emotional terms. The filmmaker succeeds in capturing her naked pain on screen and the fact that she remains deeply traumatised by aspects of her past in spite of the decades that have passed.
Diaz’s major triumph is conveying the essence of this woman and her harsh life, relying not on trite sentimentalism but rather on Ana’s disarming and often amusing honesty. Indeed, Ana’s character and how she responds to various circumstances is pivotal to this piece. Diaz portrays the clear sense of dignity and pride she has derived from her determination to opt for what she perceives as the honest path over the easy or lucrative way. For instance despite her dire straits she rejects both prostitution and drugs money.
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