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CARIBBEAN EXPORT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY - CREATE
04FILM&Animation -STATEOFFILM
DR. BRUCE PADDINGTON
FOUNDER OF BANYAN
PRODUCTIONS & THE CARIBBEAN
FEDERATION OF FILMMAKERS
CONTRIBUTOR
INDUSTRY INSIGHT – FILM
THE
STATE
OF
FILM
Lights! Camera! ...Time for action! The stage has been
set and the crews are in place eagerly awaiting the
directors to issue the proverbial call for “action” to
the Caribbean region’s film industry. Slowly growing
in interest and encouragingly attracting the attention
of respective governments across the region, the
Caribbean’s film industry’s prospects appear to be
looking up but a great deal is still left to be done. The
argument is, are we aware of how much needs to be
done and are we even doing what needs to be done?
If ever there be a doubt about the impact of the film industry let’s
consider for a brief moment the region’s key source market for tourist
arrivals – The United Kingdom. Despite an ongoing recession, UK film
contributes over £4.6 billion to UK GDP and supports over 117,000 jobs
(up from 100,000 in 2009). Further more, films depicting the UK are
responsible for generating around a 10th of overseas tourism revenues,
estimating that around £2.1 billion of visitor spend a year is attributable
to UK film, according to an Oxford School of Economics study. Of course
some might argue that with all the established infrastructure, big
studios, corporate support and sheer size of the UK market, achieving
those numbers are very much incomparable to anything possible in the
region. Maybe so, but there is a greater opportunity for GDP contribution
and it resides in the independent film value chain among others.
Most of the big budget films which are produced in the bigger markets,
like the US and to some extent the UK are done through studios. In
this system, a film is often developed, produced, distributed and
exploited without leaving a single integrated company or consortium:
a simple corporate value chain. However the independent feature film
production and distribution sector provides a value system business,
in that a feature film is not made and delivered to its final audience by
a single company. Instead there is a chain of companies, businesses,
and freelancers, all working on different elements of the production
and exploitation process, and adding value in different ways along
the chain. This expands the economic impact of a single production
to support many smaller private entities. Therefore the domino effect
of independent film production is unmistakable. Getting the elements
right to support this kind of production is where the region continues
to work at perfecting.
Dr. Bruce Paddington, the co-designer and coordinator of the B.A.
Film Programme in the Faculty of Humanities and Education and
the University of the West Indies, establishes that film in the region
already has a rich and vast history dating back to the 1950s in Cuba.
Dr. Bruce Paddington is an
award-winning filmmaker,
founder of Banyan Productions
and the Caribbean Federation
of Filmmakers. He has directed
and produced over 500 films
and television programs during
his acclaimed career. His
most recent production, the
documentary “Forward Ever:
The Killing of a Revolution”, is
based on the historic account of
the paramilitary attack on the
government of Grenada resulting
in its overthrow by political
revolutionary Maurice Bishop
in 1979. The film is scheduled
to premiere at the Trinidad and
Tobago Film Festival in September
2013. Dr. Paddington is the
Founder and Director of the
Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival.
Currently the co-designer and
coordinator of the B.A. Film
program in the Faculty of
Humanities and Education, The
University of the West Indies,
Dr. Paddington has taught film
and communications and guest
lectured extensively at various
universities. He has published
many journal articles on
Caribbean and Latin American
Cinema, including interviews with
the Cuban director Humberto
Solas and the Mexican director
Francisco Athie. He is also an
accomplished photographer,
teaches photography at UWI and
has had three solo exhibitions.
1
Olympic Atheletes featured
in documentary, Built to Last,
Andrew Lewis, Sailing - Trinidad
& Tobago
Karle Marte, Women’s
Volleyball - Dominican Republic