Caribbean film celebration comes to Eastbourne

Caribbean cinema comes to Eastbourne this spring with a new screening series.

Spokeswoman Sophie Goldstone said: “Towner Cinema in Eastbourne is proud to host Crossroads, a ground-breaking new screening series bringing contemporary Caribbean cinema to south-east England for the first time.

“Running this May and June, the series presents a curated selection of films drawn from the Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival (TTFF) – the world’s leading platform for Caribbean filmmaking – offering audiences rare access to stories rarely seen on UK screens.

“Towner Cinema will screen three events as part of the series: a screening of the TIFF and TTFF award-winning Kanaval; a screening of the documentary Possible Landscapes, followed by a live, facilitated talkback with one of the film’s writers and producers; and a closing screening of feature documentary Colosal.”

Coming up:

Kanaval, Thursday, May 14, 7pm: “A luminous and emotionally rich feature in which nine-year-old Rico – uprooted from Haiti to Canada in the 1970s – navigates a strange new world with the help of Kana, an imaginary friend from Haitian mythology.”

Tickets: £10.50 - https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on/kanaval

Possible Landscapes + Talkback with Tola Dabiri, Saturday May 23, 10:45am: “Possible Landscapes is a poignant exploration of intergenerational experiences of Caribbean environments, filmed across two seasons in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Across sugarcane fields, steep hillsides, on fishing boats and through dying coral reefs, the film presents intimate portraits of people in their daily lives and examines the impacts of colonial legacies, post-independence aspirations and the evolving forces of extractivism.

“A collaboration between filmmaker Kannan Arunasalam and professors Tao DuFour (Architecture) and Natalie Melas (Comparative Literature), it emerges from the research project Possible Landscapes: Documenting Environmental Experience in Trinidad and Tobago. Combining documentary and academic enquiry, it foregrounds lived experience of landscape and environment.

“This screening is followed by a talk-back session with film producer and conceptualiser Natalie Melas, led by Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival community facilitator Tola Dabiri.”

Tickets: £10.50 - https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on/possible-landscapes

Colosal, Friday, June 5, 4pm. “All families keep secrets, says director Nayibe Tavares-Abel. Hers are intimately intertwined with the democratic history of the Dominican Republic. Tavares-Abel is an election observer for the 2020 elections. In May 1990, her grandfather Froilán Tavares, a respected lawyer and president of the Central Electoral Board, was blamed for the electoral fraud that would prolong the authoritarian regime of Joaquín Balaguer. Colosal is a portrait of a transgenerational family caught between fear and trauma, and of new generations in search of new paths.”

Tickets: £10.50 - https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on/colosal

Crossroads is presented by SAVANT Media, the Hastings-based organisation led by TTFF director and Hastings resident Mariel Brown in partnership with Electric Palace and independent cinemas across the region.

“Crossroads is about creating a space in the UK for Caribbean stories to be seen, heard, talked about, and celebrated,” Mariel said.

Tickets for all screenings are available at electricpalacecinema.com. The full Crossroads series also takes place at Depot (Lewes), Towner Cinema (Eastbourne), and BEAM (Hertford).