Caribbean Film Industry - Facing the facts

Are we really serious about a Film Industry in the Caribbean, or are we just as usual copying culture like everything else in this fast moving globalised world. The effects of globalisation can be seen all across the Caricom region, from advances in technology, business markets and even infrastructure developing countries may have had to hold the shorter end of the stick to survive in the global economy. Tourism and Agriculture provide the major earnings for most Caribbean countries. Barely stable after the 2008 collapse of the financial sector in the United States which caused less people to travel and having no more preferential treatment on agricultural markets in the EU these sectors are taking huge losses.

Maintaining a Film Industry in the Caribbean as a whole on in one island may deem to be impossible in the near future. Are we serious about making films in the Caribbean and marketing them for export into local or foreign markets. First of all most Caribbean government are not yet on the ball or may never be when it comes to film. Pirates of the Caribbean was said to be turned down by a few government of the Caribbean before finally being filmed in Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The money involved in the production of Film may not be something a government may see as a profitable investment especially when it involves sometimes millions of dollars. Example Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had a budget of 140 million dollars and had a gross revenue of over 600 million dollars. So where else can you get funding for your film? The banks and private sector as being done in the United States and else where. Impossible! Picture your Film like a student loan, and how difficult it is to get finance for your education. That should answer your question on what the banks or any private firm in the Caribbean may think of your film.

Training for young aspiring film-makers in the Caribbean at the University level can only be done presently in Trinidad and Tobago which UWI Campus offers a BA in Film. More avenues for film education and even from the secondary school level would be needed if this is to become a successful industry. Having a filming school could be less costly for a student and more concentrated for training to enter the movie making world. Imports of equipment for Television/Film bought from overseas is extremely expensive for the buyer and may sometimes deter a young entrepreneur from investing in this field. Government would have to decrease taxation on all equipment needed for Television or Film production. In the near future our mindset and implementation of certain aspects needed for the development of an industry which would support Film in the Caribbean has to be on the agenda if we are to move forward. As some of the larger islands like Jamaica and Trinidad may be making some progress some of the other island have not yet started.