Screenwriters to gather in Antigua

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Antigua and Barbuda is hosting a regional retreat for screenwriters from around the Caribbean starting Friday.

The two-day writers’ retreat is the second of a multi-phased programme launched by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Competitive Business Unit, in partnership with the Association of Cinema of Guadeloupe.

The programme aims to develop the cinema and television industry in the OECS and the French West Indies.

“This retreat represents a major step towards building the capacity needed to tell our own stories in the OECS and the French West Indies and to create an indigenous film industry,” said Vincent Philbert, Head of the Dominica based OECS Competitive Business Unit. “Our collaboration with the FCORs in this exercise is a strong indication of the cooperation that is being forged between the OECS and our French speaking neighbours especially in the Creative Industries Sector. We hope that our film industry professionals will seize on the moment and use this as a platform for continuous action in building our film industry.”

The retreat will include eight writers from the OECS and five from Martinique and Guadeloupe, which will focus on progress made by the writers since the initial workshop in Guadeloupe in January.

Each writer who completes the process will present his or her final script to a panel of judges for selection among the top five screenplays.