The expert panel of judges reviewing the entries (l to r) Stuart Hall, Chief Judge Andrea Allan, overseas adjudicator Cuaçaoan born and raised, Eloise van Wickeren, the current Film Commissioner of Curaçao, and Ronnie Carrington. Overseeing the process is Annette Nias, local Film Commissioner and the coordinator of the NIFCA Film/Video competition.

There is a junior category in Film/Video for the first time this NIFCA season.  It is another one of the upgrades on offer for 2019 which saw the discipline being opened to entries from individuals or groups with participants under the age of 18. Registration closed early in October.

The rationale behind the inclusion of a junior category was to allow these budding filmmakers to unlock their own creativity with the intention of establishing a benchmark for the advancement of film/video as a form of expression in Barbados, as well as encouraging young enthusiasts to use their creative abilities to formulate viewpoints that enhance public awareness and understanding.  Submissions from junior entrants were accepted in the categories of Music Video Edutainment, Documentary, Narrative Comedy and an open category.

The Film Commissioner, Annette Nias noted a bumper year overall in Film/Video with a record 31 entries being submitted for judging which took place on October 28 to 30.  Among the expert local panel of judges reviewing the entries – Chief Judge Andrea Allan, Stuart Hall and Ronnie Carrington – the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) welcomed another overseas adjudicator Curaçaoan born and raised, Eloise van Wickeren, the current Film Commissioner of Curacao.

Nias added, “Eloise proved to be extremely knowledgeable and experienced at her task and was an asset to the process.”

Eloise van Wickeren, Film Commissioner of Curaçao

Eloise moved to the Netherlands when she was nineteen to study Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam where she majored in Television Studies and minored in Psychology.  During her subsequent stay in the Netherlands she worked for well-known production companies like Endemol and I Care Productions. She has also worked on series such as Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance to mention a few.

Since returning to Curaçao in 2010 she has worked on two feature films as the Locations Manager for Tula: the Revolt and recently on Double Play Productions: the filming of the book by Frank Martinus Arion, produced by Lisa Cortes and directed by Ernest R. Dickerson.

Before her departure on November 1st, she conducted one-on-one critique sessions with most of the participants at the Queen’s Park Steel, who were appreciative of her delivery of feedback and advice.

This evening, Wednesday, November 6, the local panel will critique the films in a closed session at the Daphne Joseph-Hackett Theatre in preparation for the upcoming NIFCA Film/Video Screenings to be held on Friday, November 15 at the same venue.

The screening event is open to members of the public as well as industry professionals to view the top award winning films of NIFCA 2019.  They will also have an opportunity to interact with the filmmakers in a discussion forum and hear the process and stories behind the scenes, in addition to sharing their views, ideas and reactions.  Start time for the NIFCA Film/Video Screening is 7:00 p.m. and admission is free.

Senior Brand Manager, Bryden Stokes Ltd, Omar Beckles(r), NCF CEO, Carol Roberts-Reifer (second right), Dewars DJ Mentors, Kevin Marshall DJ Bubbles (front right) and Ryan Davis DJ Menace (partly hidden) share a light moment with some of the new artistes from Crop Over 2019 HOTT Bajarama who will be among the principal invitees to the workshop

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and Dewars Scotch Whisky partnered to produce and promote the “Fuh De Culture” campaign during the recently concluded annual Crop Over Festival.

The major activation of the promotion encouraged consumers to purchase the Dewars brand during the Festival, with a portion of the sales being contributed to the further development of fledgling and up and coming performing artistes.

The NCF chose the art of songwriting as the area most in need of improvement among new artistes and in this regard, has teamed up with the producers of the “Soca Goes Gold” event to stage a songwriting and presentation workshop, tomorrow, Friday, November 1, 2019 at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel.

The principal invitees to the workshop are the new artistes who appeared at the Bajarama events during Crop Over.  They will be joined by students of the Performing Arts programme of the University of West Indies.

The confirmed presenters are:

• David Rudder – Trinidad and Tobago
• Kernal Roberts – Trinidad and Tobago
• Ian Webster – Barbados
• Cheyne Jones – Barbados
• Justin King (Jus-Jay) – Barbados
• Anthony Nelson (Admiral) – Barbados

The workshop will assist the attending artistes in honing their craft in song forms, melodies, the interaction and use of rhythm and harmony, lyric writing and the use of technological advances in the industry.

Ki’Ann Browne was her usual powerhouse in the chorus line of ‘This is Me’, the 2018 NIFCA mixed discipline entry from Praise Academy of Dance.

If the statistics of the 46^th edition of the annual National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) is any indication, then the performing arts programmes are definitely creating pathways to opportunity for our juniors and young adults.

Reports suggest that there has been an increase in the number of junior/youth entries and entrants across the three disciplines of the performing arts – Dance, Theatre and Music.  In both Dance and Music, more junior entries than adult entries were recorded and in Theatre the stats represented a 100% increase in participation for juniors and adults as compared with the previous year.  This equated to a good news story for Theatre, with twice as many entrants overall, perhaps bringing about a direct correlation to the twice as many set to perform at the semi-finals this NIFCA season.

With the lens focussed on this growth in the number of junior and young adult entries, another one of the positives emanating from the NIFCA Theatre platform this year is the contribution of theatre in education practitioners, veteran Winston Farrell alongside his colleague Michelle Barrow, and the work of their students in the Barbados Youth Advance Corps, the former Barbados Youth Service.  All six of their entries have made it to the semi-finals.

Longstanding NIFCA entrant, the award winning community group the Israel Lovell Foundation performing the Connection.

There could be many reasons for the increase in junior and young adult entries across the board, but generally the arts provide a positive outlet for expression. These programmes for at-risk youth, as well as the community groups and the NCF’s Dance and Drama in Schools programmes, have impacted the increased level of entries for 2019.  Of the three schools making it to the NIFCA Dance semi-finals, two are a part of the NCF’s Dance in Schools programme and similarly, of the five schools participating in the Drama in Schools programme, three entered and one advanced to the semi-final stage.

Research has proven that the arts can have a positive impact on youth development – from tiny tots right through adolescence.  International studies have shown that engagement in various activities in the performance and visual arts at a young age has been associated with positive social and emotional behaviours, including empathy, sharing, and mood control. Likewise, there is substantiated evidence to positive outcomes on indicators such as school grades, test scores, and graduation rates.

The 40 semi-finalists in Dance, the 28 in Theatre, and the 90 in Music are already deep in rehearsals to fine-tune their pieces for the first weekend of the 2019 NIFCA Performing Arts semi-finals beginning Saturday, November 2 to Monday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m. each night.

The quick and comical dance crew MULTIFARIOUS with their 100% Bajan piece Do Um Fuh De Kulture

In Dance, the participants will be performing in the categories of Dancehall, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Latin, African, Afro-Caribbean, Caribbean Folk, Contemporary and Praise. For the first time in the junior category there are entries in the areas of Dancehall, Hip Hop, Ballroom and Latin, while an increase across the board was noted in the areas of African, Afro-Caribbean and Caribbean Folk.

Taking centre stage for Theatre will be works in Drama – a monologue two short plays and two full length plays; works in Speech inclusive of the traditional forms of choral speech and choreopoems, and the growing spoken word art form; together with mixed discipline pieces particularly in the junior category, coming from the community arts academies.

There will be expressions of Music, both instrumental and voice, in performances from individuals and ensembles, as well as schools and community groups. The presentations will span the genres of Contemporary, Folk, Calypso and Classical punctuated with a few Fusions.  As a developmental programme, NIFCA has always encouraged the inclusion of original entries to set a tone of 100% Bajan.  This year 30 original songs were entered in the competition and nearly all of them will be among those to be judged at the semi-finals.

The first night of performances will be held at the Alexandra School Hall, while Sunday and Monday’s performances are scheduled for the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School and the Lester Vaughan School respectively.

The second semi-final weekend will run from Friday, November 8 to Sunday, November 10, this time with all the performances being held at the Combermere School’s Major Noot Hall.

As in previous years, the performances chosen from the semi-final stage will advance to the discipline specific nights and a mixed night for the juniors at the finals. The Dance, Music and Junior nights will be held at the Frank Collymore Hall and the Theatre Arts presentations at the Daphne Joseph-Hackett Theatre, the home of Theatre in Barbados from November 26 to 29.  In addition, for the first time a NIFCA Dance Battle final has been included which will see entrants facing off at Jubilee Gardens in the city on November 16.