The Windrush Caribbean British Film festival returns to The Riverfront Theatre on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 June with this year’s theme, “Transitions & Travels - The Journey continues.”
Caribbean history is punctuated by archetypical movements - From villages to towns, from islands to Metropoles. By ships and planes. A festival of transitions and journeys in film and narratives. This is particularly embodied in the history of the Windrush ship that brought Caribbean people, their hopes and dreams to the UK and their journeys ever since, from home and in the European space they made their own.
Meet our coproducing partner Yvonne Connikie,
I'm a Programmer/Curator specialising in Black Independent Film. I was the founder of the Black Film Festival Wales and a Founder Member and Chair of the New Black Film Collective and Assistant Curator for Black London Film Heritage.
I'm a lead programmer for the Windrush Caribbean Film Festival in Newport and work as a Curator/Project Manager for Charlie Phillips Photography and consult for the Muswell Hill Gallery, London. And I'm a PhD candidate at the University of South Wales exploring the Leisure Activities of the Elder Caribbeans in Butetown Cardiff and Newport. I love bringing original and exciting cinema to Wales, it's a real pleasure to work locally while thinking globally.
Festival Programme
Friday 21 June
Hero: The Extraordinary Life of Mr Ulric Cross (12A) and Q & A with Garry Stewart
7pm
Tickets: £5, concessions £3.50 with Q&A inclusive
The story of Ulric Cross, a West Indian lawyer who joined the Pan-African independence movements sweeping the world in the 1960s. In 1941 Ulric Cross, a young man from Trinidad, leaves his island home to seek his fortune. He survives the War as the RAF’s most decorated West Indian. Then, his life takes another course and he becomes part of the movement of history. Cross’ long life spanned key moments of the 20th Century including independence in Africa and the Caribbean. It is the hitherto untold story of those Caribbean professionals who helped to liberate Africa from colonialism. Drawing on events of his life, the film recreates the inner journey of a Caribbean hero. Ultimately, it is about us, about who we are as Caribbean people, and citizens of the world.
Saturday 22 June
WINDRUSH CYMRU@75 (12A)
2pm
Tickets: Free
In 1948, following the invitation from British Minister to commonwealth nationals in Jamaica and the Caribbean Islands to come and help rebuild post war Britain. On the 21st of June 1948, HMT Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks with over 1000 passengers who are known as the Windrush generation. They came with promises of work, accommodation and a warm welcome. When they arrived in London, they were met with hostility, racism, discourtesy and discouragement. Nevertheless, they gave sacrificially - selflessly of their talents, their skills and their knowledge to help rebuild Britain and Wales.
The hostile immigration policies in the UK adversely affected and devastated many of them.
Shorts Part 1
Homegrown / Mosiah
4.30pm
Tickets: £5, concessions £3.50
Homegrown (Corinne Walker, UK/Barbados, 2023); 14m 45s
On the hottest day of the year, Barbadian fruit pickers Nicole and Vincent endure exploitative conditions on a UK fruit farm. When the farm’s owner arrives, tensions reach boiling point. Inspired by true events, Homegrown follows Bajan worker Nicole, a
young, hardworking fruit picker working on a UK fruit farm on the hottest day of the year. Drawn to the UK under false pretenses of good pay, she is ready to work hard and endure exploitative conditions for financial reward. But as the temperatures rise and promises are broken, Nicole must take matters into her own hands in this dark drama which uncovers the reality behind our food supply chain.
Mosiah (Jirard, USA, 2023); 40m
Following the leadership of J. Edger Hoover & the BOI (later, the FBI), the government has charged Garvey with mail fraud in connection with selling stocks for the Black Star Line - a shipping line designed to forge a link between North America and Africa. Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a Jamaican-born political activist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), is on trial in New York in 1923. Following the leadership of J. Edger Hoover & the BOI (later, the FBI), the government has charged Garvey with mail fraud in connection with selling stocks for the Black Star Line - a shipping line designed to forge a link between North America and Africa. Garvey sees the trial for what it is: an attempt to end the movement by way of character assassination. Realizing his counsel is not up to the task, Garvey fires him and resolves to defend himself. As the trial plays out, flashbacks show glimpses of Garvey's life before the trial and his relationship with his wife Amy Jacques Garvey. This is the first-ever narrative film about his life.
FREDA
7pm
Tickets: £5, concessions £3.50
Set in Port-au-Prince in 2018, the drama explores the life of Freda (Néhémie Bastien), a young Haitian anthropologist, as she grapples with the choice of leaving Haiti for a better life with her boyfriend Yeshua (played by Haitian singer Jean Jean) or remaining in the country to continue with her education and support her family. Freda’s mother Jeannette (Fabiola Rémy) runs a shop at the front of the family’s dwelling to sustain her two daughters and their brother Moïse (Cantave Kerven). But Freda’s mother’s main focus is on getting her fairest-skinned daughter, Esther (Djanaïna François), married off to a wealthy man, while she encourages the darker-skinned Freda to give up her studies and find employment. Geneus’s film is based on her own experience of growing up in Haiti.
In June 2021, the film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[2] It was selected as the Haitian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
Watch Trailer
Continue the celebrations with us
On Saturday from 7pm join us for an enjoyable evening of free music and refreshments in a welcoming and friendly environment. A great opportunity for people to meet and come together to share stories.
With Thanks to our Sponsors of the Windrush Caribbean Film Festival
