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Kelli’s Rundown

Kelli Blake010 mins

Weekly Caribbean Dispatch

Opening Note

Trinidad and Tobago said goodbye to Slinger Francisco on Friday and gave him the Savannah. At the Mighty Sparrow’s state-assisted funeral at NAPA in Port of Spain on October 16, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that the Grand Stand at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Carnival’s main stage for generations, will be refurbished and renamed in his honor. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley asked regional leaders to push for his song “Slave” to be taught through the CXC curriculum. Neither has a date or a budget yet.

Born in Grenada in 1935 and raised in Trinidad, Sparrow broke through with “Jean and Dinah” in 1956 and spent seven decades making calypso, the region’s running commentary on colonialism, politics, schooling and love. He died in New York on September 27, at 91. The name goes on the stand. The songs go to the classroom next.

The Pulse

  • FUZE opens in Nassau: The fourth edition of the Caribbean art fair at Baha Mar gathers more than 100 artists and over 20 galleries and institutions from more than 10 Caribbean countries under the theme “Coming Home,” October 21 to 25, with Venice Biennale artist Lavar Munroe among the featured names. caribjournal.com
  • World Creole Music Festival turns 26: Machel Montano, Tabou Combo, Capleton, Alkaline, Skillibeng, Grenada’s V’ghn, South Africa’s Uncle Waffles and Ne-Yo share Windsor Park in Roseau over three nights, October 23 to 25, with Dominica’s bouyon bands holding the home stage. dominicanewsonline.com
  • DOC NYC brings Cuba, Haiti and Vieques to Manhattan: Hugo Perez’s #SOSCUBA, on Cuban artists building an independent biennial under censorship, world-premieres in the U.S. Competition, while Rachelle Salnave’s Dual Citizen and Juan C. Dávila Santiago’s Zenón and the Rebel Boats make their New York premieres, November 11 to 19. docnyc.net
  • Krioyo Film Festival screens 23 films in Papiamentu: Curaçao’s festival runs October 26 to November 2 at Caribbean Cinemas in Willemstad, opening with a free Dutch Caribbean Orchestra concert of film music on October 25. richeskarayib.com
  • COCO Dance Festival pushes back: Trinidad’s three-day contemporary dance festival takes “Push Back” as its theme, working through pressure, joy and resistance, October 23 to 25. caribbean-beat.com
  • Tobago Carnival turns five: The island’s October carnival, built as a season of its own apart from Trinidad’s, runs October 30 to November 1. visittobago.gov.tt

Market & Opportunities

CaribbeanTales opens its next call. Submissions for the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival open October 30 on FilmFreeway, with the early-bird deadline November 30, regular December 31, and late January 31, 2027. The Toronto festival programs filmmakers of Caribbean and African heritage working across the diaspora, and this year it shared its stage with Trinidad’s Caribbean Film Festival as Screen Share. If your film was finished this year, aim for November 30. filmfreeway.com/CaribbeanTales

Shore Scripts Short Film Fund, final call. $15,000 to produce a narrative short, or $4,000 to finish one that is shot and stuck in post. Open internationally, for live action and animation, including proof-of-concept shorts built to sell a feature or series. For filmmakers in the region without a national film fund behind them, it is a production grant open to anyone, anywhere. Final deadline October 30, $59 entry. shorescripts.com

​Release Radar

A quiet week for albums. Ayetian, the Caribbean Music Awards’ Best New Artist, dropped “Z Party” on October 17, and Cutty Ranks is back with “Tap Out.” Shaneil Muir’s “Man Fi Be Man” holds the top of Jamaica’s dancehall chart for a second week. On screen, #SOSCUBA and Zenón and the Rebel Boats land in New York next month.

Creator Spotlight: Juan C. Dávila Santiago (Documentary Filmmaker)

What are you telling now? Born in Mayagüez, Dávila Santiago has spent more than a decade reporting on Puerto Rico’s colonial condition, from environmental fights to labor struggles, and serves as Puerto Rico correspondent for Democracy Now! Zenón and the Rebel Boats follows Carlos “Taso” Zenón, the Vieques fisherman displaced by the U.S. Navy who organized fishermen in small boats to confront warships and halt war games in the Caribbean Sea. Built on never-before-seen archival footage, it won Best Feature Documentary at its BlackStar world premiere in August and is nominated for DOC NYC’s first Archival Storytelling award.

​Where can we follow / support you? docnyc.net | firelightmedia.tv | blackstarprojects.org

​

On the Circuit

October

  • NALIP Awards and Media Summit | October 21 – 23, W Hollywood, Los Angeles | nalip.org
  • FUZE Caribbean Art Fair | October 21 – 25, Baha Mar, Nassau | festival.bahamar.com
  • World Creole Music Festival | October 23 – 25, Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica
  • COCO Dance Festival | October 23 – 25, Trinidad and Tobago | cocodancefestival.org
  • Krioyo Film Festival | October 26 – November 2, Willemstad, Curaçao | krioyofilms.com
  • Havana Ballet Festival | October 28 – November 6, Havana
  • Tobago Carnival | October 30 – November 1, Tobago | visittobago.gov.tt
  • Jounen Kwéyòl | October 30, Dominica
  • Baby | now through October 31, Brixton House, London | brixtonhouse.co.uk/shows/baby
  • Caribbean Contribution to the RAF | now through October 31, Reading Museum, UK | readingmuseum.org.uk

November

December

Long runs

Deadlines

Last Look

Every Carnival from here on gathers under Sparrow’s name.

Find Kelli Blake on Substack · LinkedIn

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