Weekly Caribbean Dispatch

Opening Note

Bad Bunny turned the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show into the most awarded halftime show in Emmy history. At the Creative Arts Emmys on September 5 and 6, the special swept all 7 categories it was nominated in, including outstanding variety special (live), marking the first time a Spanish language program has won that category. Puerto Rico had a very good week.

The Pulse

CaribbeanTales and the Caribbean Film Festival ran a joint Toronto edition, September 8 – 13. Highlights included Little Dreams, Girls of Steel, and the Canadian premiere of Queen of Soca. (caribbeantalesfestival.com)

Iconography: Jit Samaroo screened as part of that lineup. The documentary traces the life of the steelpan arranger who helped shape the instrument’s modern sound. (caribbeantalesfestival.com)

Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica’s Coastline had its New York premiere on September 12 at the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival, tracing how a 1956 law still keeps most of the island’s coastline out of public reach. (caribbeancreativity.nl)

Sanctuary: Our Sacred Place remains on view at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex. Woosler Delisfort’s photography documents Vodou, Ifá, and other spiritual traditions across Miami’s Indigenous, African, and Caribbean communities. (miamiandbeaches.com)

Market & Opportunities

Quiet stretch for open calls right now.

Release Radar

Beach Inna Bondage counts as the week’s real release, now touring festivals in New York, London, and Amsterdam after premiering in Jamaica this summer. The Screen Share shorts, Little Dreams, Girls of Steel, Bumpa, Queen of Soca, and Iconography: Jit Samaroo are all newly out this month, most without wide distribution yet.

Creator Spotlight: Woosler Delisfort

What’s he telling now? Delisfort spent years photographing Vodou, Ifá, and other Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices around Miami, a work built to push back against how Black religious life is usually portrayed. Sanctuary: Our Sacred Place is the result; over 100 images made in temples, churches, mosques, and private homes across Miami-Dade and Broward.

Where to follow him: @wooslerdelisfort on Instagram. The exhibit is up now at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex.

On the Circuit

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, 20th anniversary. September 23 – 27, 2026, Port of Spain.

Beg Yuh A Call screening and panel discussion. September 26, 2026, Union Arts Center, Union, NJ.

FUZE Caribbean Art Fair, 4th edition. October 2026, Nassau, Bahamas, exact dates still to be confirmed.

CARIFESTA XVI. October 8 to 17, 2027, Georgetown, Guyana.

MacDowell Fellowship, Fall 2027/Winter 2028 applications. Deadline February 10, 2027.

Last Look

Puerto Rico didn’t just show up at the Super Bowl this year. It showed up at the Emmys and cleaned the place out.

Kelli.