1. Organization of a structure of Regional Coordination with 23 National Coordination Committees, an International Organizing Committee and an International Selection Committee.

2. Creation of a network of Caribbean filmmakers and film and audiovisual professionals. Creation of a data bank of Caribbean film titles and authors.

3. Screenings in 18 countries in the region of the Official Program of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, made up by 30 films subtitled in the Showcase official languages: Spanish, English and French and, very significantly, some in Haitian Creole. The highest governmental authorities in these countries underlined with their presence the importance granted to the Showcase.

4. The Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase Webpage will soon be in the net.

5. Creation of the Caribbean Media Library and the Caribbean Film and Audiovisual Documentation Center in the Office of the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase.

6. Holding of the Forum “Strategies for Collaboration and Integration in Caribbean Cinema and Audiovisuals” as a chapter of the 5th International Congress of Culture and Development, with the participation of Caribbean filmmakers, producers, exhibitors, distributors and official authorities. Approval of its programmatic final declaration.

7. Presentation of the Showcase in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the official program of the Cuba-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting with the attendance of CARICOM chancellors, the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Cuba and the Prime Minister of the host country, May 2007.

8. Recognition in the Forum of Latin America and Caribbean Ministers of Culture and responsible for Cultural Policies and inclusion of the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase in the Action Plan of the Forum for its support and continuity.

9. Inclusion of the Office of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase among the entities and institutions in the Coalition of Latin American and Caribbean Cities against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia. (Montevideo, Uruguay, October 2007)

10. Screening of the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase in 7 cities in Venezuela, under the auspices of the Cinematheque in that country.

11. CARICOM countries representative films were screened on Cuba-CARICOM Day (December 2007).

12. Screening of the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase at the British Museum, London (2007).

13. Screening of the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase at the American Cinematheque, Hollywood, USA (January 2008).

14. Invitation to screen the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase at UNESCO headquarters in Paris (April 2008).

15. Invitation to screen the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase in the Dominican Republic during the next Book Fair in that country, as an initiative of the Secretariat of the Association of Caribbean States (April 2008).

16. The program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase was chosen to be screened at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, USA.

17. Invitation to screen the program of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase in Ecuador, Colombia and Panama.

18.  The Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase has been chosen among the 25 most significant projects in the agencies of the United Nations System fulfilling the “Millenium Development Goals” in the Exhibition: “Millenium Development Goals: United Nations Projects in Cuba supporting the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals” (October 2007).

19. Coordination of the Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase for children and adolescents in the Caribbean, to be held in 2008 as a UNICEF initiative, coordinated under the auspices of ICAIC, UNICEF and UNESCO.

20. Coordination with the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers of the screening of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase in Nigeria and other African countries.

21. The Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase has been included in the French collaboration project “Caribbean in Creation.”

22. Organization of the Meeting: “Caribbean Alternatives to Hegemony in the Media” as a continuation of the past forum: “Strategies for the collaboration and integration of Caribbean films and Audiovisuals,” with the participation of Caribbean intellectuals and filmmakers (November 2008).

23. Collaboration links have been established with various academic and cultural institutions in the region

Havana – February 2008

News posted in the Website of UNESCO Regional Office For Latin America and the Caribbean

7 February 2008/ Alberto D. Pérez and UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean

Inspired by the remarkable outcomes of the First Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, its organizing committee has called filmmakers and producers in the Caribbean to the Second Edition of this cultural Project, to be dedicated in 2008 to children and teenagers in the region.

The official call for participation was presided over by filmmaker Rigoberto López, President of the organizing Committee of the Showcase, Mr. Herman van Hooff, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean; Mr. José Juan Ortiz, UNICEF representative in Cuba; the President of the Cuban Institute of the Film Art and Industry (ICAIC), Mr. Omar González, and the First Deputy Minister of Culture of Cuba, Mr. Rafael Bernal.

As an introduction to the official launching at the Vedado Hall in the National Hotel, a group of boys and girls danced and sang Caribbean rhythms.

Presenting a summarized report of the outcomes of the First Showcase, recently concluded, Rigoberto López said it had set an important precedent for its effective contribution to mutual knowledge and cultural integration between Caribbean nations. The Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase was a project proponed during a meeting between Jamaican and Cuban filmmakers sponsored by ICAIC, the UNESCO Offices in the Caribbean (Havana, Kingston and Port-au-Prince), as well as the UNESCO National Commissions in the region, CARICOM and TELESUR.

Among the achievements mentioned by López are also the organization of a Regional Coordination structure with 23 National Committees, an International Organizing Committee and an International Selection Committee, as well as a Network of Filmmakers and Film and Audiovisual Professionals in the Caribbean and the creation of a database of Caribbean films and filmmakers.

López announced furthermore that there will soon be a Web Site of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase.

Rigoberto López underlined the support received from UNESCO through its Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean and thanked ICAIC for translating and copying to DVD –the official format of the Showcase—all the films in the First Showcase, so that all audiences could fully enjoy the cultural offer from other Caribbean countries. To this end, all films were translated into English, French, Spanish and Creole.

The Representative in Cuba of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mr. José Juan Ortiz, praised the objectives of the II Traveling Showcase, dedicated to children and teenagers.

These audiences are usually stuffed with a culturally poor commercial product targeted to children which promotes frenzied violence, oppression, racial and sexual discrimination and is the exact antithesis of what children and young people need.

Therefore, UNICEF has decided to give its support to this cultural effort that promotes and encourages autochthonous values of Caribbean peoples and of children and teenagers in the region.

José Juan Ortiz also said that joining the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to support such an appropriate cultural initiative was a pleasure for UNICEF and for him personally.

The Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Herman van Hoof, made a detailed account of his institution’s support to the First Showcase, and said it is one of the six projects passed in the Plan of Action of the Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Trinidad and Tobago on June 28 and 29, 2007.

UNESCO Offices in Havana, Kingston and Port-au-Prince also supported the initiative in their respective countries. The Showcase will be exhibited at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in April 2008.

Herman van Hooff, in turn, said it was also a pleasure for him to work jointly with UNICEF in support of the II Showcase, and wished success to the organizers.

Diplomats form the Caribbean countries included in the Showcase, and the media were present in the official launching ceremony.

Also present was Her Excellency María de los Ángeles Flórez, President of the Cuban National Commission of UNESCO, and Dr. Mariela Castro, Director of the National Center for Education on Sex Issues (CENESEX). Both institutions will also contribute to the development of the project in this stage.

Conditions of entry of the Showcase

The objective of the Second Showcase is to facilitate sharing of stories, fables and animated characters of the Caribbean lore in all the languages spoken in the region between the children and teenagers in the region. To this aim, the Showcase will include feature, documentaries and animation films made in film or video by Caribbean filmmakers, even though they are not currently resident in their country of origin or in the Caribbean.

Films shall be submitted in DVD, DV CAM, format with the list of dialogues to the Office of the TRAVELING Caribbean Film Showcase by the 20th of March 2008 at the latest.

Contacts:

Mr. Rigoberto López, President
Mr. Luis Notario, Coordinator
Office of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase
ICAIC
Calle 23 No. 1155 e/ 10 y 12, El Vedado,
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba. C.P. 10400
Ph: (537) 838-2859 / 838-2866
Fax: (537) 838-1188
E-mail: muestracaribe@icaic.cu 

Ms. Montserrat Martell Domingo
Programme Specialist for Culture
UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean
Calzada No. 551 esq. a D, El Vedado,
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba. C.P. 10400
Ph: (537) 832-2840 / 832-7741 / 832-1787
Fax: (53 7) 833-3144
E-mail: m.martell@unesco.org.cu