Thursday April 12th, 7pm

Starting at 7 pm | George Washington House

Short Films (in competition)

• 

  The Sea Wall

  Mason Richards | 10 minutes | Guyana | 2011

  In The Seawall, a short film that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, a young boy begins an emotional journey from his home in Guyana, South America, to a new life in Brooklyn. It’s a journey that filmmaker Mason Richards himself made when he was 7 years old. The result is an intimate look at 10-year-old Malachi’s life as his grandmother, Marjorie, prepares him to move to Brooklyn. Doing so means that Malachi must go beyond the seawall that separates Georgetown, Guyana’s capital, from the ocean and defines the only world the boy has ever known.

• 

  The Rock/Transfer

  Janet Cook-Rutnik & William Stelzer | 8 minutes | St. Thomas Virgin Islands | 2011

  The Rock/Transfer is a collaborative video about the weight of history in which a large rock is moved around the three Virgin Islands utilizing all local means of transportation including a donkey. The Rock/Transfer is a light-hearted attempt to investigate an aspect of the “heavy” history that has shaped this part of the Caribbean through a symbolic gesture in which an object that signifies the past is moved from a pre-Emancipation era Sugar Factory to a restored Colonial building housing an art museum.

Feature Films (in competition)

• 

  Chance

  Evan Kaufmann | 87 minutes | St. Thomas Virgin Islands | 2011 (BARBADOS PREMIERE)

  Chance chronicles the actions of Darnell Smith, a young, big-hearted St. Thomian, who is the sole breadwinner for his family and whose photography skills have landed him a scholarship to school in the States. But with graduation inching closer, Darnell’s mother slips closer to death from an undiagnosed disease. Lacking the funds to afford treatment and with no one to look after his brothers and sister, Darnell forgoes school to team up with a local crime lord in a desperate move to take care of his family and save his mother’s life.

  Evan Kaufmann is an award winning film, music video, and commercial director currently living in Los Angeles, California. His cinematic style and skill for storytelling have made him an in-demand director in his respective fields. Kaufmann was hand-picked by Chance screenwriter Mark Owens to helm the project and bring it to existence. The team spent 2 months on the island of St. Thomas with a minimal crew and budget in hopes of bringing the gritty tale of survival, love, and faith to life! Today, Kaufmann and his wife produce several projects.