Islander Cinema
the story
A group of young colombian filmmakers decide to take video production workshops to the island of Providencia, a small island in the colombian caribbean sea, so they can tell the world who this islanders are and the needs they have.
"Islander Cinema" is a short documentary about this sharing experience. It is directed by two female cinematographer who enjoy working together, and have a particular love for this place. Providencia, is a 17 km square island protected by its corral reef and inhabited by a community that is descendant from british XVIIth century pirates and slaves. They are part of Colombia, but are located geographically in front of the Nicaraguan coast, far away from the continent and all the incentives.
Providencia is a paradise that has no hospital, no university, no book shop, a very slow internet conection and a theatre that has been closed for the past 15 years. While the world is surrounded by screens and people connect to You Tube 9 times a day. Their world is surrounded by a 7 colour sea. Their audiovisual culture is dictated by the telenovelas and the beauty contests, and some american blockbusters DVDs sold in the black market. The libraries of the island are deserted by youngs that don't want to read anymore. However, the need of the islanders to tell their stories is obvious and we the need to be heard. At some point we thought it could be a good idea to teach them how to make movies and the powerfull tool it is to express themselves.
We went there with the idea of sharing our passion, and we came back impressed as in 2 weeks time they did 8 short films that you can see in the shorts section of this website.
To finish this single piece documentary, we are going back to shoot some more about this comunity that does not seem to live in the same space and time than the rest of the world, often forgotten and in the need to be heard.
Cultural Identifier
Providencia is an island in the colombian caribbean with the third biggest corral reef of the world. Its population are Afro-descendent who are bilingual. They speak Creole, a native language from the English pirates used back in the 17th century, and Spanish, the official language of Colombia. People live a simple life with humor, the essential element of communication. They live on fishing, agriculture and ecotourism.
Nowadays this community has many problems of basic needs and a poor relationship with the continent. This terrotory has been source of dispute for decades in between Colombia and Nicaragua. In 2012, the international Court of Justice of The Hague has given a verdict that change the border lines, leaving the islands and cays to Colombia, and giving a lot more sea to Nicaragua. The insular territory is now surrounded by Nicaraguayan waters.
And besides this, the Colombian state has made explorations in the deep sea looking for oil and gas, despite that UNESCO declared it Biosphere Reserve in the year 2000. Now it is Nicaragua’s turn to continue with the task, disrespecting the ecosystem islanders have been preserving for centuries. The community of Providence manifest against this, but their message don’t go far enough. They have problems in accessing communication due to their insulation.
