Caribbean Film Festival Launches in Hollywood for 10th Anniversary of Caribbean-American Heritage Month
Los Angeles, CA – In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Caribbean-American Heritage Month, the Caribbean Heritage Organization (CHO) and the Institute of Caribbean Studies, DC (ICS-DC) are pleased to announce the launch of CaribbeanLens™, the first Los Angeles Caribbean entertainment conference and film festival. The festival is scheduled to run Monday, June 15 through Friday, June 19, 2015 in the NoHo Arts District/Universal City areas of Los Angeles.
The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the blending of the Caribbean and American cultures and talent to create unique and outstanding work and to raise global awareness of the new renaissance of film-making and music production that the Caribbean region is currently experiencing.
“This is a very exciting time for the Caribbean and Caribbean-Americans in the entertainment business,” says Marva Griffiths Herman, Founder & Executive Director of CHO and Executive Producer of the film festival. “The Caribbean culture has become a significant ingredient in this wonderful salad bowl we call the American society, and we are especially pleased to showcase its contributions,” she added.
With a new breed of talented filmmakers, writers, producers, actors who are working collectively to create films for the world to see, CaribbeanLens will be showcasing great films from the past as well as newer films from the present to provide a glimpse of where the future of Caribbean cinema is heading.
CaribbeanLens will also serve as a platform for not only showcasing the Caribbean as one of the best vacation destinations in the world, but to introduce Hollywood to the many filming locations and tax incentives the region have to offer.
“CaribbeanLens Entertainment Conference and Film Festival is an event whose time has come.
Bearing in mind the size of the entertainment economy and Caribbean potential across all genres and aspects, the need to intensify the visibility of our talent and locations is paramount. We hope that by bringing the Caribbean to Hollywood, the mecca of the global entertainment industry, we can contribute to ensuring that the opportunities for Caribbean peoples to participate are expanded and enhanced,” remarks Claire A. Nelson, Ph.D., the architect behind Caribbean-American Heritage month and Founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, DC and producer of CaribbeanLens.
This year’s theme is “Legends of the Caribbean” and will open the evening of Monday, June 15, 2015 at the El Portal Theatre in NoHo Arts District with a retrospective look at the works of Ms. Cicely Tyson who has roots in the island of Nevis, Mr. Harry Belafonte, Jamaica and Sir Sidney Poitier, The Islands of the Bahamas. The five-day festival will culminate at the Hilton, Universal City on the evening of Friday, June 15 with the Salute to Hollywood & Excellence Awards gala, now in its 10th year.
