CAFA LAUNCHES FILM PROJECT IN SUPPORT OF CARIBBEAN SCRIPT WRITERS

The Caribbean Film Academy (CaFA) and its partners - Groundation Grenada, Audiovisual Society of Dominica, ChantiMedia and SASOD Guyana – is set to launch Caribbean Film Project, an initiative which aims to showcase the talent of unknown and emerging writers in the Caribbean and Diaspora.

Through Caribbean Film Project, CaFA and its partners will not only tackle storytelling in films coming out of the Caribbean, but will provide an opportunity for Diaspora filmmakers to have their work included in a Caribbean film compilation. The initiative will focus on assisting in the production of films in countries which have mostly been absent from the current Caribbean filmmaking renaissance – Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, and St. Kitts & Nevis, as well as Caribbean filmmakers in the Diaspora.

Caribbean Film Project will be run as a script competition open for entries from January – February 2015.  The winner from each country will be paired with a coach who will work with the writer to make their script production-ready.  With the help of each producing partner, the films will then be produced. CaFA plans to raise the funds needed for the project through sponsorship, fundraisers and crowd-funding.

This focus on writing is long overdue, according to CaFA’s Co-Founder, Romola Lucas, who has led the effort to organize this new project.  She says, “Spurred by the availability and increasing affordability of filmmaking equipment, the Caribbean is currently experiencing a surge in filmmaking.  More and more people, who may never have considered filmmaking an option are making films encouraged by new opportunities to have their work screened at the growing number of Caribbean film festivals.  Many of the films are excellent – well-written, professionally produced, and visually appealing.  However, there are many others which suffer from technical issues and incomplete storytelling.”

“From our perspective, well-written stories underpin every sustainable film movement, and in order for Caribbean storytellers to be counted among the best in the world, specific focus and attention must be given to the development of great writers,” Lucas continues. 

The Film Project competition is open to writers/filmmakers who are residents/nationals of Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and to those of Caribbean descent/heritage living in the Diaspora and writing Caribbean stories.  Submissions open on Friday, January 2, 2015 and close Friday, February, 28, 2015.  To learn more about the Project and submit a script, visitwww.caribbeanfilm.org or email us at submissions@cafafilmproject.org.

 For further information, please contact:

Chantal Miller – ChantiMedia

hello@chantimedia.com

Jessica Canham – Audiovisual Association of Dominica

jessica@earthbook.tv

Joel Simpson – SASOD Guyana

manager@sasod.org.gy

Malaika Brooks – Groundation Grenada

malaika@groundationgrenada.com

Romola Lucas – CaFA

romola@caribbeanfilm.org

About CaFA

Established in 2012 in Brooklyn, NY, The Caribbean Film Academy (CaFA), is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and support of Caribbean filmmaking and filmmakers, in the Region and the Diaspora.  CaFA’s work is focused on promoting and sharing the art of storytelling through film from the unique perspective of the Caribbean.

About CHANTIMEDIA

ChantiMedia was born out of a passion for the Caribbean’s unparalleled and vibrant creative expression. Founded in 2012 by Chantal Miller (presenter and voice over artist) as a primarily digital platform to share and promote the artistic diversity of the region, ChantiMedia has now evolved into a multi-faceted creative hub. Based between the beautiful island of Nevis and the cultural melting pot of London (UK) the company now focuses on production (film and television), the curating of exhibitions and film festivals, the facilitating of creative workshops and fostering creative collaborations throughout the Diaspora.

 About GROUNDATION GRENADA

Groundation Grenada is a social action collective which focuses on the use of creative media to assess the needs of our communities, raise consciousness and act to create positive radical growth. Its mission is to provide active safe spaces to incubate new modes of resistance, building from the local to affect regional and international solidarity and change. The organization pursues its mission online, through its website and social media, and also through live events and special projects in collaboration with local, regional and international artists, activists and institutions. Groundation Grenada’s website supports both local and diasporic voices, acting as an interface to connect people who are hungry for innovative change.

About SASOD GUYANA

SASOD is dedicated to the eradication of homophobia in Guyana and throughout the Caribbean. The organization has worked tirelessly to repeal discriminatory Guyanese laws, change local attitudes about the LGBT community, and end discrimination in the government, workplace, and community.  The organization has been hosting, for the past 10 years, the only LGBT film festival in the Caribbean – bringing many Caribbean LGBT films to home audiences.

About THE AUDIOVISUAL ASSOCIATION OF DOMINICA

AAD’s mission is to promote and support the growth of professionals and businesses in Dominica’s audiovisual sector.  Membership in the Association is open to both individuals and to businesses. Being a member of the Audiovisual Association of Dominica enables individual producers and companies to benefit from activities and initiatives designed to improve the business climate for audiovisual professionals, and to support professional development.  The Association provides training in production, and scriptwriting, it maintains a data base of industry professionals, provides networking opportunities for members, creates local and regional partnerships and advocates for a regulatory environment to promote and support the growth of the sector.

Constitutional Court Rules Cross-Dressing is Not a Crime if Not for “Improper Purpose”

Joint Media Release from the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Guyana Trans United (GTU), Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS) and the Faculty of Law University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP)

Constitutional Court Rules Cross-Dressing is Not a Crime if Not for “Improper Purpose”     

- Rights Groups Plan Appeal on Dubious Decision

Georgetown, Guyana

On Friday afternoon, September 6, 2013, the Honourable Chief Justice (Ag.), Mr. Ian Chang delivered his judgment in Quincy McEwan, Seon Clarke, Joseph Fraser, Seyon Persaud and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD)   vs. Attorney General of Guyana. Section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) provision makes a criminal offence of a man wearing female attire, and a woman wearing male attire, publicly, for any improper purpose. The Chief Justice said that cross-dressing in a public place is an offence only if it is done for an improper purpose.

The Chief Justice also found that the police violated the human rights of the four litigants in the case during their crackdown in February 2009 when they arrested them under section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act and he awarded each of the four arrested compensation of $40,000 (GYD) for breach of their rights to be informed as soon as reasonably practicable as to the reason(s) for their arrests under Article 139 (3) of the Guyana Constitution.

Chief Justice Chang also decided that section 153 (1) (xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, is immune from the constitutional challenge brought by the four transgender litigants and their supporting organisations. As an 1893 law, pre-dating Guyana’s independence, the Chief Justice said “legislative rather than curial action is necessary to invalidate the provision.y to invalidate the provision”.” The litigants are preparing to appeal this and other aspects of Friday’s court decision. 

Colin Robinson, manager of the CariFLAGS secretariat based in Trinidad, praised the court’s finding that “It is not criminally offensive for a person to wear the attire of the opposite sex as a matter of preference or to give expression to or to reflect his or her sexual orientation.” The court also found that the law applies only to “attire” and not other gendered accoutrements such as head wigs, ear rings or even shoes. “The learned Chief Justice, however, has confused sexual orientation with gender identity,” Robinson commented.

Reacting to the judgment, the first-named applicant, Quincy McEwan, better known as Gulliver, who is also the Director of Guyana Trans United (GTU), noted that, “The Chief Justice was relatively clear that once you are expressing your gender identity, it’s not criminal for a man to wear female attire. But the law really stifles us, because what could be an improper purpose? The trans community is very worried, and still fearful of arrests, in light of this decision.” The court did not clarify what improper purposes gave rise to the arrests in this case.

The Chief Justice was not convinced the cross-dressing law amounted to ‘discrimination’ on the basis of gender, which would have been in violation of the Guyana Constitution. The court also ruled that the prohibition in the 1893 law is against persons of both genders for the same conduct and, as such, does not amount to discrimination based on gender. Se-shauna Wheatle is Jamaican and Lecturer in Law at Exeter College at the University of Oxford and a researcher in the fields of comparative human rights law and comparative constitutional law. Wheatle, who is the author of the 2013 report “Adjudication in Homicide Cases involving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Persons in the Commonwealth Caribbean,” said that “The constitutional moment presented by this case demanded more detailed assessment of the issue of discrimination against transgender persons.” She observed that “The reasoning of the learned judge omitted any discussion of the prescription of gender roles to individuals according to their sex and the consequent requirement that individuals dress according to those prescribed gender roles. There was no discussion of the way in which the challenged section reflected such prescription of gender roles or the impact of this dynamic on persons who are transgender.”

The court also ruled that SASOD had no locus standi (standing) in the matter since the individual applicants brought the claim in their own names as the persons who were personally aggrieved. The Guyana Constitution was the first in the English-speaking Caribbean to give “an association acting on behalf of its members” the right to bring a claim before the Constitutional Court that there has been a breach of the guaranteed fundamental rights. The standing of SASOD is one of the issues which the litigants expect to argue before the Court of Appeal.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Zenita Nicholson, Secretary of SASOD’s board of trustees. “I feel the court lost a golden opportunity to give life to the Guyana constitution by vitiating this 1893 law against cross-dressing and establishing that all Guyanese are entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms, including our transgender citizens, who unfortunately will continue to be vulnerable to human rights abuses, with this dubious decision. We must appeal it,” she said.  

Dr. Arif Bulkan who argued the case on behalf of the litigants is a lecturer in constitutional law and human rights law at the Faculty of Law, UWI, St. Augustine and a coordinator of the Faculty of Law UWI Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP), which has managed the litigation. Dr. Bulkan said that “This case raises issues of great public and constitutional importance relating to the scope of the restrictive savings law clauses in the Constitution that limit challenges to repressive colonial laws and the new provisions in the Guyana Constitution dealing with equality and non-discrimination. The region is closely watching this case.” He added that the legal team for the litigants, which includes Mr. Gino Persaud as instructing counsel, looks forward to arguing these important human rights concerns before the Court of Appeal. He said “In the content of our laws and details of our conduct, we must give meaning to the strong commitment in the Constitution to eliminate ‘any and every form of discrimination’ in Guyana.”

The case of McEwan, Clarke, Fraser, Persaud and SASOD v. Attorney General was initiated four years ago following the February 2009 conviction and fine of seven individuals for violating section 153 (1) (xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act. The 1893 law makes it a criminal offence for men to wear female attire and for women to wear male attire “in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose.” Other activities criminalised in section 153(1) are: grooming an animal in a public place; placing goods in a public way in town; beating a mat in a public way; flying a kite in the city; loitering around a shop and hauling timber in a public way. Unrepresented and unaware of their rights, the defendants were detained in police custody over the weekend, and then hustled through the legal system and fined $7,500 (GYD) each.  

U-RAP co-founder, attorney-at-law and public law lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Dr. Arif Bulkan explained that this colonial law was part of repressive penal regimes instituted in the second half of the nineteenth century throughout the Caribbean to severely constrain the lives and actions of recent freed Africans and the newly arrived indentured servants. Bulkan notes that “Despite the discriminatory aspects of these colonial laws, and their low regard for the majority colonial populations, vagrancy laws like section 153(1) have been kept in effect long after independence.” He adds that "The law is plainly at odds with the Guyana Constitution which states that it is committed to 'eliminating every form of discrimination.'”

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Hon. Mr. Justice Ian Chang – Chief Justice (Ag.) [Photo Credit: Stabroek News] 

Notes to editors

SASOD is a local human rights organization working to promote equality and justice for all Guyanese, and is particularly focused on eliminating discrimination based on sexuality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in Guyana.

GTU is a local transgender group working to empower the Guyanese trans community, advocate for their human rights and participate as equal citizens in decisions which affect their lives.

CVC is a regional coalition of community leaders and non-governmental agencies providing services directly to and on behalf of vulnerable populations who are marginalised and excluded in the Caribbean.

CariFLAGS a 16-year-old lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) Caribbean advocacy network with offices in Castries, Kingston, Port of Spain and Santo Domingo, and affiliate organizations across the region.

U-RAP’s objective is to promote human rights and social justice in the Caribbean by undertaking and participating in human rights litigation in collaboration with human rights lawyers and organisations. The team of lawyers involved in this case includes Gino Persaud, Nigel Hughes and Miles Fitzpatrick, S.C.

Media Spokespersons:

Zenita Nicholson for SASOD: +592 662-8278

Quincy McEwan for GTU: +592 674-8741

Ivan Cruickshank for CVC: +1 876 631-7299

Colin Robinson for CariFLAGS: +1 868 758-7676

Consultation on Participatory Governance across the Americas (Caribbean and Canada)

Consultation on Participatory Governance across the Americas (Caribbean and Canada)

Hosted by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre/Commonwealth Foundation

Castries, Saint Lucia

April 16 - 17, 2013

Representative for the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD- Guyana): Alana Da Silva

The following were the objectives of the consultation:

1.      To gain a deeper understanding of the expertise, strengths and comparative advantages of existing and potential partners across the Americas (Caribbean and Canada).

2.      To gain a deeper understanding of the issues, gaps, opportunities and leadership in participatory governance across the Americas (Caribbean and Canada).

3.      To  develop a regional snapshot of the MDG acceleration and post 2015 framework building base on research undertaken by the Foundation in the Commonwealth (including the Caribbean).

4.      To facilitate the identification of regional priorities on participatory governance and development.

Day One – April 16, 2013

The consultation was opened at 8:30am by Shantal Munro-Knight, Moderator and Chief Executive Coordinator, Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) – and subsequent remarks were made by the following persons:

1.         Renrick Rose, Chair – CPDC

Renrick Rose said that, “We are good talkers in the Caribbean…”

However, participatory governance “is a fundamental aspect of democracy and an aspect of civil society… and whatever we come to within these two days, how does it translate in individual response and implementation?”

2.         Shantal Munro-Knight, Executive Coordinator - CPDC

According to Munro-Knight, the Commonwealth Foundation was founded in 1965 and is governed by member states to strengthen the capacity of civil society in the Commonwealth. She also stated that the organization was re-launched in November, 2012 – as it cannot remain in London. Instead, it also needs to hear the voices of the Commonwealth people.

3.         Dr. Anthony George, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of the Prime Minister, Saint Lucia

According to Dr. Anthony George, the year “2013 is characterized by changes and diversity…”

“We also acknowledge that power, wealth and status are inequitably distributed... and the government of Saint Lucia supports active and inclusive participation of civil society, even in the advocacy of human rights…” Therefore, “Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved without the active participation of Civil Society Organisations…” He also said, “You can hold governments and institutions responsible” for human rights violations. Furthermore, “The cost of inaction will likely to be high, and the longer the inaction on your part, the higher the cost will be.”

Dr. George also said that, there is a need to “encourage partnerships and networking” as an integral part of building the capacity of civil society across the region and to protect human rights and equality.  

4.         Amy Bartlett, Programme Coordinator, Canadian Council for International Cooperation

Amy Bartlett issued a reminder to participants that, “The Canadian Development Agency (CIDA) is gone… and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have little or no influence and funding for development” in Canada. Therefore, it is critical for CSOs to seek innovative ways to build and strengthen partnerships; connect and share ideas and experiences; and to remain active in resolving humanitarian issues affecting their region and the global environment.

Working Session 1

Four (4) working groups were facilitated to discuss what is participatory governance, its elements, level of CSO and non-state actors’ (NSAs) influence on development at the governmental level, and their outcomes.

Working Session 2

Four (4) working groups discussed the various opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses of participatory governance in the region and at the national level; and how these issues can translate into meaningful and sustained collaboration between civil society, NSAs and the public sector, in order to create positive human development at all levels.

Working Session 3

Three (3) working groups were facilitated to discuss some of the most important regional priorities in achieving participatory governance, inclusiveness, and partnerships between NGOs, CSOs, and governments, as well as international donors and organisations.

Evening Working Session – April 16, 2013 at 7:30pm to 9:30PM

Panel Discussion on “The Social Conjecture: Social Movements! Social Media & Individual Resistance: Whither the organized NGO Movement?”

Panelists:

Ms. Maribel Gonzalez, Manager – Programme Development, Development Workshop

Mr. Cecil Ryan, Managing Director, Project Promotion Ltd.

Ms. Judith Wedderburn, Director, Freidich Ebert Stiftung

Mr. Giles Romulus, National Coordinator, GEF SGP UNDP (Saint Lucia)

There was a general consensus among the panelists and participants that, social media is a tool as well as a space that should be effectively, efficiently, and strategically managed by CSOs, NGOs and other NSAs to create awareness, advocate, and to interact with their constituents and other organisations throughout the region and internationally. There should be no barrier to this free movement and communication.

Emphasis was also placed on engaging youth in advocacy and adapting to changes in social media in order to build a larger audience and to collaborate at various levels and platforms. However, according to the panelists, social media should never be used as a substitute for organising and coordinating activities at local and grass-roots levels. Instead, these two must work in unity in order to effect changes in the lives of groups and individuals throughout our countries and regions.

Day Two - April 17, 2013

Three working groups were facilitated throughout the day to discuss the findings of the regional MDGs review, identify loopholes in the process, and propose recommendations for implementation of the post- 2015 framework – and in particular, the opportunities for building equitable relations between governments, CSOs, and NSAs.

Outcomes

Culminating from the working groups, it was agreed that while there are many limitations for CSOs and NSAs to engage the government in meaningful discussions to effect policies at the national level, human rights organisations also have a responsibility to organize themselves into an official body that can collectively advocate on behalf of each member, which should also include supporting human rights initiatives within each country, across the region, and internationally.

It was also agreed that CSOs must engage regularly in self-analysis and introspection in order to maintain a collective vision of how to proceed with the work of advocacy, and to remember that the fight is for “human rights,” and it is a personal and lifelong struggle that requires dedication, commitment, and many times, voluntary work.

Post – 2015 Regional Priorities, Processes, and Activities

The regional priority areas below were agreed upon by all participants of the consultation and will serve as a proposal by the CPDC for drafting the main focus of the post-2015 regional framework agenda. As such, the target groups for addressing these areas of development were listed as: Women and girls; children; LGBTI people; People Living with HIV (PLHIV); People with disabilities (PWD); Men; Immigrants (Re: Human Trafficking); and Youth.

1.      Human Development, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Empowerment.

2.      Governance, Citizen Participation, and Inclusiveness.

3.      Environmental Development and Sustainability.

4.      Gender and Women’s Empowerment.

5.   Social Development (Equity and Justice), including the Eradication and prevention of discrimination against marginalized groups.

6.      Promotion of entrepreneurships (for youth).

In closing, the CPDC provided a list of their immediate priorities, following the consultation – some of which have already been realized subsequent to this meeting. These included:

§  Incorporating this agenda into regional spaces (like CARICOM, etc.)

§  Dissemination of the agreed outcomes of the consultation.

§  Setup working groups to structure the framework for continued consultations and collaboration with regional partners, NGOs, CSOs and other NSAs.

§  Work at global level to increase collaboration between international donors/organisations and CSOs.

§  Issue a full report of the workshop within two (2) weeks from the closing date (April 17, 2013).