The Soleil Short Film Saturday series and Third Horizon Film Festival partner up to bring you some of the best shorts from the Caribbean diaspora
Over the last few months, Soleil Space — a Brooklyn-based media company led by Trinidadian founder and CEO Micha Cooper-Edwards, who last year was featured on Forbes’ Next 1,000 list — launched their Short Film Saturday series.
Featuring shorts from emerging filmmakers across Asian, African, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern diasporas, the live showcase pairs screenings of the films with filmmaker Q&As. The series has now screened over 30 films from directors in more than two dozen countries.
The initiative came out of a Soleil’s Spotlight podcast, which profiles filmmakers and their journeys. Spotlight’s listeners had a familiar complaint: they couldn’t see or access the films highlighted in the episodes. The Soleil team saw an invaluable opportunity to showcase that work.
What’s more, starting this May, and every other month through the rest of the year, Soileil will be partnering with the Third Horizon Film Festival to present a special line-up of shorts. The award-winning Third Horizon filmmaking collective makes it their mission to develop, produce, exhibit and showcase Caribbean diaspora film, and also hosts the Third Horizon Film Festival each year in Miami (twice named one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by MovieMaker Magazine).
“Our relationship with Third Horizon dates back several years,” explained Cooper-Edwards. “Anyone who has experienced their film festival knows the care and authenticity with which they curate films from the region, and how they have been a gateway for highly talented Caribbean creatives to be seen and acclaimed beyond the Caribbean Sea.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Romola Lucas, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Third Horizon. “For us, it is important to remain grounded in our Caribbean-ness and stay true to our roots, so we welcome opportunities to collaborate with organisations working in the Caribbean space and helping to build it in ways we are not,” she says. “It is great that Soleil is putting its time and resources into amplifying Caribbean voices to their global audiences, and we are happy to be a part of that effort.”
The Soleil Short Film Saturday x Third Horizon partnership kicks off Saturday 7 May on Soleil Space’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/soleilspace), with a line-up that includes Trinidadian Maya Cozier’s She Paradise, and Guyanese-American Mandy Marcus’ Cousins. The second installment streams Saturday 9 July.
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