Annette Nias, Director of BCIDA (Ag) as she was interviewed by media.
The film industry has grown tremendously in Barbados, but there is still a long way to go.
This comment was made by Annette Nias, Film Commissioner in the Barbados Cultural Industries Development Authority (BCIDA), during an interview with The Barbados Advocate, on the sidelines of BCIDA's Arts and Culture Pop Up Roadshow, which took place at Hastings Rock yesterday morning.
Nias noted that in her capacity of film commissioner, she was tasked with two main duties, which is to market Barbados as a destination for film companies to do location shooting, to assist and service the shoots in different ways, as well as to train and develop the local industry.
She expressed that she was impressed with the way that the film industry was developing in Barbados, but believed that ultimately more could be done. For one, she noted that the industry would benefit greatly from more sponsorship, as it would allow them to improve and increase the training seminars that take place.
Nias noted that even though there is a lot of interest in the film industry from young people, what the industry needed was more technical interests, and for people to work behind the scenes, which was traditionally hard work.
The film commissioner went on to state that they were going to host workshops in order to help train persons in these technical areas.
“Currently we have a series of training workshops, and there is one happening currently that takes place on Sundays, and has 18 participants. It is called the Director Composer Creative Lab, and it’s bringing musicians and filmmakers together to discuss film scoring,” she said.
“So the development and training for these areas will continue and with entities like the Barbados Film and Video Association and other courses going on right now, such as one that is coming out on the Business of Film in March, and one ending in March which is about movie production, I think it augurs well for the future of film.”