The winners were awarded their prizes at the CWA 2014 conference, in Paramaribo, Suriname, on Wednesday.
First place went to the video The Fruit of Life by Kareem Larcher and Jelani Paul of St Lucia. In this film, viewers are invited to contemplate how wisdom, strength and perseverance can triumph over evil (in this case the murder of a great grandfather) to see the dream of developing the coconut realized to the benefit of a country.
Paul, co-director, co-writer, cinematographer and editor on the film said film-making has been “our passion for a long while.” He said he also “wanted to prove a point to ourselves and to the wider public that things can be done. We just need to take the initiative on ourselves to make things happen, because I believe right now we are at a point in time where a lot of people are losing hope and belief in themselves and the Caribbean agricultural sector.”
He is looking forward to beginning a degree in film studies in California next year.
The film’s producer, co-director and co-writer, Kareem Larcher, said, “We have always been film advocates and we love agriculture. We have been using our graphic talents and marketing skills to help farmers but more from an advertising role. We figured, when we saw the competition, why not fuse our two passions and give it a try.”
The film was an obvious winner from the start, said CTA’s Judith Francis, the coordinator of the film competition. “It had everything…It weaved the value of the coconut right through: the cross-breeding for higher quality, the fact that the coconut was used to disinfect wounds, all the value of the coconut, and it was told in such an interesting, captivating way, dealing with the science, with the added value.”
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