Alliouagana Festival of the Word to focus on film and Festival 50 this December

Writers and screenwriters will explore the journey From Script to Screen at the fourth edition of the Alliouagana Festival of the Word (AFW) this December on Montserrat. The AFW in collaboration with HAMA Productions of Antigua & Barbuda will be hosting a film festival and workshops at the Montserrat Cultural Centre in Little Bay on December 8 and 9, 2012.

 

The Alliouagana Festival of the Word is joining forces with the Montserrat Festival Committee in celebrating the 50th Cultural Festival here. AFW has moved its activities from the customary mid-November period to capture and entertain Montserratians returning early for the Christmas celebrations and to heighten awareness of the Alliouagana Festival of the Word in the Diaspora. 

 

The Literary and Film Festival will use the theme From Script to Screen to explore screenwriting and its role in creating memorable films. You will not want to miss the free screening of Calypso at Dirty Jim's immediately after the official opening on Saturday 8 December, 2012 at 7 pm.  This is a documentary that explores the development of the Calypso and will have the audience laughing and singing.  

 

The two days of films and discussions are planned to profile productions made mostly in Antigua and Montserrat.  The films include a range of genres such as thriller, documentary, romantic comedy, and Caribbean folklore. While the events on Saturday will likely appeal to teenagers and adults, Sunday has been designed as an event for the whole family and includes free screenings from the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase. In addition, animations in Spanish with English sub-titles will be shown and local films and documentaries will be showcased. 

 

Good Screenwriting: How to Make it Happen is a three-hour workshop scheduled for Saturday, December 8 from 10am.  The workshop will be an interactive session led by experts in the field and intended to simplify the scriptwriting process by making it less intimidating and much more imaginative.  It should be of interest to those who are curious about how film scripts, including those developed from existing print materials, are created and to those who may be interested in trying to write a screenplay themselves.

 

During the this special edition of AFW, the new publication Festival at Fifty 1962 - 2012 by Professor Sir Howard A. Fergus will be available for sale along with other local publications and videos.  Prizes for winners of the annual creative writing competition will also be distributed at the opening ceremony.

 

The Alliouagana Festival of the Word is intended to strengthen a culture of excellence in creative writing and a greater appreciation of the power of the spoken and written word on Montserrat. A 2009 grant under the Tourism Challenge Fund made the launch of this literary festival possible with a goal of stimulating the local economy.  To this end, activities for the festival are planned to attract visitors to the island and to increase visitor expenditure.