Mathurine Emmanuel is hosting screenings of her films in other Caribbean islands. Photo credit: Antigua Observer.
Award-winning St Lucian film producer, Mathurine Emmanuel, is already creating a storm in the Caribbean, screening three of her movies, as part of her Caribbean Film Export Promotion Tour.
The tour started in Antigua and Barbuda on Thursday, March 6, 2014, and has since received high praises for the underlining message in the movie and the quality. As part of the tour, the movies will also be screened in Dominica, Grenada and St Vincent & the Grenadines.
The films include: Nana’s Paradise, in which a young man triumphs over extreme poverty, a dysfunctional home peer ridicule and death in his family; Troubled Waters, a film about the devastating effects of child abuse and the healing powers of love; and Ribbons of Blue – which portrays the struggles of a single mother who sacrifices to raise an ungrateful daughter who is ashamed of her mother’s humble status. The latter film captured the 2003 St Lucia M&C Award for Best Film, and the 2005 New York Independent Film Festival Award Winner for Best Director.
These movies capture authentic St. Lucian culture, with a focus aimed at imparting positive social and family values to Caribbean Youths. “It speaks specifically to our young men. It relates to their challenges … in fact it exposes the problems that they encounter in their everyday lives. But at the same time, it shows them that there is a better way,” she was quoted telling a local television channel here in St Lucia.
Emmanuel’s movies have been described as a “world in which bad things happen and mistakes come with a heavy price tag; yet the tragic is buttered with laughter, plenty of laughter; and, above all parental love, family ties, and community support can always be counted on to save the day.”
She said no one is facing a bed of roses, but one must be determined to move on from the challenges. She also stressed that people must not allow themselves to be easily influenced.
“You have to be able to speak to yourself, in spite of what is happening. You have to say, I can enhance myself, I can help my siblings or I could be someone significant in society,” she stated.
Her passion for development especially among youths, she said inspired her to produce and direct these films, which can hopefully bring about positive changes in the Caribbean.
Emmanuel’s work has attracted grants from the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO, the Caribbean Export Development Agency, and the Government of St. Lucia.
She hails from Desruisseaux. Emmanuel has been acting, directing and scripting plays since her pre-teen years, but it was only in the early 2000’s after she retired from the public school system with 23 years of primary school teaching service, that she started marketing films.