‘Au temps des îles à sucre’, a documentary created by Martiniquan producer and director, Patrick Baucelin, has been nominated for an award at the New York Film Festival.
The documentary focuses on the reenactment of historical events, surrounding sugar mills on various Caribbean islands, including Dominica, Antigua, and Guadeloupe.
“I think it is important to know the history of the Caribbean, for young people of the Caribbean and in the world, because all my documentaries are nominated in different festivals― international film festivals. This documentary is nominated in New York film festival in Apple, and in Houston next month, too. And, for the first time in June, now I have a nomination in Hollywood, in Los Angeles,” he said, at a press conference on Tuesday.
His film is one of twenty-six 26 nominated globally for the award.
Baucelin stated that “It is very rare to find a Caribbean film nominated as a finalist for those film events, so it is really an honour for his film to have been nominated for the film festival in Los Angeles…I am very glad. I am Martiniquan, but I am Caribbean, and, for me, it is important to represent the different islands.”
He explained that due to his small budget, he used cruise ships to travel the Caribbean, in order to obtain footage for the film.
The documentary is 40 minutes long and is in four languages: French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
This is excellent and allows for the development of heritage tourism and technology education in our schools. Congrats to Patrick. We need to rehab one or two derelict mills as heritage sites as with Cabrits.
I look forward to viewing Patrick Baucelin’s documentary. The region’s industrial archeology deserves greater attention.
Dr. Earle Kirby’s study “The Sugar Mills of St. Vincent” was published in 1973 and sets the bench mark for historians from other islands.