Douglas Markowitz (Miami New Times) writes, “The films at Third Horizon aren’t typical blockbuster fare. Instead, the festival prioritizes innovative and experimental approaches to filmmaking.” See excerpts and list of films below. [The Third Horizon Film Festival takes place from May 9 through 12, at Miami Dade College Koubek Memorial Center, 2705 SW Third Street, Miami; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami Florida. Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.]
After taking a year off, one of Miami’s most insightful and intriguing film festivals is returning next month. Third Horizon Film Festival, dedicated to showcasing experimental film from the Caribbean and its diaspora, has just announced its lineup of films and a change of venue for its seventh edition. Before taking over the Koubek Center in Little Havana through Sunday, May 12, the festival kicks off with an opening night screening at the Pérez Art Museum Miami on Thursday, May 9.
The festival has selected more than 40 films from 20 countries, including documentary and narrative features, as well as short films. Some of the filmmakers are from Miami, and six have had their films selected to open the festival at PAMM. As part of the Third Horizon Forward Program, started in 2022 to support local Caribbean-heritage filmmakers, Greko Sklavounos, Hansel Porras Garcia, Rachelle Salnave, Berenicé Brino, and Al’ikens Plancher all produced short films funded by the festival. [. . .]
Indeed, the films at Third Horizon aren’t typical blockbuster fare. The festival prioritizes innovative and experimental approaches to filmmaking, and its selections often blur the lines between documentary and fiction. Emilia Beatriz’s film Barrunto is a great example of this. Co-presented with the New York documentary festival Prismatic Ground, the film’s experimental narrative jumps between Scotland, Puerto Rico, the ocean floor, and deep space in its examination of “grief and resistance across diasporic distance.”
Documentaries feature strongly in on the lineup, including Ramona, a documentary following an actress in the Dominican Republic interviewing pregnant teens as she prepares to play one; Calls from Moscow, a documentary following Cubans trapped in Moscow on the eve of the Russo-Ukrainian War; and The Enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo, a documentary about a young, queer Trinidadian writer and his mysterious death. There is also Doubles, a narrative film about a Trinidadian street vendor who flies to Canada to confront his supposedly wealthy absentee father.
Film screenings are just one component of Third Horizon, which also offers robust supplementary programming. The plan also includes panel conversations, post-screening Q&As with filmmakers, and late-night parties. The festival will host its Caribbean Film Academy educational program for the third time, and a new initiative called the Third Horizon Caribbean Think Tank will debut this year. [. . .]
Third Horizon Film Festival 2024:
Features
- Barrunto (Puerto Rico/Scotland, dir. Emilia Beatriz)
- Doubles (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada, dir. Ian Harnarine)
- L’homme-vertige: Tales of a City (Guadeloupe, dir. Malaury Eloi Paisley)
- Calls From Moscow (Cuba/Germany/Norway, dir. Luis Alejandro Yero)
- Dancing the Stumble (Martinique, dir. Wally Fall)
- Nowhere Near (Philippines/Mexico/United States, dir. Miko Revereza)
- Ramona (Dominican Republic, dir. Victoria Linares)
- Simon Says/Dadda (United Kingdom, dir. Beverly Bennett)
- The Enigma of Harold Sonny Ladoo (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada, dir. Richard Fung)
Short Films
- Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims (Austria/Germany, dir. Arjuna Neuman, Denise Ferreira da Silva)
- Burnt Milk (Jamaica/United Kingdom, dir. Joseph Douglas Elmhirst)
- Ca(r)milla (Trinidad and Tobago, dir. Kearra Amaya Gopee)
- Wandering Song (Dominican Republic/Spain, dir. Génesis Valenzuela)
- Coconut (Jamaica, dir. Jard Lerebours)
- Dreams Like Paper Boats (Haiti, dir. Samuel Suffren)
- Drax Sycorax (Barbados, dir. Renee Royale)
- Example #35 (Cuba/Uruguay, dir. Lucía Malandro, Daniel D. Saucedo)
- Fatherspy (Venezuela/Argentina, dir. Humberto González Bustillo)
- Fields Fallen From Distant Songs (United States, dir. Maya Jeffereis)
- History is Written At Night (Cuba, dir. Alejandro Alonso)
- How to Love A Place So the Children Will Love Their Land (Puerto Rico, dir. Laura Sofía Pérez)
- Our Islands (Martinique, dir. Aliha Thalien)
- Onyeka Igwe: And Let History Begin (United Kingdom, dir. Onyeka Igwe)
- Picture a Forest (United States, dir. David Rodriguez)
- Proximity Study (Sight Lines) (United States, dir. Elizabeth M. Webb)
- Raiz (Portugal, dir. Raydrick Feliciana)
- Retrospection of a Home (Once Upon a Time…) (Venezuela/United States, dir. Sebastian Marcano-Pérez)
- Solmatalua (Brazil, dir. Rodrigo Ribeiro-Andrade)
- Soon Come Back (Jamaica/United States, dir. Nande Walters)
- Childhood (United States, dir. Vi Tuong Bui)
- A Gavillero in the Sierra (Dominican Republic, dir. Ricardo Ariel Toribio)
- Under the Sky of Fetishes (Mauritius/France, dir. Caroline Déodat)
Opening Night Program: The Short Films of Third Horizon Forward
- Boat People (United States, dir. Al’ikens Plancher)
- I Love You So Much, But You Are So Difficult (United States, dir. Berenicé Brino)
- Art: By Any Means Necessary (Haiti, Guadeloupe, dir. Rachelle Salnave)
- Summon (Jamaica/United States, dir. Nile Saulter)
- Sol y Mar (United States, dir. Greko Sklavounos)
- Ana y La Distancia (United States, dir. Hansel Porras García)
For full article, see https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/miami-third-horizon-film-festival-lineup-19524604
Also see thirdhorizonfilmfestival.com
[Shown above: Ramona director Victoria Linares will screen at Third Horizon Film Festival 2024. Photo by Jaime Guerra.]
Douglas Markowitz (Miami New Times) writes, “The films at Third Horizon aren’t typical blockbuster fare. Instead, the festival prioritizes innovative and experimental approaches to filmmaking.” See excerpts and list of films below. [The Third Horizon Film Festival takes place from May 9 through 12, at Miami Dade College Koubek Memorial Center, 2705 SW Third Street,
