Carnival's Golden Moments Hit the Silver Screen
27 June 2012
The carnival adds such life, vibrancy and colour to Derby's streets every summer.
”Peter Walker, University Community Relations Officer.
A documentary film celebrating more than 30 years of the Derby Caribbean Carnival will have its official premiere screening in the city next month (July).
The annual two-day carnival's music, costumes and dancing attracts thousands of visitors every year who come to watch its procession wind through Derby's streets and to visit the main festival held in Derby's Osmaston Park.
An hour long documentary film about the event and its history, including archive footage of past carnivals stretching back to the very first one in 1975, has been made by University of Derby graduates and film-makers Daniel Romero and Sean Ford. It has been financed by the University.
The film - simply called The Carnival - will have its official world premiere at Derby's QUAD Centre cinema in the city centre on Thursday July 12.
A trailer for it can be seen now below:
It can also be seen on the Carnival's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thecarnival2012
It is expected that among the audience watching the film's debut will be many of those interviewed during the making of it; including George Mighty; co-founder and Chair of Derby's West Indian Community Association, and a stalwart supporter of the carnival.
Not only is the history of the community event covered in the film but also the annual struggle for funds to keep it running, and the efforts to engage a younger generation in organising it as its founders, who include the 'Windrush generation' (who came to England from the West Indies in the 1940s and 1950s), age.
The film is being released just before the 2012 carnival, taking place the weekend of July 21-22, and in the 50th year of Jamaica and Trinidad's independence.
George Mighty, who is also a University Honorand, said: "The carnival is an excellent vehicle for the transmission of West Indian culture, developing cultural competences which unlock the 'cultural capital' of our young people."
The University of Derby has organised and funded the film project, working closely with the carnival organisers and West Indian community throughout.
Peter Walker, University Community Relations Officer, added: "The carnival adds such life, vibrancy and colour to Derby's streets every summer. It is an eagerly awaited part of the city's calendar, surviving largely on community voluntary effort, and one that the University felt would make a great subject for a documentary."
The film will be shown at QUAD's cinema in Derby Market Place at 7.30pm on Thursday July 12, with a reception for invited guests involved in its making held just beforehand.
Tickets are free and available from QUAD's box office on 01332 290606. Profits from a soon to be released limited run of DVD copies of the film will go to the community.
Highlights from The Carnival were seen by a select panel of industry professionals at the 2012 Sheffield Doc/Fest, held June 13-17; an annual film festival celebrating documentary film making from all over the world.
Media requiring more information can contact Press & PR Officer Sean Kirby on 01332 591891 or 07876 476103, or email s.kirby@derby.ac.uk
