CCH Pounder & ‘Selma’ Producer Paul Garnes To Attend First Cross Continental International Co-production Forum In Barbados

Avatar actress CCH Pounder and Academy Award-nominated producer Paul Garnes will attend the inaugural Cross Continental International Co-production Forum (CCF) in Barbados.

They’ll join media executives and high level producers from Canada, the UK, South Africa and several Caribbean countries at the event, which aims to encourage collaboration, business development, and co-productions.

Pounder and Garnes will add some heavyweight fire power to proceedings. Known for roles in the likes of ER, NCIS: New Orleans, The X Files and The Shield, she has picked up four Primetime Emmy nominations.

Garnes is best known for his work on 2014 feature Selma, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. He was a producer on Ava DuVernay’s 2023 feature Origin, a drama on the life of Isabel Wilkerson that will be screened at the CCF.

The CeventCF is being billed as a first-of-its-kind venture established by CaribbeanTales Media Group, Imagine Media International, and The Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the University of The West Indies. It’s supported by companies including the British Film Institute (BFI), the Canada Media Fund (CMF), and the Trinidad and Tobago Film Co.

“The Cross Continental Forum is a great opportunity for UK-based filmmakers to develop connections with filmmaking talent across the Caribbean region with rich cultural ties to the UK and Canada,” said Agnieszka Moody, Head of International Relations at the BFI. “Through this initiative, we look forward to enabling compelling, diverse stories told collaboratively from a new contemporary perspective finding their way to screens around the world.”

This year, the Forum’s guiding focus will be ‘Decolonizing the co-production process for the benefit of the Global South.’ 

Six delegates will represent the U.K., three of whom are members of the Breakthrough Leaders programme supported by BBC, ITV, Sky, Fremantle and Amazon. 

“As film storytellers of the global south, with roots and connections around the world, we have access to incredible unharnessed stories that will resonate with all our audiences,” said Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO at CaribbeanTales Media Group. “Tall tales of struggle and overcoming adversity, of laughter and freedom, and the healing power of resilience and joy”.

FULL LIST OF ATTENDEES

United Kingdom

Carol Harding – Vicarious Productions

David Davis – 5 Acts Production

Dave Donald – Gallus Media 

Nadine Marsh-Edwards – Green Acre Films

Sharon King – Awesome Productions 

Yvonne Ibazebo – Turnover Films

Canada

Amar Wala – Scarborough Pictures

Asis Sethi – Fly Away Films Inc.

Cazhhmere Downey – Direct Or Die Filmworks

Ella Cooper – Brown Rabbit Studios

Mitra Knight – 1844 Studios 

Tristan Barrocks- Mid-Career Productions

Trinidad & Tobago

Paul Pryce – The Deliverer Ltd

Gina Parris – Gina Parris Entertainment

Jamaica

Robert Maylor – Mental Telepathy Pictures

Natalie Thompson – Cinecom Productions

South Africa

Zikethiwe Ngcobo- Fuzebox Films 

Grenada

Meschida Philip – Mprojekts Creative Group

Dominican Republic

Belle Guzman – Cronos Films

Barbados

Sanna Allsopp – Parachute Film Studios

Alison Saunders – Blue Waters Productions Inc.

St. Vincent

Akley Olton – Island Rebel Media