Walcott’s Film At Caribbean Cinemas

The documentary film, Derek Walcott: Poetry is an Island, makes its cinematic debut here in Saint Lucia as part of the 2014 Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival. The film is being shown at Caribbean Cinemas on May 7th, 8th and 9th from 6:30 pm each night.

“Poetry is an Island” is a feature documentary film about the life and times of Derek Alton Walcott, Saint Lucian poet, playwright and visual artist. Walcott was the first Caribbean writer of colour to win The Nobel Prize for Literature (1992). To this day he remains one of the most prominent English-language poets. In this film we meet the man behind the poetry.

We visit him in the privacy of his home in Saint Lucia where we try to capture some of the poetic mystery that surrounds him. We learn how Walcott’s life has been dedicated to his art. Even as a senior citizen, at the age of 83, he keeps working, lecturing, painting and defending unspoiled Caribbean landscapes.

It started with a dream . . . the crazy and passionate idea of award winning film-maker Ida Does . . . to travel to Saint Lucia to film Walcott. She approached him with her idea in 2008 in Amsterdam after a lecture at the University, and took the short nod by the poet for a yes!

Ida kept on dreaming about the film and finally in 2012 she was able to make that dream a reality! Never before a film crew had been able to work this closely with Walcott for a feature documentary film. Ida and her crew spoke with childhood friends, family members and people he has worked closely with. All were so very willing to share precious memories and experiences in front of the camera. It almost seemed as if they had been waiting to tell the story!

View that journey, that story at Caribbean Cinemas, Choc.