Q31 Film Festival in Wyandanch salutes Caribbean, Latinx artists

The big screen is coming to Wyandanch on Saturday in what organizers hope will become an annual film festival celebrating Caribbean and Latinx filmmakers.

The Q31 Film Festival will spotlight six filmmakers who will have their short films screened. The six-hour free festival also will feature a photography exhibit entitled “Diaspora Crossroads: Stories from Caribbean and Latinx Roots,” photo sessions, musical performances, a bottle painting workshop and a panel discussion with the filmmakers.

Festival founder Harper Bella said she conceived the festival out of a desire to create a platform for Caribbean and Latinx storytelling.

“Caribbean and people from Latin America tend to be solely affiliated with the service industry, like food and cleaning,” she said. “But their experiences and stories have so much depth and they’re very layered, so I wanted to create something, especially on Long Island, that would create a space where people can share those experiences and learn about each other.”

Bella, whose parents emigrated from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, said she chose Wyandanch for the festival because of the community’s own diversity, consisting of large Haitian and Latino populations. They are communities that are often divided by language, she said, so creating this outlet “is kind of breaking that barrier.”

To assist on that front, Bella sought to include films in different languages. The six films being screened include Spanish, French, Haitian Creole and Portuguese.

“I love that with these films that we’ve selected, you can travel and there’s certain parts where even if you aren’t from that country, there is something relatable that will resonate with you,” she said.

A financial boost

In March, Bella received a $5,000 grant from the Suffolk County Office of Cultural Affairs to produce the film festival. Bella needed a fiscal sponsor for the grant, and the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington offered their support.

The Centre’s co-director Dylan Skolnick said the festival aligns with the Centre’s aim to create events that bring people together.

“It’s an opportunity for people to see these films, which they probably otherwise might not have the chance to see, and an opportunity for filmmakers to get their films out to an engaged audience,” he said.

Bella was able to secure other sponsors, including PSEG Long Island, the Town of Babylon and State Sen. Monica Martinez, to cover the $20,000 cost of the festival.

Bella said an open call for submissions from across the country led to more than 200 film offerings.

The festival’s name was inspired by the Q31 bus, which runs through Queens. Bella said the name is “a reminder that we can travel both literally and metaphorically, crossing paths with individuals from around the world.”

Exploring grief, cultural differences

Festival entry “The Silence After” is Genesis Taina Luciano’s first short film and explores a young woman’s grief as she starts to unpack her recently deceased mother’s belongings.

The Puerto Rican filmmaker from Manhattan said she could relate to being a young person who is the first in her family to grow up in the United States “having tons of stuff in the house.” She wanted to explore “being left with all of that on top of all the stuff young people are already dealing with” while navigating the grieving process.

“I’m just really excited to be around other Caribbean and Latin American filmmakers and connect with them and watch other amazing short films and to just be in that space,” the 23-year-old said of the festival. “It’s something I feel really honored to be a part of.”

Hans Augustave, 41, a Brooklyn filmmaker, submitted his 20-minute film “NWA (Black),” which tells the story of a first-generation Haitian American boy going to get a haircut who must choose between a style preferred by his dad in alignment with their Haitian culture and a style that would better fit in with his Black American peers.

Augustave, a Haitian American who came to the United States from France when he was 4, said his film in part seeks to show there’s “not a monolith within the ‘Black experience’” in America.

“When we express those differences and peculiarities, the Black experience as a whole is more dynamic, more four-dimensional, more beautiful,” he said.

Augustave, who has been making films for five years, said having a combination Caribbean and Latinx film festival is unique in the industry.

“Growing up as a Haitian American, you often feel like this film world isn’t for me, I don’t see my people there,” he said. “You feel like the Caribbean/Latin film, there’s no space for it specifically. So it’s a breath of fresh air to see this happening.”