Auntie screens in China

Added: 10 May 2016

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Auntie was one of several Barbadian films recently featured at the inaugural Caribbean Film Festival which was held from May 6-8 at the Cervantes Institute in Beijing, China. China’s Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Embassies of Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, screened 12 films to public during the festival which forms part of a a year of cultural exchange between China, the Caribbean and Latin America. This is the largest cultural program ever held by China and Latin America and Caribbean regions since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Despite the vast distance and obvious cultural differences between China and the Caribbean, Chinese emigration to the region started more than 200 years ago. Of particular interest for Auntie and Barrel Stories Project, China is currently grappling with the world’s largest internal human migration of workers from the countryside to industrial towns and cities. Most make the move without their children. Recent estimates put the number of “left behind” children at 60 million. That’s one-fifth of all the children in China! Those parents and children are manifesting the same emotional issues that many of their counterparts in the Caribbean do.

We were honoured to have the opportunity to have Auntie presented to a Chinese audience. Special thanks to Ruth Jordan, First Secretary at the Embassy of Barbados, Beijing for including the film in this important initiative.