The Windrush International Caribbean Film Festival (WICFF) returns this month to celebrate the history, legacy, and ongoing journeys of Caribbean migration and the wider black diaspora through cinema. The event connects audiences in the UK, US, Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa. This year’s festival delivers a standout film series spanning diaspora memory and cultural power—from Caribbean Women Writers in Canada to the urgent environmental struggle of Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica’s Coastline, and the revelatory historical excavation of We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe.
One festival highlight is the feature documentary Iconography: Jit Samaroo, directed by Mikhail Gibbings, screening on Saturday 10 October at 14:00 at Kensington Central Library, London. The film traces the life and musical journey of legendary Trinidad and Tobago steelpan arranger and composer Dr Jit Samaroo, from his early years in Lopinot to his defining work with the Renegades Steel Orchestra, where his Panorama arrangements helped lead the band to nine National Panorama wins between 1982 and 1997. Drawing on family memories, collaborators, and archival material, the documentary explores the discipline, imagination, and cultural inheritance behind his music, and marks the third instalment in Pomegranate Studios’ Iconography series.
Later that day at 17:00, the programme Pioneers & Heroes: Across the Diaspora explores what makes a hero through participation in political, social, and cultural change. Screenings include Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross (dir. Frances-Anne Solomon), a powerful portrait of one of the most decorated West Indians of the Second World War and a wider reflection on Caribbean identity and global history, alongside the short documentary My Dad, Guyana and Me (dir. Noella Letitia Mingo), an intimate search for heritage, belonging, and family memory. A remote talkback with director Frances-Anne Solomon follows the screenings via live video link.
For full details and programming, please visit the WICFF website.
About Author
