Workshops in Guadeloupe

For a number of years now, Varan Caribbean has been supporting the emergence of the Caribbean documentary film in Guadeloupe. The project received a particularly valuable endorsement when Jean Rouch visited Guadeloupe in November 2003. In 2006, the Varan Caribbean Association was created, with Gilda Gonfier, writer and librarian, as its president. Sylvaine Dampierre, a member of Varan, is in charge of the teaching programme. The Association brings together the former trainees from Guadeloupe who continue to develop collective and individual projects and who form a real professional network.

After a first practical seminar in 2010, the workshop training courses began : web docs in 2011, direction and editing in 2012, radio and cinema practices in 2013 and 2014, up until 2015, when qualifying courses were held in partnership with Guadeloupe Training lasting 12 weeks, and in 2016-2017 courses lasting 20 weeks were held.

Varan Caribbean distributes the films made by its trainees on its own platform, in regional and international film festivals and accompanies the trainees in the development of their projects. In 2017, the Association is to develop various activites concerned with education in the visual image for different audiences in Guadeloupe. There will also be a first workshop programme in documentary filmmaking for young people, supervised by three former trainees.