Michael
FrancescaCaribbean Studies Association Film and Performance Track presents:
Dr. Esther Figueroa
Dr. Esther Figueroa is a Independent Jamaican film maker who originally obtained her Ph.D in Linguistics. She started making films in Hawaii on indigenous culture and has continued with many other films that take a provocative and hard hitting look at social issues that confront, in particular Jamaican society. In a session entitled Media, Memory and Environmental Activism in which Esther screened three films, "Massa God Fish Can Done” 15 mins,"Historic Falmouth" (10 mins) and "Font Hill – Jamaica's Gift to the world" (12 mins), Figueroa presents a number of her short environmental films that document the destruction of the Jamaican environment so that there is an archival record which may influence public opinion and policy makers about preservation of a nation. Esther’s award winning film Jamaica for sale takes a serious look at the consequences of tourism for the peoples of Jamaica and in similar vein, examines the value of tourism for the future of Jamaica.
Esther was also a key resource person in a second panel on Thursday 2nd June that looked at documentary film making in the region in which she discussed the difficulties that respondents in some of her films encountered as a result of being outspoken about the tourist or other manufacturing industries. She challenged the region to ensure that the films that were being made today should be preserved and as they were the archives of the future.
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