Dawn Cumberbatch

Dawn's work in film/video production includes co-writing and directing documentaries on Food Safety and Indoor Air Quality for the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI); co-writing and directing a half-hour documentary for the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) 40th Anniversary partnership in Trinidad and Tobago; writing and directing a series of PSAs for the Employer’s Consultative Association and the National AIDS Coordinating Committee on HIV/AIDS in the workplace; directing a ten-minute feature on the upgrade of services for socially displaced persons for the GISL/Ministry of Social Development; Line Producer on 7 Million Productions’ feature film, The Ghost of Hing King Estate; Production Manager on numerous commercials shot locally, as well as in the Bahamas, Barbados and St. Lucia; Production Assistant and Junior Researcher on London-based Zenith Entertainment's Our House/Our Home series for UKTV Style; Associate Producer for Marathon Films (Paris) for a series of children’s documentaries shot on location in Trinidad; and Production Assistant for Dum Dum Films (Paris) and Rituals Music on several music videos.

Prior to her move to the television and film production, Dawn worked in varying capacities from Stage and Business Manager to Producer with Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop. Dawn has also worked as the Interim Media Relations Director and as the Assistant to the Communications Director at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. as part of the company's prestigious Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship. In the Fellowship programme’s 20-year history, Dawn had the unique honour of being one of only two people invited to participate for a second season at Arena Stage.

In 2001, Dawn was awarded a full scholarship to Boston University where she pursued a degree in film and television with an emphasis on screenwriting and production. Dawn was named Boston University’s Outstanding Student Screenwriter in 2004. Her short film script, Fresh Kills won first prize in the Gary Fleder/Scott Rosenberg Short Screenplay Competition at Boston University and was a finalist in both the Colour of Film Collaborative and the Roy W. Dean New York Film Grant Competitions of 2005.

After graduating from Boston University, Dawn worked briefly for WABC Boston Channel 5 as a Public Affairs Associate. She returned to Trinidad in 2006 where she garnered the support of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company’s Script Development Fund to develop her feature- length screenplay, Lex Talionis.

In February 2008, Dawn and her business partner Natacha Jones launched Doux Doux Doux Darling Productions Ltd., an all-media production and events management company, which also specialises in publicity and online marketing campaigns for businesses. Doux Doux Darling Productions Ltd. was hired for the marketing and online promotion of the 2008 and 2009 editions of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, which enjoyed double the attendance numbers it had received in 2007.

Dawn’s professional memberships include the National Trust of Trinidad & Tobago and the Independent Media Producers Association of Trinidad & Tobago (IMPATT), of which she is a founding member. Full Biography