00:00And we have our beautiful Melissa Noel from the News and Politics Editor at Essence.
00:08We'll be moderating this panel for us.
00:14Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:17I'm just going to hand over to you.
00:18Awesome.
00:19I want to invite our amazing panelists to please join me here on stage.
00:24Please come on up one by one.
00:26We have Trinidad and Tobago in Ethiopia and in the house this morning.
00:30So please clap it up for these cultural connections.
00:39And thank you to our audience.
00:41You're here nice, bright, and early on a Saturday morning.
00:44We appreciate you.
00:48So as we get into this conversation, first I want to ask our amazing panelists to please just introduce yourselves.
00:53Tell us who you are, where you're from, and a little bit about your role in the film space.
00:59Because we're getting into a conversation today about how we are creating these cultural connections,
01:05collaborating across borders.
01:07And also, like, what are the incentives to ensure that we are creating opportunities for the diaspora
01:13to get together and make magic on film?
01:17Perfect.
01:17Thank you so much.
01:18Good morning.
01:19My name is Leslie Ann Wills-Katan.
01:22I'm the Film Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago.
01:25But I'm also a producer and filmmaker.
01:27And I am the founder of the Film and Folklore Festival,
01:31which definitely focuses on our culture, traditions, and beliefs from the Caribbean
01:35and, of course, the African diaspora.
01:38So I'm happy to be here to collaborate and to talk about the incentives.
01:42We have a lot of cashback incentives, but we'll get into that.
01:45Yeah, definitely.
01:46So wonderful to have you here, Commissioner.
01:49Hi, everyone.
01:50My name is Beza, Beza Witt.
01:52I am the Arts Project Manager for British Council, Ethiopia.
01:56We work on creative and cultural connections across East Africa and with the UK and the globe.
02:03It's a pleasure to be here and to see everyone and to connect with these amazing ladies.
02:08Yeah.
02:09Looking forward to speaking.
02:10Welcome, welcome.
02:10Hi, everyone.
02:13Good morning.
02:13My name is Sharice Moise, and I am a film producer.
02:16I am from Trinidad and Tobago as well.
02:18But I specialize in filming in various countries throughout the world, namely in the Caribbean,
02:24Middle East, Europe, and Canada.
02:28And I'm really excited to be here to just endorse what Essence Film Festival is doing,
02:35give you any information you may need on filming in various countries and connecting those cultures,
02:40and taking advantage of trade-outs, incentives, and taxis.
02:44Awesome.
02:45And thank you.
02:46I want to just thank all of our panelists for taking the time to come all the way to New
02:52Orleans, some long flights, some long travels, especially from Ethiopia, to be here with us.
02:57And I think that just really speaks to the importance of, you know, our connections as a
03:03diaspora, the importance of ensuring that we're able to have these conversations.
03:07So I want to start off by talking about collaboration.
03:11And if each of you could tell me just a recent example of, I know there's a lot happening in
03:16the film space in both places, give me a recent example of how you were able to collaborate on a
03:24film project or on a production across borders, and how that brought not only, you know, a sense of
03:30cultural understanding, but also those incentives to showcase the destinations, but also to create
03:38really authentic.
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