How a crowd-funded
independent film is regenerating
Caribbean boatbuilding
WORDS ROB PEAKETHE
JOURNEY
OF A FILM
A
lexis Andrews will never forget sitting with
a crowd of people on the island of
Carriacou in the Grenadines in May 2015,
about to show them all the film he’d made
about them. Andrews had spent three years
documenting the tradition of boatbuilding on the beach
at Windward, a village on Carriacou’s northeast shore.
That morning, news of the evening’s screening had been
announced at the local church and from there it had
spread rapidly across the island.
“It was a very nervous director and producer standing
in the sidelines,” he recalls. “Until that moment nobody
on the island had seen the film.”
But Andrews and producer Justin Sihera had nothing
to worry about. The locals laughed, they cheered the
appearance of their favourite characters on the big
screen and most importantly the film’s protagonist,
boatbuilder Alwyn Enoe, sealed the general Carriacou
thumbs-up by giving Andrews a big hug.
Vanishing Sail, shot on Andrews’ DSLR digital
camera and with minimal budget, has since been seen by
thousands of people around the world. It has won
numerous awards at film festivals and last autumn wonthe prestigious Donald Gosling Award at the Maritime
Media Awards in London. At countless showings,
particularly in waterside communities, it has received a
standing ovation and it’s not uncommon to see audience
members leave with tears in their eyes.
Talking to Andrews today, he’s moved by the film’s
reception and pleased that the story he was entrusted
with is resonating with so many others. But getting to
this point has been a tale of determination and sacrifice.
After a successful career as a photographer in the
fashion and superyacht worlds, his family savings paid
for the initial shoot. Then a campaign on the Kickstarter
online platform amazed him by raising £40,000 in a
month and inspired him to go further. When those funds
ran short, private donations came in at the right time
and composers, film editors and others have given time
and effort, each having been inspired by Andrews
himself and the film’s longer term goal.
Wary of signing up for general release via a network
partner, which might have tied them to unfavourable
clauses, Andrews and producer Sihera, whose mother is
from Carriacou and has lived there himself, took the
decision early on to promote the film themselves.