Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture, hosted by me, alexandria Miller. Strictly Facts teaches the history, politics and activism of the Caribbean and connects these themes to contemporary music and popular culture. Hello, hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture. We talk about history and stories so much on this show, but what about the process of documenting our stories? There are many ways to do that, of course, passing them down through our families, verbally writing them down, but what about the films that really make our moments right and bring Caribbean stories to life?

Speaker 1: 0:50

In the last year alone, I can think of several incredible powerhouse films and shows that document Caribbean experiences at home and in the diaspora. Special shout out to my podcast aunties, carrie Ann Reed Brown and Michaela Malcolm, doing all of the unpacking of some of these shows over on their podcast Reels and Rhythms. But nonetheless, what is the process like for creating films on Caribbean stories and how do we ensure that? You know, we're bringing some of the things like our folklore and these things to life in the modern day our folklore and these things to life in the modern day. Here with us to unpack these questions today is Alicia Cunningham, a multifaceted, award-winning author, filmmaker, of course, tactile artist and photographer, and the founder and executive director of Her House Media, through which she creates narratives of resilience and triumph over adversity. Alicia, thank you so much for joining us today. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit more about yourself, your connection to the Caribbean and what motivated your interest in Caribbean storytelling, particularly through filmmaking?

Speaker 2: 1:55

Yes, well, thank you for having me, alexandria. It's nice to be here Again. My name is Alicia Cunningham and I am an independent filmmaker as well as an independent author and impact artist. What does that mean? It means that I create works of art that has an impact within the community. You walk away with something that you've learned or something that you want to make a change on into your life, and background is I'm a first generation American. I still say that I'm Trini. Despite that, my parents are from Trinidad, from down south, so anybody who knows is San Fernando and Princess Town, where it's still pretty country and I appreciate it, and a lot of the folklore stories that were shared to me from my parents, I think also stemmed from those areas as well, down south, and so my focus in the work that I create is documentary and narrative horror. It doesn't mean that I'm not interested in other subjects or genres, but those are my two favorite subjects. So the mean that I'm not interested in other subjects or genres, but those are my two favorite subjects.

Speaker 1: 2:48

The stories that I was told as a kid inspired the work that I create now as an artist. You bring me, of course, to our first question in that just you know mentioning the impact of your parents telling you stories of Caribbean folklore and its impact on you. And so, for you, as a filmmaker, what is the sort of power of Caribbean storytelling? How would you define that and how have you seen it evolve through your own work and, of course, through other works of film that have come out out of the region or, of course, the diaspora as well?

Speaker 2: 3:18

So storytelling is everything, whether it is the genre or it's a play or an exhibition. Whether it is the genre or it's a play or an exhibition, there's a story in everything and it inspired me because I mean the stories of my elders, my parents specifically, but then also my grandparents, great grandparents. I had auntie. That inspired. The film that I did with me really stuck with me and I also I was one of those children that really enjoyed sitting down with my elders and just having conversations. I enjoy talking to people. Now I'm not surprised that I am actually in the field of filmmaking because I enjoy having conversations and I feel personally that storytelling isn't everything and the power in that is based on what you do with it really.

Speaker 1: 4:06

you brought up your own work I'm talking about Duane 2 but before we, you know, really dive into that short film that you have more specifically, I know, you know, and you also mentioned, that horror is a major genre for you in terms of some of that work. And you know, when I think of Caribbean stories that were told to me by my grandparents, by my parents, et cetera, they definitely have that spooky, haunting, you know, horrid element. There are places in Clarendon that my mom talks about, you know, walking.

Speaker 1: 4:40

you know she needs to go from one auntie's house to a next auntie's house and has to pass a graveyard and because, somebody told her a story about such man in the graveyard she used to run past to try to get to where she needs to go, right, and so all that to say, those sort of haunting stories are such an integral part of who we are. But I can't think of you know as many films that are sort of replicative of that you know, hauntingness or the Duffy stories or whatever, right, and so in your own estimation, either, maybe why aren't there as many Caribbean horror films, or why has it really been important for you to bring that sort of element of folklore, specifically from the, the element of our scary stories, to life?

Speaker 2: 5:28

Yeah, so well. First is why there aren't as many horror films. Relative to Caribbean stories, I think one of the biggest things is exposure. So on the other side, I'm also a panel judge, right, so I sit on panels or with organizations where I can read different grants and although I can't share what I've read or the people who've submitted to organizations, I've noticed that actually not one grant that I've seen so far from the panels I've sat on have been from Caribbean-based filmmakers. So then the question for me I know the playing field is not level when it comes to funding is always, always the biggest hurdle, I would say as a filmmaker, as an artist in general, when you want to create a project. But it's also what are we being exposed to like? Why aren't there any Caribbean film makers that are securing or looking for funding?

Speaker 2: 6:19

Um, and then that then comes down to the same thing as why there aren't films, caribbean horror films that have been released, because I've known locally the independent, you know, filmmakers who have done some films, but nothing to the scale of like a feature film there is. Just there's an unawareness of opportunities there, so that if funding it's hard and I'm not going to, you know, sit and try to sugarcoat. It is very hard to raise funds, but I just think that there has not been the exposure. So, within our community, unfortunately, to say, hey, you know what, I know the situation, I know where this funding is or I can help you to create this, and I'm not saying that to in any way to knock us down, but we definitely need to be able to, like, support one another. Um, to get to a higher level of doing things is definitely needed.

Speaker 2: 7:14

So, um, it's important to me to to bring the Caribbean folklore into filmmaking, because it is my culture, you know, number one, I grew up with these stories and then I want to honor my ancestors and to be able to showcase the stories that were told, that are honestly fading at the moment, because we're in a situation now where you don't have as many of the younger generation that are spending time with the elders as they did when I was growing up, and it's an unfortunate truth.

Speaker 2: 7:43

It's a beautiful thing when I'm now sharing this. So, for example, dwayne, I had a recent premiere, a screening, and to hear the older people in the audience say, oh my gosh, this brought memories back to me. You know, like I learned something that I didn't learn before. And then the younger generation say I've never even known about this. So for me it's a bridge, you know. It's a bridge, you know, with the gap between the young and the old, and that bridge, which is the film or the work that I create as a filmmaker, is the bridge with this, specifically with this horror that I just recently did with Dwayne and then leading into a feature film. But it is the bridge with the young and the old to be able to have conversations and to share these stories again, you know, to just open up the conversation, for the stories to be told.

Speaker 1: 8:26

So you mentioned Duen too. Of course, your recent piece there was also a precursor, so there's a first Duen or Duen one and then Duen two, right. And so for our listeners who are not familiar, Duen is one of the figures in Trinidadian folklore and, I think, one of the ones that's interesting to me because of the focus on children. When we think of various parts of folklore culture, right, they're usually more general, like not specifically targeting any, like particular person or gender or whatever, but duens definitely are connected to sort of pranking children specifically.

Speaker 1: 9:07

There's this whole sort of description of the Duen, as you know, being faceless, their feet are kind of turned backwards in a sense, right, and they're always sort of trying to lure children back out into the forest with them, and so that's a little bit about the Duen for anybody who's, you know, unfamiliar and sort of interested. You know, I really want to ask you why did you choose the Duen of all of the characters and you know all of the varieties of our folklore? What was it about the Duen for you that you thought? You know, you really wanted to base your feelings specifically on that character and why do you think it's sort of distinct in terms of our folklore. Apart from you know some of the other characters.

Speaker 2: 9:53

So I always tell people that Dwayne was one of those stories as a kid that scared me really good. It was, and I think also relative to me being a child, like I've heard about Sukunya and Laja Bless and all the other characters, but it was that I think, relative to me being young and thinking about children being young and that they have no face and only a mouth. To call children into the forest was really scary, you know. And then also the connection to saying that you know these children. So the with the duane they said that they they have mischievous childlike spirits who died before they were baptized and they were known to prank children specifically but also raid gardens and terrorize the neighborhood. But the fact that they would scare kids there was nights when I know I could not sleep when I first would hear it or my parents would share the story. When I went to Trinidad and my cousins are sharing the story in Saparia, which is really country it scared me really good because it was relative to my age.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Why don't you tell us a little bit? You know, I know you don't might not want to give away the full storylines, right? Um, but you know, for our listeners turning in who definitely might be interested, um, and are looking forward to, you know, the short film and, you know, hopefully feature film later. Um, do you want to share a bit about the duen and duen two storylines? Um, and in addition to that sort of, what stylistic choices do you feel like you've made in order to give it that Caribbean horror feel?

Speaker 2: 11:15

Yes, yes, so Dwayne one actually was still based on. Of course I put my own twist to it, but it was based on the two young ladies, and people can see it on YouTube. I have it posted on there. Sisters who happen to survive. They're in a world right now where they are doing outside, you know. So they were very careful to not speak too loud because, again, the same with Duane goes is that you don't respond if they call your name. That was one of the things as a kid also was like if you hear anybody call your name in the woods. I think also maybe relative to maybe the folklore was created based on children being safe too, you know. So don't respond if somebody calls your name. And so the Duane One was based on that. It was a grandmother telling her grandchildren the story, but the person who plays the grandmother in that story it really encouraged me to expand on it, to make it into a feature film. So that's Diane Marshall. She plays the Auntie Sybil in the Duane Two, and Duane Two is it's a proof of concept.

Speaker 2: 12:14

So it's a short based on the story world of the feature film. So we start off in the kitchen where she is making sweet bread with her niece, her great niece, and then things kind of take a turn for the worse. The folklore really evolves into the physical world and I won't go much more there so that people can see the film once it reaches the local film festival circuit. But that is the inciting incident. The folklore opens up some trauma because it's relative to family trauma, and I'll leave it there. But you find out at the end. So that's where I am right. Now is I'm in fundraising phase, raising money. It'll be my first feature film.

Speaker 1: 12:53

I mean, I'm certainly interested, so I'll definitely be sure to add our link for, you know, duen 1 for our listeners to check out. But, you know, definitely also really looking forward to you know you hopefully producing Duen 2 into a full feature film, right? I think, again, something that's super needed and maybe sort of wanted to push you a little bit more to think about the feature film side of things. In terms of horror, I know I sort of in a way, asked this question earlier Do you feel like there's something about horror for us that has translated? It obviously translates well in terms of you know us, you know, having had grandparents tell these stories, etc. Um, I feel like I can think of a million films on music from the Caribbean, right, and nothing as much significantly on our horror stories and so so I just, I don't know, I find that discrepancy really interesting and don't know if you have any thoughts specifically to that.

Speaker 2: 13:57

Yeah. So that's kind of similar to what was mentioned earlier and why. You know the sit on the panel. I'm not seeing any stories period from Caribbean filmmakers, but especially the horror genre. There's also a bit of an ignorance, I would say from my own personal experience, when I horror genre. There's also a bit of an ignorance. I would say from my own personal experience.

Speaker 2: 14:13

Um, when I talk about that, I'm into horror and I'm speaking to the Caribbean community and I get two responses um, it's either people like oh, you know that's. Oh, that's cool, I like that you're doing the folklore. Um, oh, I know, you know that folk, I remember these stories as a kid, you know that, and people get into the conversation. I love having that conversation, it's that. Or I get the people who are like you do horror. So then it's like um, it's kind of like um, taboo, I would feel. You know, um, some people really love it and they love the memories.

Speaker 2: 14:41

Or some people tend to stay away from it because it feels to them as if it's um, I'm not sure how to word that you know a little bit, a little skeptical when it comes to to that, that side of horror. So I think that might also be um a reason why we may not have as many of cabin people into that horror genre. I know money is an issue that's always an issue but actually getting into it I feel like people might tend to step away from it because of the the fear of maybe bringing something else into the space, um of horror, or maybe people assuming that you're working on horror so you might be into something that you know that might not be so nice. So I think that that is a level of ignorance. To be honest, you and on why you might not see as many horror stories, aside from, of course, funding yeah, I definitely would agree with that.

Speaker 1: 15:28

I think, you know, our horror stories can tend to lead into a place of, you know, talking about, maybe, things like abia and other sort of practices and things that of course, from a hmm or not, want to uplift to again a sort of earlier point that you made.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Right, there is a little bit of that distinction between generations and something that I hope, you know, we sort of preserve, right, we don't want to sort of lose the stories that made us who we are, because, while you know, it's in a sense difficult to figure out and pinpoint the like origins of some of these particular folkloric stories. Right, there, of course, are deeper messages, right, like, I'm sure you know, if we got into the analysis of the duet a little bit more, right, I'm sure there's a piece of it that's also parents wanting to, you know, caution their children to maybe listen a little bit more, don't, you know, don't be out there playing for how much hours? And you know you could get snatched and what may have you. Right, like, all of these things are, of course, important lessons that are ingrained in some of these stories that we just, you know, without the care and the concern of sort of continuing to bring them to life and to shed light on them. We sort of you know, get away from the origins of our culture and who we are.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Right, yeah, I agree, and I think history, too, is important in that, because there are lessons. If you want to think about Sequoia, the lady with the red dress who is, you know, looks sexy and she knows how to entice men, and then she ends up turning into a bloodsucker, right? So then, what is the lesson? There is, like, everything that looks sweet may not always be sweet. You know, you're a married man. Maybe you should make sure that you pay attention to your wife. Then go in and see a woman who's enticing you to do something you know. So I just think that's very interesting. It's an interesting story and the lesson in it, yeah, To your point, your earlier point.

Speaker 1: 17:26

You made a point about, you know, you putting your twist on it. There is like there's still a way to bring these things into today's context. It's not like, oh, this Duane story from, you know, the 1800s has no relevance. There's, there's still ways of us. You know, and I've watched Duane one, of course, and then the trailer for Duane two in the trailer for duane 2, and like it didn't feel like this was some old, you know, I guess some people I'm not necessarily that person, but I know some people might not necessarily be interested in, you know, watching something that feels old or whatever.

Speaker 1: 18:00

But it didn't feel that that way at all right, um, and so there's certainly relevance to these things and something that you know very much, to your point of you know wanting to create these films, I think is definitely relevant for us today yes, yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:15

And then, on another note too, with that, I do remember having a conversation recently with an organization that I wouldn't mention that was going to share my film screening the premiere, and they wanted to see it first, and this is one of the big training organizations in the area, and the concern for them was that I want to make sure that our story is authentic and I'm like, well, you know what, you have to be able to think outside the box. That was a conversation I had with them. So that's also, when it comes down to being judgmental, right. So now some people may say, oh, I'm not going to do the story because people might judge it and say, um, this is not an authentic story told. We have the freedom to do as we please with our creativity. So, as you mentioned, you know that you can have your own twist to it and that's important, having your own twist as an artist, but intertwining or weaving the story within the story you know into your story world.

Speaker 1: 19:01

So I just think that we have to be able to think outside the box and be less judgmental as well and be less judgmental as well, and definitely want to congratulate you for the recent screening of Dwayne 2 at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center and so definitely wishing for more premieres and the feature films so that we can all definitely check out the long range version of the film.

Speaker 1: 19:26

Our listeners know by now we're four years in what my favorite question is of all of our Strict. By now you know we're four years in what my favorite question is of all of our you know, strictly facts um discussions here and so what are sort of some, uh, your favorite ways?

Speaker 2: 19:38

caribbean folklore, especially when it comes to horror, shows up in popular culture huh, um, that's a good question, but honestly I don't see as far as horror folklore contributing to um the popular culture, but I know I've seen like bits and pieces of it. So, for example, american guides had the um anancy story. Um, I actually really love that one. I cannot remember the gentleman who, um, who uh, did the speech, but um, there was also a film that was based on Elijah Bliss and Lisa Bonet played that part, so that was another one. Well, I love that. You know they had that Nancy in Tribe. Tribe was a masked man in Trinidad. I loved love like love their costumes. I just I ended up signing up too late and I cannot play mask with them. I did last year oh, did you?

Speaker 2: 20:31

oh nice, okay, I'll be playing with them next year, though, but um yeah. So I loved how they created. You know, recreated this, this costume theme with Anansi. I think things like that, you know, um is beautiful, but there's definitely room for more of it, because there's so much um beauty in the culture itself, you know certainly so.

Speaker 1: 20:51

Duen one and duen two are certainly just the beginning, right, I think, not only for your own projects, especially wanting to expand out for um further audiences in terms of feature films and things to that nature. Um, but what other caribbean folklore characters, um and themes would you love to see on the big screen?

Speaker 2: 21:11

Other, folklores I would love to see. I would say Elijah Bless, I wish. Actually I started doing the feature a couple years ago and I have not finished it, but eventually I will get back to it. I would like to see something on Sukunya, would love to see something on Papa Boys. Um, would love to see something on um, papa Boys and, honestly, all the folklore characters. I would like to see that. I would like to also see a documentary that is. I'm probably, you know, giving this away too, but I, I, I don't have time to work on this, but I would like to see the relativeness of these folklores. So, for example, um a leprechaun has similar, there's a similar theme to the duen, and then there's also I have a friend from she's from Jamaica, but she told me that I don't remember what she mentioned but there's something similar in Jamaica with the same like little children I don't know if you know the name of them like childlike spirits.

Speaker 1: 22:18

I would love to be able to see a documentary on how all of these cultures, although they might be called different names, but they're all relative in the same, as you said, right, put your twist on it. There's a way that it you know it doesn't have to feel like you're telling some story from the 17th century if that's not what you want to do yeah so.

Speaker 2: 22:40

Yeah, and my hope too is that, with the work that I do create, with what I just did with Dwayne, and then the feature film that I will produce I know it's a, it's a journey, but I will produce it that it also encourages other Caribbean filmmakers to to do the same, you know that put a twist on their own on the folklore and put it out there definitely.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Yeah, alicia, I am so grateful to have had you on the show to not only, you know, talk to me a little bit about horror and folklore, but also, of course, uplifting, dlifting Duen and Duen 2, you know that you've most recently released. I'm really excited for the journey. I know it'll be a little while because it's still in sort of premiere season in terms of Duen 2 being shown, you know, publicly and stuff, but I will definitely again be sure to link Duen 1 on our Strictly Facts syllabus for our listeners, who you know want to tune in and watch it and really get excited and find out other ways to support you in definitely making this feature film for Duane 2. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you for having me, yes, and for our listeners. As always, I hope you enjoyed. Until next time, look for more. Thanks for tuning in to Strictly Facts. Visit strictlyfactspodcastcom for more information from each episode. Follow us at Strictly Facts Pod on Instagram and Facebook and at Strictly Facts PD on Twitter.