Cinemania: what role do festivals play in getting French-speaking Caribbean films seen?

A finished Caribbean film is only halfway there: it still has to find its audience. This Thursday, November 12, at Montréal’s Cinemania festival, where Martinique is in the spotlight this year, a round table asks a simple but decisive question: what role do festivals play in getting films from the French-speaking Caribbean seen?

The event

• When: Thursday, November 12, 2026, 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. (Montréal time)
• Where: Cinémathèque québécoise, Salle Fernand-Séguin, 335 boulevard de Maisonneuve Est, Montréal
• Admission: free, registration required
• Presented by: Martinique Développement

Around the table

• Priscilla Delannay, co-founder and artistic director of the Nouveaux Regards festival in Guadeloupe
• Steve Zébina, programmer and artistic director of the CinéMartinique Festival
• Jean-Yves Roux, founder and CEO of NATYF TV, a French-language Québec channel dedicated to multicultural programming
• Ayana O’shun, actress and filmmaker

The discussion is moderated by Miss Dothy, founder and managing director of Cinéma Nomade.

What it is about

How are our films distributed, and how do they gain visibility, in the region and internationally? Island festivals are often the first screen, sometimes the only one, where a short film or a documentary meets an audience. They are also where programmers, broadcasters and crews meet.

The round table aims to open a regional dialogue: which bridges should be built, or strengthened, between the region’s film traditions? The panel brings together each link in the chain: two festivals, one in Guadeloupe and one in Martinique, a television channel based in Québec, and an artist who makes the films.

Why it matters to us

When a film travels, its crew travels with it. Every selection and every broadcast is a chance for the technicians and actors who made it to be noticed. But people still have to be able to find them.

That is what CFCDb is for: making Caribbean talent visible, here and elsewhere. If you worked on a film selected at a festival, add it to your profile. If you run a festival or a distribution organization, create its page in organizations.

Will you be there?

Are you in Montréal this Thursday? Let us know on Discord: we would love to share your photos and what you take away from the discussion.

Read also:

• Martinique in the spotlight at Cinemania
• the day before, the round tables on our shoots in Martinique and on producing in Martinique
• CinéMartinique Festival 2026 wrap-up

Image: CINEMANIA Festival.