Antigua and Barbuda fully intends to become the Mecca of shooting of big movies in the Caribbean. In September, 2015, was presented in Toronto (Canada) a very ambitious project which, according to its government, should have a positive impact on the economy (in particular, tourism), society and culture of these two islands.
Golden Islands Filmworks, an independent company recently created and managed by the producer Rudy Langlais with his partners Valmiki Kempadoo (business manager), Don Allan (producer based in Toronto) and Neil Secker (experimented manager in the movie business), signed an agreement with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for the filming of five features films on its territory.
This agreement without precedent concerns first 125 million US dollars but this budget will be increased thanks to funds which will be collected by Antigua Citizenship Investment Program. The budget of each movie is fixed between 20 millions and 85 million US dollars.
With Rudy Langlais, it is all Hollywood’s film know-how that arrives in our region. Indeed, the latter who is native of Saint-Kitts left very young his native island with his parents for the United States and became a famous movies producer with “The Hurricane”, “Sugar Hill” (with Wesley Snipes), “Who Killed Atlanta’s Children?”, “Redemption” (with Jamie Foxx)…
To Tell our stories to the world
This project eventually became a reality after more than a decade of reflections and negotiations between the various protagonists. Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, already wishes a warm welcome to all these professionals of the 7th art (actors, directors, scriptwriters, technicians etc.). Some scenes of the first five movies will be shot in Antigua and Barbuda, these islands will promote their magnificent landscapes. So, tens of millions of dollars will go back into the local economy. One of the movies will be dedicated to the youth of the Jamaican Bob Marley, the king of reggae.
For his part, the producer Rudy Langlais said he saw this project as an opportunity to tell “our stories” by adding the Caribbean’s “voice” to film making : this region “which produced a brilliant statesman as Alexander Hamilton, writers and poets Nobel Prize laureates as Walcott and Naipaul, legendary athletes as Sobers, Richard and Bold and maybe the biggest cultural icon in the world, Bob Marley “.
