Sabrina Thomas’s Shattered Wins JCDC’s 2024 FIWI Short Film Competition

Local filmmaker Sabrina Thomas is the winner of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) 2024 FIWI Short Film Competition.

She walked away with the $350,000 cash prize, a trophy and a gift basket for her five-minute film To smithereens at the awards ceremony on Thursday 24 October on the roof terrace of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, 4-6 Trafalgar Road, New Kingston.

To smithereens is a drama about gender-based violence.

The film interprets the Jamaican proverb ‘Rockstone a riber bottom nuh feel sun hot’ and explores the story of a young lady who endures verbal and sexual abuse from family members in the privacy of her home.

Thomas also won section awards for Best Actress, Best Director, Best Editor, Best Adult Film and Best Drama.

Second place went to George Malcolm Walker for his film The Undercurrent while She sawby Seana-Kay Wright, came third.

“Bless the JCDC for creating this platform so I can literally challenge myself,” Thomas said after receiving the winning trophy from JCDC Executive Director Lenford Salmon.

She expressed her gratitude and thanked the JCDC for creating a platform for young creatives.

In his remarks, Salmon said the film competition has created a vibrant space for young people to engage with Jamaica’s rich cultural traditions through modern technology and storytelling.

He pointed out that the competition is perfectly in line with the commission’s mandate to identify, develop and showcase the best of Jamaica’s cultural talents.

“By offering mentorship from industry professionals, we equip young filmmakers with invaluable skills that go far beyond filmmaking. The confidence, creativity and critical thinking that the process cultivates will benefit them in every aspect of life,” he noted.

He praised the filmmakers for their hard work, passion and creativity.

“By telling stories that are authentically Jamaican, you contribute to our living, evolving cultural landscape, one that honors the past while boldly embracing the future,” he said. “We have to write our own stories because what will happen is that other people will write our stories and tell them the way they want to tell them. We need to write our own stories so that we can tell our lives and our stories in a way that we want the world to see and appreciate us.”

This year, the JCDC received 47 entries into the short film competition, including 17 completed films.

Contestants were required to produce five-minute films with interpretations of some Jamaican proverbs and special themes.

Since the start of the competition in 2021, a total of 51 short films have been produced.