Grenada's Meschida Philip shares her filmmaking journey

Written by Melissa Wong

Grenadian filmmaker Meschida Philip

She’s a woman with a deep passion for the film industry - filmmaker, director, activist, speaker and Founder and Managing Director of 1261 Film Festival. Grenada's own Meschida Philip, who lives in New York, has been carving out her own space in the Creative sector with two short films under her belt.

Now she has been chosen as an official judge in the PlayGo Emerge Competition. Loop News reached out to Meschida to learn more about her journey as a filmmaker, her thoughts on the industry in the Caribbean, and the importance of the PlayGo platform for creatives. LC: How did your journey as a filmmaker begin? MP: I've always been a creative not necessarily in the space of doing things. Growing up I was always that child who was reading. I buried myself in characters as well as created. So I would be that interior decorator at home, anything that had to get done... it would be me. My journey in the film arena came around 2010/2011, I moved back to the US after working with a lot of local artistes from the musical side in Grenada. I just wanted something to express my own creativity and stories that were inside of me. With that, I had the opportunity to go to India in 2015 and it just bloomed from there. Coming back from that trip I wanted to be a little bit more knowledgeable about the industry so I went back to school, I got my Master's in Film with a concentration on Documentary Film Making and since then it has been non-stop. Coming out of school I saw the opportunity in Grenada and that also evolved into the hosting of the 1261 Film Festival in Grenada.

LC: Can you tell us about your involvement with the PlayGo Emerge Competition? MP: Digicel approached me as a judge in the documentary category for the competition that is currently running in the Region. My involvement will be that person who is looking at all the documentaries that came from the Region and making assessments as far as quality and the content of the stories that are being told. LC: How excited are you to be a judge in the PlayGo Emerge competition? MP: I am extremely honoured for this opportunity to do so because as someone who is promoting Caribbean talent and filmmakers and content creators and think this is an amazing opportunity. What I want to see come out of this is the unique stories and style of people telling things from their communities so I could learn more.

LC: What are your thoughts on the PlayGo platform? MP: It’s a very important platform right now especially for content creators who do not have opportunities like in other developed countries. What this is providing is an opportunity to draw awareness on who these new faces are and who these content creators are and allowing filmmakers to reach audiences that they normally would not reach if their work is selected for the PlayGo App. I think this is revolutionary for the Caribbean and it’s a really good time to have some kind of platform like this, allowing filmmakers here to get a taste of what distribution could possibly look like. LC: How did your journey as a filmmaker begin? MP: I've always been a creative not necessarily in the space of doing things. Growing up I was always that child who was reading. I buried myself in characters as well as created. So I would be that interior decorator at home, anything that had to get done... it would be me. My journey in the film arena came around 2010/2011, I moved back to the US after working with a lot of local artistes from the musical side in Grenada. I just wanted something to express my own creativity and stories that were inside of me. With that, I had the opportunity to go to India in 2015 and it just bloomed from there. Coming back from that trip I wanted to be a little bit more knowledgeable about the industry so I went back to school, I got my Master's in Film with a concentration on Documentary Film Making and since then it has been non-stop. Coming out of school I saw the opportunity in Grenada and that also evolved into the hosting of the 1261 Film Festival in Grenada. LC: How does your work as an activist influence your work as a filmmaker? MP: I think it goes hand in hand. I’m very passionate about social justice pieces and the two films that I have created so far speaks on just that issue. I am also a member of the UN Spotlight Initiative here that is dealing with gender equality, sexual abuse for both women and girls, boys and men, so my lifestyle mimics that of the things I am passionate about and also resonates in the work that I am attracted to. LC: How many films have you done and do you have any new projects in the pipeline? MP: So far personally I have done two short films. Once called Searching for Crystal and that is talking about human trafficking in the Caribbean, shedding light as a conversational start-up and my second film it’s called Scars of Our Mothers’ Dream, a documentary, and that is talking about the psychological impact of parental migration has on children left behind. Those are very deep-rooted subjects and I am currently in development with my co-producer and co-director in New York on our first feature documentary that is dealing with maternal mortality and morbidity, and just bringing to light how women of colour suffer injustices within the medical system greater than that of their counterparts. LC: Did the COVID-19 pandemic affect you in any way and how are you managing during the pandemic? MP: I’m still alive so I guess I managed well (laughs). From a professional standpoint, we were at the cusp of putting on the film festival at that time and I was stranded in New York for the entire period because I was like two weeks out and there was no flight to get back to the Caribbean. So, we had to figure out a new way to showcase our work because we had a responsibility to our filmmakers, our stakeholders and everyone else involved and also it was a way for me to save myself because it was a very heavy period so I needed something to put my energies and effort towards. We reimagined and reformatted a new version of the festival and when we launched it thank goodness the borders were opened up and I had the opportunity to travel back to Grenada. We were able to host a hybrid festival last year during the pandemic when everything else was virtual. Grenada offered us that opportunity to really come together and still have that relationship community kind of experience then. We saw opportunities during the pandemic and that worked for us. It was positive, I did not make the pandemic get the better side of me, I saw the opportunities in there and took advantage of it. Fast forward and I am proud of all the creatives who have created things during the pandemic and now we can see the work that was built from then. LC: Along your journey as a filmmaker did you encounter any challenges and how did you overcome them? MP: Of course. As an independent filmmaker, the most talked about challenge is financing. You tend to have these beautiful ideas and stories that you’re you dying for the world to see but you may not have the resources to make it possible. One of the ways in which I have overcome that is through collaboration with like-minded people. Once you start changing your circle and finding people that believe in the projects that you are looking to share with the world, those things take precedence over anything else. I’ve also invested in my own work, so I was not just waiting for people to invest in me but I took the chance on myself and invested in myself. That is how I overcame some of the obstacles and challenges as an independent filmmaker. LC: What is your greatest strength? MP: I’m an idea person. I conceptualise things very well and also I am able to bring people together. LC: How has your career impacted your personal life? MP: It allowed me to grow as an individual and it allowed me to become more authentic with who I am as a person. As a documentary filmmaker part of our craft and biggest thing is to be authentic and to be vulnerable in situations because quite often, we go into these spaces and we are interviewing people who are saying with us their greatest secrets, pains and trauma. From the creative side, we have to learn ourselves, to be that person, in order to be empathetic to the individuals who are sharing with us. It has allowed me to be a little bit more courageous. Before I was a little bit timid but getting the opportunity to be in front of people and speak more, my courage has evolved in that way. I’ve also grown in the sense that of understanding that our passion as creatives, personally is not just that, that is our livelihood, so I really take a serious approach in my investments in myself and things that I do. The very same way I approach my business I now start to approach my personal life that way. If I am in contact with someone, how does that serve me best and how could I serve that person best. I am seeing a nice growth trajectory here by becoming a creator in that sense and taking it seriously. LC: What do you love most about what you do? MP: I love when merging filmmakers are just creating on a whole and we have the opportunity to be in the same space and start vibing and just sharing information. Most importantly for me is when I can make a difference to that curious emerging filmmaker or person. I love to see when people shine and when we could push talent to the forefront. LC: What are your thoughts on the film industry in Grenada? MP: I think we are in a very unique space where the industry is emerging and we have a lot of untapped talent that is coming here and stories that are coming from Grenada. The younger generation, they are hungry and bold and they’re just creating. I think having platforms like the 1261 Film Festival and PlayGo that are coming up where young creatives can have an opportunity to be discovered, I think that will really help the industry in Grenada. We have a long way to go still unlike Trinidad and bigger places, but I think with a collective effort from stakeholders, government, creatives, I think the industry here could be transformative in the near future. LC: You migrated to New York as a teenager (15 years-old) with your family, how much of a culture shock was it for you? MP: It was hard. Migrating from Grenada to the US as a teenager was difficult. Culturally we were not in a Caribbean community but mostly in an Irish community. So, I had to learn a different culture, get acclimated to the weather as well as the American education system which also posed a challenge to me initially. I look back at that period as a solid foundational period in my life that allowed me to be the person that I am today. I’m very adaptable, very resilient and I have a very extensive network of people. LC: So you live in New York, how often do you visit Grenada? MP: I have been in Grenada since last October I have not gone back to New York since then. More than likely I will be in Grenada until the end of the year because of the festival. When I am in New York I visit as often as possible maybe once or twice a year. I just love Grenada; it is my home and New York is my place of residency. I always have to come home to get rejuvenated and get those creative juices going again. LC: What do you treasure most about Grenada? MP: Our landscape... Grenada offers a certain type of treasure where within 20 minutes I could have a coastal seafront kind of vibes and within 20 minutes I could be in the middle of an island in the rainforest. Depending on the mood I’m feeling those are some of the opportunities placed before me. I like the fact that I could escape and it's safe. Grenada for the most part of very safe that I can venture out whether it's by myself, or with friends and we could really explore and have a beautiful time in nature. Plus, the food... how could you not love the food and we have some really good rums here in Grenada that are award-winning across the world. I really appreciate all that and just the low-key island vibes... no worries. LC: Tell us more about the 1261 Film Festival which you founded. MP: The name 1261 is an abbreviation, our festival is 12 degrees North and 61 degrees West, that is the beginning coordinates of Grenada. We wanted to create something unique and that's what we did. The festival basically is a platform to bring together Grenadian filmmakers, regional filmmakers, and filmmakers from the continent as well as the diaspora so we could start now finding strength in numbers to help enhance the industry in Grenada. We are going on our third year and so far, we have showcased over 130 films from across the world and we are attracting a lot of international filmmakers who are also looking for new audiences to showcase their work. It’s a dual kind of relationship allowing Grenadians and Caribbean filmmakers to shine, reaching places like Africa, and the Americas and at the same time importing their content and showing how more alike our stories are than different. LC: If you could do your career all over again, what would you do differently? MP: If I had the opportunity to press rewind, I think my journey would have taken the same path. Maybe I would have started a little bit earlier in my creative journey instead of going through all the different career changes in my life. LC: What do you want your legacy to be? MP: I would love for my legacy to be one of the work I have created, having impact and meaning in this world. Just to change lives and conversations, even if it's just for one person. LC: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers in the Caribbean? MP: I would just say don’t let your current space dictate the fact of how you are going to push your career forward. We have something now that we did not have before and that’s the internet. It allows us to have accessibility to anyone in the world and collaborations can come in so many different spaces and so many different places.

If you are passionate and about a career in film, in the creative industry, just do it. Reach out to people if not within your community, reach out to people outside your community, outside of your country and you’ll be amazed how far that one little initiative could take you. Just hone in on your craft, be open to constructive criticism from people and know that every single project you create is only a space for getting better.