I co-wrote She Paradise in 2017 with a screenwriting student from NYU. It's a coming-of-age story set in Trinidad, which is where I grew up. We wrote it as a feature but decided to make a short of it, to have something we could use as a pitch for the project. We submitted it to Short of the Week and they accepted it.

Soon after I won a small grant from the Trinidad government to shoot the full feature. The D.P., Jackson Warner Lewis, and the sound mixer, Brian Perry, also went to SVA (both BFA 2015 Film and Video).

Later, the short screened at BAM’s 2019 Caribbean Film Series. An executive producer came up to me after, and I told her I’d already shot the full feature. I sent her the raw footage, the script and a rough timeline for post-production, and in the space of a week, she was able to call some people, get an investor and I was able to fund post-production for the film.

We submitted the feature to festivals in late 2019 and decided to premiere at Tribeca, because of the huge Caribbean diaspora in New York. It was really exciting—we had the screening scheduled and an after-party planned—but because of COVID, none of it happened. When it finally showed at Tribeca this year, it was surreal to see it on the big screen after so long. But it was bittersweet. Because of the pandemic, I couldn’t have the cast and crew with me. I’m planning on organizing a proper first screening out in Trinidad.

I’m working on a lot right now. In June, Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired the U.S. rights to She Paradise. I was approached about a project set in Newburgh, New York, and we plan on beginning production next August. I’m co-developing a limited series about [songwriter and musician] Calypso Rose, with a company out in L.A., with the co-writer of She Paradise. I shoot commercials, mostly in Trinidad. I shot a music video for Atlantic Records. I’m also working on my MFA at Columbia.

I think my heart really is with the narrative. I love being on set with actors and bringing a script to life. My least favorite part of filmmaking is definitely pre-production, making miracles happen with no budget. But I do feel like SVA was a hands-on, tactical program, and that I got a strong foundation for that practical part.

A version of this interview appears in the fall/winter 2021 Visual Arts Journal.