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Aiko Roudette is an award-winning filmmaker of Trinidadian, Dominican and British ancestry. Born in the UK, her family moved to Trinidad when she was just a year old, and then to St. Vincent and the Grenadines when she was two. At 18 a scholarship took her to New York where she would achieve a BA and MFA in Film and Media Studies. During nine years in New York she made the most of every opportunity (working as a cinematographer, sound tech, gaffer, archival researcher, PA, editor). While in NY she also donated her filmmaking skills to various social rights groups advocating for global workers rights, justice for black lives, and the liberation of Palestine. Roudette considers the arts an effective and powerful sphere to generate vibrant culture and societies. In 2018 along with a group of young Vincentian creatives, she founded the Hairouna Film Festival, a free annual film festival in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Now the Director of the film festival, she also works as a freelance film editor, videographer and director. Her work has been screened in 25 festivals/screenings worldwide including in Toronto, Berlin, New York, Trinidad and London.
Beth works sourcing and transforming physical spaces for the creative industries. Her career started working for the owner of Ealing Film Studios and she has gone on to work with London performing arts venue The Roundhouse and global membership and hospitality brand Soho House Group. She studied steel pan at the University of West Indies and is passionate about supporting the Arts in St Vincent.
Shane Slater is a freelance film critic based in Jamaica. Born in Kingston, he lived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from age 6 to 17 before pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies at Franklin & Marshall College and his Master of Philosophy in Environmental Management at the University of Cape Town. While living in South Africa, Shane followed his lifelong passion for film by starting his blog Film Actually. Subsequently, he became a contributor for various North American-based online publications, including Awards Radar, The Spool and That Shelf. His journalism work is particularly focused on drawing attention to independent, non-English and non-fiction filmmakers through interviews, podcasts, reviews and other opinion pieces. In his role as Programming Director for the Hairouna Film Festival, Shane hopes to similarly champion the unique voices of Vincentian and Caribbean filmmakers. As an avid festival-goer himself, he believes that film festivals are vital to creating a passionate film culture and celebrating the next generation of visual storytellers. He is also a member of the African-American Film Critics Association and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.
