Twenty-nine-year-old film-maker Gabrielle Blackwood is steadily carving out a name in her chosen profession.Bully examines bullying through the eyes of a teenager. It isthese projects which Blackwood is most drawn to, explaining that theremust always be an underlying message.Dennis, looks at a man withLou Gerhrig’s disease and because he could not speak, I had to createthe story based on what I was told by his wife. So I am drawn to thistype of storytelling. I believe that a film-maker, whether consciouslyor unconsciously, must project a message through his work and this isdetermined by either how you grew up or how you would like the world tobe,” Blackwood told the Sunday Observer.Blackwood grew up in Kingston and, as far back as she can remember, shehas been telling stories through various means. Whether it wasdirecting plays at home with family and friends as her cast, orcritiquing films, she has always yearned for the life she now lives.

With less than a decade of work, the cinematographer and director is slowly building an impressive résumé.

The latest project, which she conceptualised and shot, is part of a UNICEF project which looks at violence. The short entitled

“I am most interested in narrative film-making. And it’s not deliberate,

but of late, I find that I am quite metaphoric in the way I deal with

my projects. A recent film I did,

With no film school in Jamaica, she took on the next best thing and she

studied multimedia for her undergraduate degree at the University of

the West Indies (UWI). The Commonwealth scholarship in 2009 allowed her

to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Auckland in New

Zealand.

As the president of the Jamaica Film and Television Association, an

umbrella group aimed at creating projects and promoting the film and

television industry in Jamaica, she is seeking to bring more cohesion to

the sector.

“One of the biggest hindrances to the development of the industry has

been the division among practitioners. That is changing as more of us

recognise that it works to our benefit if we come together to tell our

stories. There are so many great stories to be told about Jamaica and

not from the stereotypical negative perspective or the tourism side of

things. So, it is critical that we place importance on telling these

stories and overcome the insularity in out industry to move forward.

Everyone just has to know their strength, whether it is directing or

writing. We are slowly getting there.”