-on a mission to propel the local film industry

PASSIONATE about preserving Guyana’s art, culture and history, entertainment attorney Romola Lucas continues to contribute to the growth of the local film industry. Her goal is to positively impact thousands of lives through the arts.

Lucas is also the Co-founder of ‘Third Horizon’, a non-profit organisation based in Miami, United States of America; its functions surround the exhibition, distribution and production of Caribbean films.

As an entertainment attorney, Lucas represents artists and production companies; she drafts, reviews and negotiate their production and financing deals. Speaking with the Buzz this week, the young woman gave us an insight of what her job entails and why it is that she loves doing what she does. “What I like most is connecting with people in meaningful ways; doing work that has the ability to uplift and positively impact lives,” she expressed.

Lucas also hopes to raise the level of Guyana’s consciousness on environmental and other social issues involving race, sexual orientation, etcetera. As a queer Guyanese woman of mixed race, with a background in environmental science, Lucas said that she is often irritated by the levels of racism, homophobia and “non-conscious development which overwhelmingly impacts our environment here in Guyana negatively…and I will be doing my part in addressing those issues.”

Although an attorney-at-law, Lucas also has impressive credentials in science. She holds a two-year degree in Marine Science, a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and spent five years in a Geology PhD program.

Through her work, Lucas said that she is able to put her values into action, whilst processing her personal challenges. She believes that this is precisely what contributes to her being the fairly healthy and balanced person that she is today.

At the very top of her list of accomplishments so far, according Lucas, is leaving the mundane “job” behind to not only work for herself, but to also focus on the areas and things that she is passionate about. She has also been keen on nurturing healthy relations with persons she enjoys having in her space, and in a manner which best fits her values and goals.

As a Co-Executive Director of Third Horizon, Lucas is responsible for the business management of the organisation and works with the development director to write and apply for grants. She also produces the team’s flagship film festival in Miami, which is called the Third Horizon Film Festival. Lucas also the organisation’s satellite festivals in Los Angeles and New York, as well as the Timehri Film Festival in Guyana, and films by Caribbean filmmakers.

“As a producer and distributor of Guyanese films, I work with local artists whose interests are similar to mine; those interested in preserving our culture through film,” she shared.

One of the films Lucas has produced is titled “Essequibo Rapture”, which explores an interracial relationship in Guyana; a part of it was shot in Wakenaam, which provided a great opportunity to share parts of Guyana and its cultures that are not commonly seen, especially on screen. “So the types of projects I’m interested in producing; all are artistic and capture both Guyana’s physical and cultural beauty,” Lucas shared.

Even with her many achievements, she is especially proud of the founding of the Caribbean Film Academy (CaFA) in Brooklyn, New York in 2012, and building the Caribbean Film Series and screening series of Caribbean films, which found a home at one of New York’s most iconic cinema venues, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “CaFA has now merged with Third Horizon Media, and we are now known as Third Horizon,” she explained.

Lucas told the Buzz that she is also proud of the founding of the Third Horizon Film Festival, which is now in its sixth year and has twice been listed by ‘Movie Maker Magazine’, in its top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the world (2019 and 2021).

Lucas is also happy to have been producing the Timehri Film Festival (TFF) in Guyana, since 2016, and taking films from the festival to prisons and the Juvenile Detention Centre in Georgetown.

As part of her future plans, she wants the TFF to be more inclusive of the work of indigenous filmmakers in Guyana and from other parts of the world. More specifically, she wants the Timehri festival to “fully step into its growing role as the only Caribbean film festival that considers itself an indigenous festival.”