Meet the Team Behind the 12°N, 61°W Grenada Film Festival 2026 Lineup
Every festival lineup starts with a few good eyes: people willing to watch closely, think critically, and ask one important question: Does this film belong here, in this moment, with this audience?
For Season 8 of the 12°N, 61°W Grenada Film Festival, a five-person, women-led selection team comprising one Lead Programmer and four Film Screeners reviewed stories from Grenada, the Caribbean, the diaspora, and beyond.
The screeners assessed the submissions and shared their perspectives, while Festival Director and Lead Programmer Meschida Philip made the final programming decisions and shaped the selected films into a cohesive festival experience.
The result is our 2026 Official Selection: a program built around ROOTS: What We Inherit, with films exploring culture, identity, migration, family, memory and belonging.
Today, we introduce three members of the team: Meschida Philip, Erica Alexis and Allina Duncan.
Meschida Philip
Festival Director + Lead Programmer
As Founder and Festival Director, Meschida Philip has spent eight seasons building the 12°N, 61°W Grenada Film Festival as a platform connecting audiences in Grenada with independent cinema from the Caribbean, its diaspora, and beyond. Her experience as a filmmaker and producer gives her a direct understanding of both the work required to bring a film to the screen and the value of creating space for that work to be seen.
As Lead Programmer, Meschida sets the festival’s curatorial direction, reviews the screeners’ assessments and makes the final programming decisions. She considers not only each film's strength, but also how the selected works speak to one another, reflect the festival’s theme, and create a meaningful experience for audiences in Grenada.
“This industry is about visibility. Curating the festival allows us to bring audiences in Grenada closer to what is happening in Caribbean cinema right now, so they can discover new stories, voices, and perspectives they might not otherwise see.
Most importantly, screening these films gives each filmmaker an opportunity to reach audiences in Grenada. That connection strengthens the film community we are building here and across the region.
Erica AlexiS
Festival Coordinator + Film Screener
For the past three years, Erica Alexis has served as Festival Coordinator, focusing on the operations and coordination required to bring the festival experience to life. Before joining the festival, she gained experience across event planning, research, and community engagement.
Erica expanded her festival role to include film screening. This gave her a fuller understanding of the journey from submission and assessment to final selection and presentation. Screening required her to move beyond her personal response to each film and consider how its story might speak to a wider audience.
“Screening films for this year’s festival called for time and thoughtful attention. The process taught me to look beyond my own viewpoint, consider each film from a broader, more universal perspective, and think about how its story might connect with our audience.”
Allina Duncan
Film Screener + Filmmaker
Allina Duncan joined the festival team in 2026 as a Film Screener. A Grenadian independent filmmaker, writer, and producer based in New York, she is also the creator of Chadeé on the Rocs Production. Her hands-on experience spans writing, casting, production, and post-production, with a focus on stories inspired by real-life experiences, relationships, and Caribbean culture.
The role allowed Allina to bring her experience as a filmmaker into the assessment process while encountering the range of stories Caribbean filmmakers across the region and diaspora are telling. It also gave her another view of the industry and a deeper appreciation for how individual stories can connect audiences and strengthen the wider film community.
“Being a film screener gave me a new perspective on the industry. As a filmmaker, I valued experiencing stories of culture, diversity, and migration and seeing how our stories connect us as a film community.”
For the 2026 festival season, Meschida developed a mentorship and training program to introduce new screeners to the responsibilities of reviewing films thoughtfully, considering how stories may connect with audiences, and providing clear assessments to support the programming process.
Allina was one of three first-time screeners trained through the initiative. The other two participants have chosen to keep their involvement private, but their time, attention, and perspectives were an important part of the review process behind this year’s lineup.
The initiative’s longer-term goal is to build a pool of trained screeners and emerging programmers in Grenada who can support our growing local industry and contribute to film festivals, filmmakers, and cultural organizations across the Caribbean and its diaspora.
A growing film industry needs more than filmmakers in front of and behind the camera. It also needs people who can evaluate work responsibly, recognize emerging voices, understand how films connect with audiences and, with further experience, curate meaningful programs.
As the initiative grows, we want it to reflect an even wider range of voices. We welcome interest from people of different genders, ages, communities and professional backgrounds, including filmmakers, writers, educators, cultural workers, critics and passionate film lovers.
Anyone interested in joining the screener mentorship and training program for the 2027 festival season is invited to contact us through 1261filmfestival.com.
To Our Filmmaker Community
Thank you to every filmmaker who chose to share their work with our festival. Each submission offered another perspective on the stories being created across the Caribbean, throughout the diaspora and around the world.
Not every film could become part of this year’s program, but every submission contributed to our understanding of where independent and Caribbean cinema is now and where it may be going next.
The 12°N, 61°W Grenada Film Festival returns to Movie Palace in Grand Anse from October 18–25, 2026.
See the 2026 Official Selection and start building your watchlist.
