Cinema Carib: D.C. Caribbean Film Festival

WHILE SILVERDOCS IS the toast of the area's film world this week, the D.C. Caribbean Film Festival returns as the little engine that could.

It's not a huge festival, with seven films in total — and the first two, the classic Jamaican film "The Harder They Come" and the Marley family documentary "Africa Unite," having screened on June 6 — but it's an important presence simply because over the past few years it has shown movies that have otherwise been ignored or unavailable in our region.

The remaining five movies in the series are from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Haiti, and all will be presented for free at the University of the District of Columbia.

Titles, descriptions, links and video clips after the jump.

"From Barbados With Love: Paradise ... With Strings Attached"
(Barbados): Tue., June 17, 6 p.m.
This mockumentary-type flick makes serious points about U.S. influence in the Caribbean through humor, absurdity and a thick Bajan dialect. A "green simian" bounty hunter faces his arch enemy, an American money-colored monkey who's causing so much havoc in Barbados that he's dubbed a terrorist.

"The President Has AIDS?"
(Haiti): Wed., June 18, 6 p.m.
Jimmy Jean-Louis of TV's "Heroes" plays a pop star ("The President") whose promiscuous ways are getting him in trouble — with the woman he's starting to fall in love with as well as his own fragile health. It's apparently a low-budget, slightly comedic, highly melodramatic message movie, but one that carries its AIDS education banner high above such things as plot.

"A Winter Tale"
(Trinidad & Tobago/Canada): Thu., June 19, 6 p.m.
Another message movie that's more concerned with its function over form, the film addresses the concerns of black men in Toronto who face violence, racism and isolation. It mostly takes place in a small Trinidadian cafe, and the flick has the feel of a small theater production captured on camera more than an artfully produced piece of cinema. But there's no denying the earnestness that gives this film its emotional core (as well as its heavy-handed weight).

"Sista God"
(Trinidad & Tobago): Fri., June 20, 5:30 p.m.
(Click on the link above to see the trailer.) This fantasy-drama chronicles the journey of a girl who thinks she's the new messiah. Race, class, mental illness, religion and relationships all get plucked and squeezed in this strange mish-mash of dramatic imagery.

"Hit for Six!"
(Barbados/Trinidad & Tobago): Sat., June 21, 1 p.m.
(Click on the link above to see the trailer.) A movie about an almost washed-up cricketer who overcomes his injuries (physical and emotional) and accusations of match fixing in order to fight to play in a global tournament as well as win over his estranged father. Did I mention the film is about a cricket player?

» University of the District of Columbia, 4200 Connecticut Ave., Building 41, Room A03; Tue-Sat., various times; 202-223-1960 x137. (Van Ness)

Still from "SistaGod" courtesy TransAfrica Forum