Guyana to participate in Toronto International film festival for 1st time

This was announced by Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, during a consultation on the Orange Economy held on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal, Georgetown. “Guyana will be participating for the first time in the Toronto International Film Festival. So, this is a big opportunity for us,” Minister Ramson told the gathering of creatives who were part of the consultation. The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival will be held September 10–20, 2026. The festival is one of the most anticipated and largely attended Film Festival in the in the world. Meanwhile, while Guyana’s film industry is now budding, there are opportunities for growth. He noted, according to a Department of Public Information (DPI) report, that the young population will be the ones who will mostly benefit from the development of the sector.
“This is our area of opportunity. Look at where the countries that have benefitted, look at where persons who have benefitted from the sector,15-24 years old…A lot of the countries are countries that are similar in background like us… young population, not necessarily coming from very rich countries, but large young populations. They are the ones that are benefitting from the employment in the sector,” Ramson is quoted as saying in the DPI report. He was referring to countries like Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria and other countries who have successfully tapped into the film industry. “We have big opportunities, but Guyana is getting there,” Minister Ramson noted. He noted the that local Film maker Alex Arjoon was instrumental in providing the local set up for filming the series “Full Circle,” a series produced in the United States (US). This process took six months with filming only taking three days to complete the filming locally. “They came in maybe a week in advance and then hardcore filming day and night for about 3 days $,500,000 US dollars, just on this one operation alone that was filmed right outside on the wharf of Stabroek market,” Minister Ramson stated.
He visited the filming set and is confident in the capability of Guyanese in the industry. “It is a very sophisticated operation, but it’s nothing that Guyanese are incapable of learning. In fact, I would say that we did so well, that there were other opportunities that would have been created as a result of this engagement.