Jazz Pitcairn was just 5 years old when Hurricane Ivan blasted its way through Grand Cayman. Now, almost two decades later, she has transferred that devastating experience onto the big screen and her directorial debut short movie will be shown at an international film festival next month.
In 2004, Pitcairn lived through Hurricane Ivan, which she describes as a life-changing experience, and one that has stuck with her throughout her entire life.
What started as a short story she wrote in high school about her own personal experience during the storm became ‘Ivan’, a short film she wrote for her New York University thesis.
Set in Grand Cayman in 2004, the nine-minute short film highlight the strength of a mother’s love and courage in the face of adversity.
It also raises awareness of the increasing impact of climate change and the underrepresented Caribbean communities it most affects.
‘Ivan’ captures the unimaginable horror that many families face when fighting to survive a devastating natural disaster.
Pitcairn, in a statement about her experience of the storm, says, “On September 11, 2004, I was a spectator in my own home, I witnessed the quiet panic of my parents as they struggled to find light in a windowless room. I heard the roar of the ocean invading our home and the persistent licks of rain that tore apart our roof. For 36 hours, we were abandoned to live with our worst fears. Nearly 20 years later, that trauma still remains with Hurricane Ivan’s survivors.”
At 24 years, the emerging Caymanian filmmaker says it was vital for her to write and direct this film as “authentically as possible,” but she told the Compass, to accurately showcase a hurricane of this magnitude is not without its challenges.
For several months, she and her team worked tirelessly with locals to acquire original audio tapes and build genuine replicas of location and key props.
The making of ‘Ivan’ short film
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pitcairn says she was unable to make the film for school, but, after graduation, when she became a writer for HBO’s ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ and was working 60-hour weeks for three months at a time, she had the flexibility and opportunity to take a few months to focus on her own passion project: Ivan.
“As soon as I finished writing for ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show,’ I came home to Cayman and sought out some incredible local filmmakers, Frank E. Flowers, Badir Awe, Brittany Kelly, who all agreed to come on board and act as producers for the short film,” she said. “From there, we worked together to finesse the script, hire cast and crew and source financing.”
Pitcairn says she spent four months in pre-production and filmed the movie over two and a half days in January 2023. Post-production, which included edits, visual effects, colour and sound, took another five months.
She describes the making of the film to much like sitting through a hurricane.
“Sometimes, no matter how much you prepare, the house will still flood. While I am incredibly proud of the finished product, we faced a lot of hurdles to get there, the biggest being that I got was COVID four days before we were supposed to shoot the short film in December [2022]”.
The delay caused the production to be postponed into January, and not all those attached to the project were available for new dates.
“I had about a week before Christmas to find new cast and crew members, secure a new filming location, raise money, all while experiencing COVID,” Pitcairn said.
Support from Cayman
As a first-time filmmaker, Pitcairn explains the hardest part of filmmaking is the amount of time, energy, money and sacrifice that goes into getting any movie, whether it’s a Marvel project or a small indie film.
“I think the most difficult part was financing [the film],” she said. “I didn’t have any past directorial experience to prove I was capable of making the Oscar-worthy film I was pitching.
“On top of that, this wasn’t a cheap film to make, given that we were trying to reproduce a hurricane. We needed water VFX, practical special effects, and top-tier sound design, all of which came with a hefty price tag.”
Ultimately, she said, the Caymanian people came through for her.
“The Ministry of Tourism contributed to the film, as did over 35 local Caymanian businesses and private individuals. It was so incredible to see the support of my community and making them proud is what really pushed me to finish this film to the best of my ability.
“I’ve always loved directing, but it can be difficult to take the leap into it because of the time, cost, energy it takes to make a film from beginning to end.”
Film Festival debut
Pitcairn will make her directorial debut at the 43rd annual Hawaii International Film Festival, which will be held 12-29 Oct.
‘Ivan’ is being screened in the ‘environmental short films’ section.
“It’s really special to have Ivan premiere at a top-tier film festival like the Hawaii International Film Festival – especially because, like Cayman, Hawaii is a beautiful island that is too often faced with natural disasters,” Pitcairn said. “I think many of the local audiences at HIFF will relate to the story.
“It’s certainly a bonus that this festival is also an Oscar-qualifier. By premiering at an Oscar-qualifier festival, we are establishing ‘Ivan’ as a first-class film and also showcasing Cayman as a first-class place to film.”
According to the festival website, prizes are awarded for established and emerging filmmakers at the annual awards gala.
Next steps
After ‘Ivan’ makes its world premiere, the film will move along the film festival circuit.
It has also been selected to screen at another Oscar-qualifier film festival in November, the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival.
“Thankfully, having now been accepted into a few Oscar-qualifier festivals, I now have proof that we can make Oscar-worthy films in Cayman, and I look forward to making the feature film next,” Pitcairn said. “The festival selections are rolling and will continue until fall of 2024. At that point, we’ll find a place to distribute the film so that anyone can watch it at any time.”
She added, “It was a long and tedious process, and certainly not without its challenges, but, ultimately, I am more proud of the final product, and very excited for it to go out into the world.”
With the ongoing writer’s strike in the US, she hasn’t been able to work, but spends her time writing a feature-film-length version of ‘Ivan’, which she says is exciting.
“I look forward to doing it all again on a bigger scale. Having now completed ‘Ivan’, I can say that I’m optimistic about what is possible to achieve in Cayman, and I encourage anyone who is interested to try it.”
Pitcairn says, for her, the best part of filmmaking is when she is on set directing.
She said she hopes that her film will inspire other Caymanians to take risks and pursue their dream, adding that if even one person is impacted by this movie, she will have achieved her goal.
Pitcairn, who lives in New York, studied film and television at New York University, and graduated in 2021.
For the trailer and behind-the-scenes look, check out www.theivanfilm.com. For a look at the 2023 Hawaii International Film Festival https://hiff.org.
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