International film festival launches in October 2026 to unite audiences across the United Kingdom, Canada, the Caribbean, the United States and Africa through stories of migration, identity and freedom.
The story of Windrush has often been told as a British chapter in history. Frances-Anne Solomon believes that perspective is far too narrow.
For the internationally acclaimed filmmaker and founder of CaribbeanTales Media Group, Windrush represents something much larger; a global story of resilience, resistance and human dignity that belongs to the Caribbean, Africa, North America and every community shaped by migration and colonial history.
That vision will become reality in October 2026 with the launch of the Windrush International Caribbean Film Festival (WICFF), an ambitious cultural initiative that will connect audiences in the United Kingdom, Canada, the Caribbean, the United States and Africa through cinema, conversation and community.
Produced by CaribbeanTales Media Group in partnership with Livesey Exchange (LEX2) in the United Kingdom, Kaiso Blues Café in Trinidad and Tobago and a growing network of international collaborators, the festival expands the successful Windrush Caribbean Film Festival into a truly international platform.
Film screenings, public discussions and a global virtual programme will allow audiences separated by oceans (but connected by history) to engage with stories that challenge traditional narratives of migration and belonging.
“For me, Windrush has never been only a British story,” Frances explained. “It is part of a much larger global moment.”
She argues that the movement of Caribbean people following the Second World War cannot be understood in isolation. It unfolded alongside anti-colonial struggles, independence movements and the American Civil Rights Movement, each demanding freedom, equality, sovereignty and the recognition of shared humanity.
The inspiration for the festival emerged during Francis Solomon’s international tour of her award-winning feature film, HERO: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross. More than 50 sold-out screenings across Britain revealed something unexpected. Audiences were seeing reflections of their own families, sacrifices and unfinished histories.
“I realized there was a much larger conversation waiting to happen,” Frances shares.
That conversation now extends beyond commemorating the past. WICFF seeks to examine how the legacies of colonialism, migration and displacement continue to shape societies today.
Frances Solomon believes today’s political climate echoes many of the injustices experienced during the Windrush era. “We are living through another terrifying moment in which migrants, racialized communities and the nations of the Global South are being displaced, blamed and dehumanized. The date may change, but the impulse to crush the human spirit remains painfully familiar.”
Rather than responding with fear, the festival responds with storytelling.
Through films created by voices from across the Caribbean, Africa and the wider diaspora, WICFF will create spaces where history becomes personal, dialogue becomes possible and communities discover the connections that colonial borders often obscured.
For Frances Solomon, the festival is ultimately about restoring historical memory while imagining a more connected future. “The diaspora is real, interconnected and global. Across the Global South and its diasporas, we all carry personal stories connected by the struggle for freedom, dignity and belonging.”
As WICFF prepares for its inaugural international edition, it presents a cultural movement that invites audiences to see Windrush as an ongoing story of courage, identity and transformation, one that continues to reshape the world.
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