Su solo i playanan, Sharelly Emanuelson (47', 2010)
Language: Papiamentu, English, Dutch, English subtitles
Su solo i playanan (His sun and beaches) is a documentary film in which the various beaches of Curaçao are of main interest. Curaçao is an autonomous country in the Caribbean, which forms part of the kingdom of the Netherlands. On this island, the North coast is steep and rocky, while the South coast is known for its beautiful bays, marvelous beaches and shallow coves. The society of the Caribbean island is comprised of a population as varied as its scenic environment. The documentary depicts the complex mosaic that is shaped by the histories and life stories of the islands residents. It delves into a society that makes a clear difference in who is a Curaçao citizen, a European Dutch citizen or an alienated Curaçao citizen. Throughout the documentary one encounters places and people that show and share stories of what it is like to live on this island by expressing the concerns and struggles of its divergent range of inhabitants and visitors.
About Sharelly Emanuelson
Self-representation as Dutch-Caribbean artist-scholars remains imperative to our existence. The work of Sharelly Emanuelson illustrates this importance, emphasizing that we had and still have tradition, history and culture. Thinking about and experiencing the vastness of the Caribbean, it all looks and feels disorderly. It is multilingual, sonically oriented, loud and clamorous, and in of itself a carnival, embodying all the characters. Sharelly’s work brings order in some measure. Using mixed-media, predominantly film, Sharelly engages the imaginary, the fictional, the autobiographical and the documentary, giving a pluriversal perspective on Dutch-Caribbean lived experiences. This perspective riffs on the good, the bad and the liminal area between. Dutch-Caribbean knowledges are often peripheral, perhaps because it is so sensuous, however Sharelly takes the peripheralised and brings it into sharp focus, in her work those voices from the border are sounding out. (Charissa Granger)
