BLUE TARP’S ‘FALL’ TO SHOW AT URBAN FILM FESTIVAL IN MIAMI

Writer Angelina Lang, center, with other cast members at the red-carpet premiere of Fall at St. Croix’s Caribbean Cinemas theater in Dec. 2024. Photo courtesy of George Cannon III/Blue Tarp Productions.

St. Croix’s Blue Tarp Productions recently announced that its award-winning short film Fall will be screened at the Urban Film Festival in Miami during the Labor Day weekend, Aug. 29-31.

The film has a runtime of 23:40 and will show in the festival’s International Short Film category on Aug. 30. It was written by Angelina Lang of St. Croix and tells the story of “a young man living a troubled life [who] is confronted with a new relationship that offers him hope and challenges him to change,” according to the production’s website.

We recently caught up with the film’s director and co-founder of Blue Tarp Productions George Cannon III to learn more about Fall and the places its going.

“The film is the catalyst for a program we did called Film Over Gun Violence and it has been pretty well received so far that we’ve shown it,” Mr. Cannon says.

But, Mr. Cannon is being modest. Since its sold-out red-carpet premiere at Caribbean Cinemas on St. Croix last December along with Bulletproof Dreams, another Blue Tarp short film, the Fall buzz has been non-stop. It enjoyed a second showing at the St. Croix theater due to its overwhelming reception by movie-goers. In May 2025, Fall won “Best Caribbean Film” at the International Black & Diversity Film Festival in Toronto and it was also screened at the inaugural Caribbean Film Festival in Port of Spain, Trinidad in June 2025.

Mr. Cannon praised Angelina for her courage to share her story, pointing out that Blue Tarp’s Film Over Gun Violence program, which launched in 2024, is designed to help Virgin Islands’ youth and young adults channel their emotions through filmmaking rather than through violence. The program completed its second year on Aug. 1.

“Normally, young, attractive women want to be models and do acting, but Angelina specifically came in and said, ‘I want to write.' She not only said it, but she actually produced it. She came up with the script,” he explains.

“[Fall] really made a lot of the things we’re doing go,” he continues. “Because the Film Over Gun Violence doesn’t happen without her writing that story and dealing with the trauma she dealt with through that writing and putting herself out there.”

Over a two-month period last summer, Mr. Cannon says the team collaborated to make the script better, cast local actors and produce the short film.

Photo courtesy of George Cannon III/Blue Tarp Productions

“She’s green, she’s new, but she came ready to work and it’s her story,” he says of Angelica. “It was authentic, and I think that’s why the film is receiving some recognition because of what she brought to it.”

Through the Film Over Gun Violence movement, Mr. Cannon says his team desires to “make young people feel like they can really do this creative thing on a real level.”

“We at Blue Tarp are trying to make film a viable outlet for youth in the Virgin Islands, not something that feels like a hobby or something that isn’t real,” he explains. “We want to make it real and continue to grow and continue to go to these film festivals and reaching out and being seen in the community, not just as people making fun videos, but we’re actually making films.”

He says “it has been a real blessing” to be able to, through the work of Blue Tarp Productions and Film Over Gun Violence, help young Virgin Islanders “see themselves as great.”

Fall, Bulletproof Dreams and other Blue Tarp Productions films will be available to stream beginning in September.

Blue Tarp Productions is a collective of Virgin Islands’ independent filmmakers who collaborate to expand film production in the USVI. In addition to Mr. Cannon, the organization is comprised of Diana Dias, co-founder/writer/production manager; Sansara Cannon, executive producer; Kevin Moolenaar, director of photography and creator of popular V.I. web series, Sand; Angelina Lang, writer/graphic designer; Justin Hodge, sound engineer; and Malik Gomes, gaffer and key grip.

Story updated Aug. 15 9:53 a.m.