As Amanda D. Coulson, founding director of TERN Gallery, reminds us, Reframing Paradise (2026), directed by Gregg de Domenico and Mike Paletta, is now being screened at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF). This is how the documentary (a Baha Mar and Command Your Weather production) is described: “A determined community of Bahamian artists and curators reflects on their cultural history as they launch FUZE, the Caribbean’s first regional art fair – redefining global perceptions of the Bahamas beyond ‘sun, sand, and sea’ through the power of art.” Read synopsis below, followed by observations by A. Coulson.

Synopsis: Reframing Paradise follows a determined community of Bahamian artists and curators in Nassau as they launch FUZE, the Caribbean’s first regional art fair. The film documents the challenges and triumphs of creating a cultural platform that moves beyond tourism to showcase the Bahamas’ contemporary art scene.

Through the voices of local and diaspora artists, it explores how history, identity, and decolonization shape their work and vision. Intimate portraits and behind-the-scenes moments reveal both the stakes and the hopes of redefining how the Bahamas is seen by the world. What emerges is a pivotal cultural shift and a renaissance unfolding in the Caribbean.

Amanda D. Coulson writes: It’s been a big year for The Bahamas in the visual arts. While The Bahamas Pavilion in Venice is still astounding visitors, this documentary—that has been several years in the making—is finally having its world premiere. This is not a definitive history by any means, it shows a slice of what is happening now, and all of us in this film are building on the foundation laid by others, way too many to name, who have been at this work since the 60s and 70s.

As the world starts to look at our country a little differently, as more than the purveyors of your dream vacation, my hope is that the curious will learn more about those who came before us. We have access to the means that allow us to more easily spread the news of what we are doing, ya’all have access to the means to dig deeper. Google some stuff: Chelsea Pottery, Stan Burnside, B-C.A.U.S.E (you might have to add “art Bahamas”), Dr. Gail Saunders, Dr. Erica James, Pam Burnside, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, Janine Antoni, Brent Malone, Kendall Hanna, D’Aguilar Art Foundation. Get curious! There’s plenty more where they came from and many more beyond the same old names that get called all the time (including my own in the contemporary sphere and including those I listed!).

[. . .] There are a few “stars” (whether visual artists, actors, musicians) who make it in the US or UK and the narrative seems to be that they are some kind of anomaly. They are not.

Hope you get to see this film: it’s premiering at the RIIFF, the Rhode Island International Film Festival. I hope it gets you interested in more than the surface of our county or the region.

For more information, see https://reframingparadise.com/about.html, https://www.instagram.com/reels/DbOJZNYAIe7/ and https://www.facebook.com/amanda.d.coulson/reels/