Hélène and Saint-Martin
Saint-Martin, although very precarious when it comes to big-screen productions, has a major ally when it comes to television: Jean-Luc Azoulay. Producer and creator of numerous low-cost series, Azoulay truly brought a popular style to television, and was behind many successful programs, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. In the summers of 1993 and 1994, the producer arrived with the entire Club Dorothée team, to record the summer season of this children's program. For two months, Dorothée and her companions took us around the island by helicopter or barefoot on the beaches. Club "Do" tries out new educational content for youngsters, talking about sensitive subjects such as AIDS and ecology, while remaining entertaining. After this season on Saint-Martin, Azoulay remained very attached to the island, and in 2011, he took on board the famous Hélène, as well as Nicolas, José and "Cri-Cri", to shoot several scenes for the French series Les Mystères de l'amour. A spin-off of the cult series Hélène et les Garçons (1992-1994) and Les Vacances de l'Amour (1996-2007), the plot of this program remains basically the same, based on romance, drama and action (albeit with a slightly more exotic twist). The producer, in love with the island, also offers several jobs on these shoots and truly involves the whole of Saint-Martin in his work.
Twinning and SIFF
2016 marked a turning point in Saint-Martin's cinematic history, with the signing of a twinning agreement between the island and the town of Bry-sur-Marne. With this agreement, the two regions hope to develop their film productions, audiovisual training courses as well as attract film professionals to come and shoot on their territories. The year 2018 brings to the island of Saint-Martin, the creation of the SIFF (Saint-Martin International Film Festival). The brainchild of Cameroonian producer and director Joel Ayuk, the festival offers training workshops in the various stages of filmmaking (scriptwriting, directing, production and editing). The only edition of the festival took place on the magnificent beach of Simpson Bay and welcomed Mark Harris, American director of the film Black Coffee (2014) and actor Simeon Henderson. While it takes 15 years to create this cinematic event, SIFF unfortunately only exists for one year. Despite a serious lack of subsidies and support for cultural development, Saint-Martin and its inhabitants have no reason to despair of one day being able to call their island the "new Cannes".
