My film, Something’s Lurking in the Water, is an experimental short film about Yoruba goddesses Oshun and Olokun who come up from the earth’s crevices to inspire intimacy between two Bahamian female couples.

My piece is intended to appeal to an American film audience considering its references to American avant-garde filmmakers such as Maya Deren and Joseph Cornell, and to a wider Bahamian and Afro-Caribbean audience considering its main themes that are deeply steeped in African cosmology, Yoruba mythology, and Brazilian, Cuban and Bahamian culture.

I intend for this film to provoke thought within the areas of social justice among sexual minorities in the Bahamas and greater Caribbean. Furthermore, I plan for this film to start a conversation locally among queer communities and film communities in the Bahamas surrounding topics of homophobia, its ramifications for sexual minorities in the Bahamas, and the effect art making has on creating change around these issues.

Marinah Janello

trailer 1 from Marinah Janello on Vimeo.