A groundbreaking new initiative aimed at reshaping the global screen industry is gaining momentum, as the first-ever Beyond Boundaries Media Forum (BBMF) has announced an expanded, industry-leading leadership and mentorship network to advance its mission of cementing the Caribbean and African diaspora as central players in the evolving worldwide screen economy.
Founded and convened by Lisa Wickham, a Trinidad and Tobago-based media producer and executive with more than 20 years of experience building cross-continental creative partnerships across the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, North America, Asia and the United Kingdom, BBMF is designed to serve as a structured connection point between Africa and its global diaspora. Built on more than two decades of Wickham’s collaborative work across continents, the forum is presented by Imagine Media International Limited in partnership with the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council (ECPAC), a body operating under South Africa’s Eastern Cape Provincial Government. The event is scheduled to bring a curated group of top international producers and industry executives together for five days of strategic dialogue and collaboration in November 2026, hosted in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
Unlike informal industry gatherings that focus on casual networking, BBMF is structured around formal, treaty-based frameworks designed to turn creative alignment into long-term commercial and creative collaboration. Wickham emphasized that the Caribbean’s role in the global media space extends far beyond that of a cultural contributor, framing the region as a key strategic gateway for connecting African creators to global markets. “The Caribbean is not just a cultural participant; we are a strategic gateway,” Wickham said, noting that the initiative intentionally shifts cross-border collaboration from loose, informal arrangements to structured, treaty-backed production pipelines. Existing frameworks like the UK–Jamaica Co-production Treaty serve as a model for how Caribbean and African creators can formally partner with global industry players to convert shared cultural heritage into sustainable, long-term investment opportunities, she added.
At the core of BBMF’s structure is a purpose-built diaspora leadership network, featuring globally recognized industry figures spanning multiple sectors. Internationally acclaimed actor, producer and humanitarian Tatyana Ali, who has Trinidadian and Panamanian heritage, will serve as the forum’s inaugural Global Ambassador. Ali, best known for her breakout role as Ashley Banks on *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air*, is a Harvard graduate and five-time NAACP Image Award winner. BBMF leaders note Ali perfectly embodies the forum’s target “bridge audience” — a demographic that global industry data identifies as critical to building widespread mainstream appeal for Black-led storytelling.
Leading the forum’s Global Advisory Board is Jennifer Holness, a Jamaican-born, award-winning producer and screenwriter who serves as President of Hungry Eyes Media Group. Holness has had an outsize impact on building Canada’s screen industry infrastructure, co-founding both the Canadian Black Screen Office and the Canadian Independent Screen Fund, and serving as the inaugural board chair for both organizations for two and three years respectively.
The broader BBMF mentorship cohort draws high-profile leaders from across the Caribbean diaspora and global screen industry, including Angi Bones, President of Production at Tyler Perry Studios; Jackie Jackson, Jamaica’s Film Commissioner; Dr. Rachel-Ann Charles of the UK’s Birmingham City University, who bridges academic research and industry practice; Los Angeles-based Jamaican producer Robert Maylor, best known for his work on *Sprinter* and *Bob Marley: One Love*; award-winning Canadian creator duo Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland; and Joanna Miles, an international film marketing and festival consultant. Many of these leaders share deep Caribbean and African roots while holding major influence across global media markets.
A forward-looking, defining focus of the 2026 forum is addressing the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on the global media sector. BBMF will feature participation from Renéé Cummings, a Trinidad and Tobago-born, US-based leading expert in AI governance and ethics who has been featured in major outlets including Forbes, Bloomberg and VentureBeat. As AI revolutionizes core parts of content production, distribution and virtual creation, BBMF aims to lead global conversations around ethical AI governance, with a core goal of ensuring African and Caribbean creators can both protect their intellectual property and scale their content effectively within major global streaming ecosystems.
The entire initiative is rooted in recent independent industry research conducted by the Next Narrative Africa Fund and Parrot Analytics. The study confirmed a substantial unmet “supply gap” for authentic African and diasporan storytelling in global markets, while also highlighting that diaspora audiences are a core driver of commercial success for Black-led content on the global stage. To directly address this gap, BBMF will connect producers across treaty-aligned and partner nations — including Jamaica, the UK, Canada, India, Brazil and South Africa — into structured production pathways designed to strengthen and expand global distribution channels for underrepresented storytelling.
Monde Nkasawe, CEO of the Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council, welcomed the partnership, noting “The Eastern Cape is open for collaboration, and BBMF gives us the platform to demonstrate that at scale.” Nozipho Ndiweni, co-founder of Imagine Media Africa (Pty), highlighted the long-standing collaborative foundation of the forum, noting she has worked alongside Wickham in South Africa since 2011, including on a documentary exploring how a Trinidad and Tobago-inspired Carnival model was used to drive community economic development in Bella Bella, Limpopo. Ndiweni explained the forum will create a structured space for African producers to connect with Caribbean and global industry partners who already recognize the inherent commercial and cultural value of African stories.
As of the announcement, the official call for producer applications is now open, with interested creators able to submit applications through the official BBMF portal. The full mentorship network also includes additional leaders from across North America, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa: Antoinetta Stallings, Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at Tyler Perry Studios; Emmy and Gracie Award-winning executive producer Nzinga Christine-Blake; Jacqueline Shorter Beauchamp, CEO of next-generation AI cloud firm Engenio Media Studios; BAFTA Award-winning producers Natasha Dack Ojumu and Nadine Marsh-Edwards; acquisitions executive Nicola Ofoego; Black Screen Office CEO Joan Jenkinson; acclaimed Ghanaian producer-director Shirley Frimpong-Manso; and legal experts Joshua A. Edwards of Fox Rothschild and Pierre-Emmanuel Mouthuy of Mouthuy Avocats.