Six years in the making, first-time documentary filmmaker Farrah La Ronde-Hutchison’s deeply personal project *Women of Dominica* is set to make its world public premiere at the 2026 Urban Film Festival in Miami, Florida, this September.
Rooted in intergenerational connection and cultural celebration, the documentary centers on 10 Dominican women spanning multiple age groups. Each participant opens up about their personal journeys, unpacking nuanced conversations around what it means to be a woman, Caribbean cultural identity, the power of mentorship, the bonds of sisterhood, and the vital cultural wisdom that passes from older generations to younger ones.
The idea for the project grew directly out of La Ronde-Hutchison’s own family story. Her own mother, a lifelong cultural steward who has dedicated decades to preserving Dominica’s traditional garment craft, was honored with the island’s prestigious Golden Drum Award in 2019 for her contributions to cultural heritage. On the other side of the generational divide, La Ronde-Hutchison’s daughter is growing up in the United States, navigating and building her own relationship to her Dominican roots.
“My mother and my daughter were the core inspiration for this film,” La Ronde-Hutchison shared in a statement about the project. “All through my life, women have been my pillars, my support system, and my teachers. I wanted to honor that legacy and pay tribute to those bonds on screen.”
Beyond its personal origins, the documentary took six years of careful development to complete, with each of the 10 featured women collaborating closely with the filmmaker to verify cultural details and source original archival and personal materials for the production. One of the documentary’s key thematic insights is its framing of mentorship as a reciprocal, two-way exchange: while older women pass down hard-won wisdom, La Ronde-Hutchison emphasizes that younger generations equally have critical, valuable perspectives to share with their elders.
The Caribbean island nation of Dominica itself acts as a central character in the film, with its lush, iconic landscapes, vibrant Creole cultural traditions, handcrafted traditional clothing, local cuisine, and native music woven throughout each woman’s story. The documentary also turns a thoughtful lens on the remarkable resilience of Dominican women and local communities in the wake of repeated devastating natural disasters that have impacted the island in recent decades.
La Ronde-Hutchison is far more than a storyteller: a trained environmental scientist, educator, and cultural advocate with over 10 years of hands-on experience working in coastal restoration and sustainability policy, she also founded the Wild Dominica Conservancy, a U.S.-based non-profit organization dedicated to advancing environmental conservation efforts on the island.
Selected as an official entry for the 2026 Urban Film Festival, *Women of Dominica* will hold its first public screening on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 3:05 p.m. in Theater 14 of Silverspot Cinema, located in downtown Miami. General registration to attend the festival is free for all audiences.