Film about British Caribbean lives during WWII to launch this autumn

The Old Royal Naval College has been commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to present a unique and powerful film installation reframing narratives of war. Cornwallis Cloth, which will be launched in Autumn 2025, is inspired by oral testimony and the untold stories of British Caribbean lives during the Second World War. Set in a moonlit tropical garden in Barbados in 1942, the film brings together 3D sound design, performance and archive montage to create a captivating and poetic Caribbean comedy melodrama vignette.

Cornwallis Cloth, created and produced by Sweet Patootee Arts, is part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national partnership programme of over 20 artist commissions inspired by the heritage of conflict. Led by Imperial War Museums, the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund was created following the success of 14-18 NOW, the official UK arts programme for the First World War centenary.

This 20-minute film installation explores loyalty and freedom and investigates emerging post colonial identity with dramatic intensity and satirical humour. It interweaves a soundtrack of calypso and colonial anthems to form a striking experience. The film centres around Mrs Bonita Skeete (aka Bonny), a Black woman whose story operates as a metaphor for British Caribbean civil rights in WW2. Through character accounts in the tropical garden from stirred up patriots, rebels, black marketeers, and in-betweens, the film sheds light upon the 1942 U-boat attacks on the SS Cornwallis’, as well as war leaders, the fight for freedom, rationing, and the fate that befalls those found with looted Cornwallis cloth.

Sweet Patootee Arts, a dynamic Arts & Heritage non-profit organisation founded by co-Artistic Directors Tony T and Rebecca Goldstone, comments: “We bring inspiring, compelling and diverse stories of real people to an international audience. All of our work is underpinned by our belief that people from all backgrounds have stories that deserve to be heard. Cornwallis Cloth addresses the gaining of freedom and agency within the Black British colonial context. The narrative arc crafts history’s neglected voices with fierce beauty, in a call to arms: journeys from Black British colonial heritage await to be explored.”

Helen White, Senior Interpretation Manager at the Old Royal Naval College, says: “Sweet Patootee Arts have created Cornwallis Cloth based on oral testimony interviews with wartime civilians across the Caribbean; Merchant Seamen; and British, German and US navy veterans who experienced the Second World War in the western Atlantic. Some scenes were filmed here at the Old Royal Naval College. We are delighted to have the opportunity to present this important film installation and to support it with an exhibition exploring the background to the Second World War period in the British Caribbean.”

Hosting this extraordinarily enlightening film installation at the Old Royal Naval College reflects not only the very scenes shown in Cornwallis Cloth, but also the rich historical significance of uncovering the stories of the past. The exhibition will open on Saturday 11 October.