Sunday, April 19, 2026
4 p.m. Bajo el Sol Gallery

On Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 4 p.m. Bajo el Sol Gallery, the Gri Gri Project, and the St. John Film Society will host a screening for multiple films by filmmaker and artist Vashni Korin. Attendees will have the opportunity to view Korin’s films, “You Can’t Stop Spirit”, “Negra, Yo Soy Bella”, and “RATHER THAN A POWER”, and engage with the filmmaker in a Q&A session following the screening. There is a suggested donation of $5.

Part of the mission of the St. John Film Society is to present independent films that celebrate the human spirit with a focus on the Caribbean. The upcoming film screening will feature Korin’s works that depict multiple Afro-diasporic perspectives including that of the women of the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition, an Afro-Puerto Rican woman healing through the Bomba dance tradition, and more.

Vashni Korin is a filmmaker and artist who works with time-based media blending auto-ethnography, documentary, fiction and sound. Her practice explores public and private ritual through beauty, symbol and rites of passage with emphasis on feminine power. She earned a BA in Journalism from Xavier University of Louisiana and is best known for her cultural documentary work “You Can’t Stop Spirit”(New Orleans, LA) featured in the New York Times, Peréz Art Museum Miami and New Orleans Film Festival Prospect 5 (2021).  “Negra, Yo Soy Bella” (Puerto Rico) is a short featured on BET + and screened at film festivals in Latin America and the Caribbean. Other works, such as A Prayer (2022), were shown at The Kitchen and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Awards and accolades for her works include Best Documentary Short at the 2021 London Independent Film Festival, Best Documentary Short at the 2021 New Orleans Film Festival, as well as the 2021 Reel South Award, the 2021 Best Documentary Short Indie Memphis Film Festival & Audience Award, and a Best Documentary Short Nomination in the 2021 Blackstar Film Festival.

Bajo El Sol Gallery is located in Mongoose Junction, St. John it is home of the Gri Gri Project.  The Gri Gri Project’s mission is the creation of interpretive exhibitions, critical writing, events and archives related to the cultural patrimony of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the broader Caribbean region.

More information about the film screening and about future films can be found by contacting Raven Philips at the gallery at 340-693-7070 or bajoelsolgallery@gmail.com.