A destination film for the return of travel

During the COVID shutdown in 2020, the Tourism Bureau was looking ahead. They wanted a destination film ready to promote Sint Maarten when travel opened up again, with advertising planned for platforms such as Expedia.

The brief was to create that invitation while much of the island was closed. It meant thinking beyond what we could film at the time and finding a way to show the destination people would be able to experience again.

I worked with a three-person team at the Tourism Bureau. We planned the scripts together, discussed locations, and collaborated on location scouting. Their team helped identify places to film, while I brought my knowledge of the island and the footage I already had.

That existing collection was part of what made the project possible. I had drone shots and scenes from events such as Carnival that we could draw on alongside new filming.

The Tourism Bureau arranged a pass that allowed me to go out and film during the lockdown. With that access, I could capture new material for the project despite the restrictions.

But some parts of the island’s life could not be recreated then. Carnival was an obvious example. My earlier footage let us include those moments without trying to stage an experience that was not happening.

The film brought those two sources together: material I shot during the shutdown and footage I had captured before it. The aim was to present the island as a destination to look forward to visiting, with a broader view than the lockdown alone could provide.

There were many revisions and a lot of back-and-forth with the Bureau’s team. We worked through that feedback until the film was approved.

The result was an approved destination film prepared for the Bureau’s reopening marketing. It gave the team a finished piece to support the campaign they were planning for the return of travel.

For me, the project showed the value of building an archive over time. Footage captured before the brief existed became essential when the scenes we needed could no longer be filmed. The collaboration, new filming, and existing material all contributed to getting the final film approved.