The Crop Over carnival is a harvest festival, which historically marks the end of the sugar cane season in Barbados but originates out of the conditions of plantation life and sugar production in the Caribbean.

Crop Over is also a response to the history of Harewood House in the UK, and its relationship to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The film begins at Harewood House, built by Edward Lascelles, who made his wealth in Barbados and Jamaica by trading in plantations and slaves. A stilt walker wanders through the majestic gardens, confidently negotiating the grounds of the beautiful English country house.

Then, we are transported to the brooding skies that hang over the sugarcane fields in Barbados and to the splendour of a plantation house. The plantation house echoes the grandeur of Harewood but is surrounded by an avenue of exotic palm trees, a pool of water lilies, and lotus flowers, drawing parallels between the cultivated landscapes of both Barbados and Britain- a reminder of who owned, worked on, and now enjoys these different landscapes.

The Crop Over festival comes out of the convergence of these different histories and spaces. As the film unfolds, cultural historians’ comment on the folk characters associated with the festivities; Donkeyman, Mother Sally, Shaggy Bear and Stilt Walker, as these folkloric figures occupy both Harewood House and the plantation house in Barbados with their improvised performances. Folk characters would never usually be seen inside plantation houses and the act itself is considered by locals to be transgressive.

The contemplative nature of the film then changes, as we are taken directly to the pinnacle of the Crop Over festival, Grand Kadooment Day. Surrounded by Mas bands, dancers and street revellers, we are submerged into the heady world of masquerade and the carnivalesque.