Our energy for arts and culture starts here
...and never stops BPTT has contributed over TT$15 million to Culture and the Arts in the past ten years
www.bptt.com
Where there is energy‌ there is bpTT
contents 1 2 3 5 5 6 9 11 12 13 14 15 15 16 17 23 24 27 28 28 29 29
festival basics sponsors + partners 10th anniversary message free films at bpTT film nights bpTT youth jury + prize awards + juries opening night film introduction to films caribbean fiction features in competition caribbean documentary features in competition trinidad and tobago fiction features in competition trinidad and tobago documentary features in competition caribbean narrative features out of competition caribbean documentary features out of competition panorama fiction features panorama documentary features classic caribbean films short and medium-length fiction films in competition short and medium-length t+t fiction films in competition short and medium-length documentary films in competition short and medium-length t+t documentary films in competition short and medium-length fiction films out of competition
31 34 34 35 36 39 39 41 41 43 43 45 45 47 48 50 54 55 56 60 60
short and medium-length documentary films out of competition shorts package: animae caribe shorts package: international short film festival of mauritius shorts package: edinburgh short films festival new media university of the west indies studiofilmclub rbc focus: filmmakers’ immersion dreamticket animation workshop by animae caribe link. think. drink. we are new fire special event: world premiere of bazodee caribbean film mart and database: introduction caribbean film mart: projects caribbean film mart: industry caribbean cinema now caribbean film mart: pitch + panels schedule at a glance index of films who we are
festival basics WHERE TO GET TICKETS Tickets are available at venues at the time of screenings, and in advance at the box office. Tickets at MovieTowne are $30. Schoolchildren in uniform pay $20. Screenings at all other venues, except Globe Cinema, are free.
MERCHANDISE Film festival merchandise will be sold at MovieTowne Port of Spain and at the ttff Secretariat at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad.
APP + TICKTR The Festival is at your fingertips! Download the ttff/15 app for iPhone and Android. In addition to browsing films and viewing trailers, you can now purchase ttff tickets* from your phone, thanks to our new partnership with Ticktr – Trinidad and Tobago’s premiere movie-ticketing app. Look for the Ticktr symbol at the bottom of film pages to purchase, and follow on-screen directions. See you at the movies! *You must have the Ticktr app installed; download it for free at your app store.
VENUES MovieTowne Audrey Jeffers Highway Port of Spain Lowlands Mall, Tobago Tel: (+)1.868.627.8277 movietowne.com Please vacate the cinema between screenings. University of the West Indies Film Department Building 12 Carmody Road, St Augustine sta.uwi.edu/fhe/film Hyatt Regency Trinidad Wrightson Road Port of Spain Tel: (+)1.868.623.2222 www.trinidad.hyatt.com Medulla Art Gallery 37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook Port of Spain Tel: (+)1.868.622.1196 Alice Yard 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook Port of Spain aliceyard.blogspot.com Big Black Box 33 Murray Street, Woodbrook Port of Spain Tel: (+)1.868.622.1001 Drink Lounge & Bistro 63 Rosalino Street Woodbrook Tel (+)1.868.223.7243
Globe Cinema Cor. Park + St Vincent Streets Port of Spain Tel: (+)1.868.623.1063 Southern Academy for the Performing Arts Todd Street San Fernando Tel: (+)1.868.657.4380 StudioFilmClub 7 Fernandes Industrial Centre Laventille NALIS: National Library of Trinidad and Tobago Hart + Abercromby Streets Port of Spain http://www.nalis.gov.tt Tel: (+)1.868.623.6962/ 624.1130 Couva Joylanders Panyard Railway Road Couva ttff office 199 Belmont Circular Road Port of Spain Trinidad+Tobago Tel: (+)1.868.621.0709 Tel: (+)1.868.621.3473 ttfilmfestival.com Find us on
ttfilmfestival.com
1
FESTIVAL GUIDE
sponsors + partners The trinidad+tobago film festival would like to acknowledge the generous support of our sponsors and partners.
PRESENTING SPONSOR Flow LEADING SPONSORS BPTT Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT) SPECIAL INITIATIVES African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States/European Union Amnesty International SUPPORTING SPONSORS RBC Royal Bank The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd Embassy of the United States of America Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism National Lotteries Control Board Tourism Development Company OFFICIAL PARTNERS North Eleven Hyatt Regency Trinidad SCRIP-J/BOSS Drink Lounge & Bistro Abovegroup Digimedia Photo + Cinema Caribbean Airlines Heineken Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago Zoom Caribbean Hardys Ticktr L’Oréal Paris HOME YoPro Global Economic Development Board of Trinidad and Tobago
PROGRAMMING PARTNERS Alice Yard ARC Magazine StudioFilmClub University of the West Indies
2
15–29 september
VENUE PARTNERS MovieTowne Port of Spain MovieTowne Tobago Medulla Art Gallery StudioFilmClub Alice Yard Big Black Box HOME
IN-KIND PARTNERS Act II Popcorn Aveda Day Spa Button Guys The Canvas Bistro Chaud Café & Wine Bar Dolce Vita Gourmet Café Hong Kong Graffiti Limited
Mario’s Las Lap Restaurant and Bar Paprika Restaurant and Bar The Shanghai Experience Subway Veni Mangé Zanzibar
it starts here.
The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is ten. We are pleased to welcome you to the tenth edition of the Festival. Ten is a symbolic number representing excellence, even perfection, although we are not so bold as to make this claim. We have, however, made major strides in producing a first-class film festival, of which we can all be proud.
Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Martinique, as we bring Caribbean films to Caribbean people, and regional filmmakers into conversation with one another. We have also taken the ttff outside the region, forging relationships with key festivals in North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa.
The ttff has its beginnings in the Kairi Film Festival that was held in 2002. However, the actual launch of the ttff took place in September 2006. The first edition had a very small budget but a dedicated team; three of its members are still with the Festival.
However, as much as our reach has extended across the globe, we still seek to keep true to our core mission of presenting entertaining and thought-provoking films to local audiences, as well as helping to develop a Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean film industry.
That first edition of the ttff ran for one week, had comparatively few films, and even fewer international guests. But the Festival was off and running, and audiences appreciated our emphasis on showing films from Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean, the Caribbean diaspora and our heritage countries, especially India and countries in Africa. (This last section has since expanded to include other countries and is now called the Panorama section.)
As the Festival has progressed, we have tried to live up to our slogans: “You’re in focus”, “Keep calm and watch films” (when the Festival was held during a state of emergency!), “hotter”, and, this year, “it starts here.”
From its modest beginnings in 2006, the ttff has grown considerably. The annual Festival is now two weeks long, with over a hundred films (features and shorts) being screened, and more than a hundred local and international guest filmmakers and industry professionals in attendance. More members of the public come to the Festival than ever before; over 19,000 people attended all Festival events in 2014. The Festival has also grown beyond our shores. In the past few years we have established partnerships with festivals in Cuba,
We would like to thank everyone who has helped us on this journey. We trust you will continue to support the ttff as you enjoy the fruit of ten years of work by a team that is passionate about film, and just as passionate about its appreciative and loyal audience. Thank you.
Bruce Paddington Founder and Festival Director
ttfilmfestival.com
3
FESTIVAL GUIDE
4
15–29 september
free films at bpTT film nights
Margarita, with a Straw
BPTT, a leading sponsor of the ttff, is treating some of the Festival’s audience members to free films at ttff/15! On Thursday 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September 2015, bpTT will sponsor the 9.00pm screenings of ttff films at MovieTowne POS, along with refreshments up to the value of $30 at the concession. You can pre-book tickets for these free screenings from Wednesday 02 to Friday 11 September by calling 621.0709 or emailing hello@ttfilmfestival.com.
Gone with the River
From Monday 14 September, you can collect tickets at the ttff Secretariat at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, and from the ttff headquarters in the MovieTowne lobby on the days of the screenings. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, firstserved basis. You will also receive a card to trade in for refreshments at MovieTowne’s concession. The cards will only be valid from Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 September 2015.
Thursday 17 September, 9.00pm: Gone with the River (Venezuela, 2015), directed by Mario Crespo. Spanish and Warao, with English subtitles Friday 18 September, 9.00pm: Margarita, with a Straw (India, 2014), directed by Shonali Bose. Hindi and English, with English subtitles Saturday 19 September, 9.00pm: Güeros (Mexico, 2014), directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios. Spanish, with English subtitles
The fiction feature films being screened during the bpTT Film Nights are:
See the film section of the guide for the synopsis of each film.
BPTT has been a committed sponsor of the ttff for the last six years. They have supported the honouring of T&T film pioneers and visionaries, sponsored prizes for T&T filmmakers, and—for the second year running—are sponsoring the youth jury and the youth jury prize. We look forward to seeing you at MovieTowne POS on Thursday 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September at 9.00pm each night, for free screenings and snacks, courtesy of bpTT!
the bpTT youth jury and prize
Güeros
BC Pires
Girlhood
After its successful introduction last year, the bpTT Youth Jury and Prize returns in 2015. The initiative was conceived as a way of stimulating interest in and a critical appreciation of independent film among Trinidad and Tobago’s youth.
The five jurors will meet at the ttff/15. Under the guidance of Trinidad and Tobago film critic, BC Pires, the jury will watch eight Caribbean and international featurelength fiction films that feature young protagonists.
The prize will be awarded to the best film of the ttff/15, as decided by a jury of five young people ranging in age from 16 to 21. The jurors were selected by an open call. To be considered for the jury, each applicant had to submit an essay saying what their favourite film is, and why.
After the jury has viewed all the films in competition, it will choose the winning film. The director of this film will receive a trophy plus a cash award of TT$5,000, sponsored by bpTT, to be presented at the ttff/15 awards ceremony on Sunday 27 September at the Central Bank Auditorium.
For a list of the films in competition for the bpTT Youth Jury and Prize, see the awards section of the guide, on page 6.
ttfilmfestival.com
5
FESTIVAL GUIDE
awards + juries
ttff/14 awards
AWARDS The ttff awards prizes in three categories: jury prizes, people’s choice awards and special awards. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 27 September at the Central Bank Auditorium in Port of Spain. JURY PRIZES BEST FEATURE FILM – FICTION TT$20,000 / Sponsored by National Gas Company In competition: Murder in Pacot - Raoul Peck: Haiti, France, Norway Project of the Century - Carlos Machado Quintela: Cuba, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland Sand Dollars - Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán: Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina Venice - Kiki Álvarez: Cuba, Colombia BEST FEATURE FILM – DOCUMENTARY TT$20,000 / Sponsored by National Gas Company In competition: Casa Blanca - Aleksandra Maciuszek: Cuba, Mexico, Poland Citizens of Nowhere - Nicolas Alexandre Tremblay: Dominican Republic, Haiti Denis – Gabrielle Blackwood: Jamaica My Father’s Land - Miquel Galofré and Tyler Johnston: The Bahamas, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago Vanishing Sail - Alexis Andrews: Antigua BEST SHORT FILM – FICTION TT$10,000 / Sponsored by National Gas Company In competition: Alto Vista – Juan Francisco Pardo: Aruba April 4th 1968 – Myriam Gharbi: Guadeloupe Aurora – Pascal Fontana: Puerto Rico The English Teacher – Alán González: Cuba Giants – Damian Marcano: Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, USA In the Horizon’s Dreams – Ramón Alfonso Peña: Dominican Republic Mommy Water – Julien Silloray: Guadeloupe Ti Coq – Nadia Charlery: Martinique Twilight – Juan Pablo Daranas Molina: Cuba A Wall – Javier Ferreiro: Cuba BEST SHORT FILM – DOCUMENTARY TT$10,000 / Sponsored by the National Gas Company In competition: The Enemy – Aldemar Matías: Cuba The Farewell – Alejandro Alonso: Cuba Lorenza, the Radio and You – Roya Esraghi: Cuba The Miracle Worker – Diana Montero: Cuba Papa Machete – Jonathan David Kane: Haiti, USA, Barbados Sixteen – Vashti Harrison: Trinidad and Tobago, USA BEST TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FEATURE FILM - FICTION TT$15,000 / Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company In competition: Bazodee – Todd Kessler Pendulum – Michael Rochford
6
15–29 september
Sally’s Way – Joanne Gail Johnson Trafficked – Sean Hodgkinson BEST TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FEATURE FILM - DOCUMENTARY TT$15,000 / Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT) In competition: My Father’s Land – Miquel Galofré and Tyler Johnston Our Soul Turned Inside Out – Mary-Ann Brailey Re-percussions: Our African Odyssey – Kim Johnson BEST TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SHORT FILM – FICTION TT$7,500 / Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT) In competition: Fade to Black – Christopher Guinness Giants – Damian Marcano Goldfish – Elenie Chung BEST TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SHORT FILM – DOCUMENTARY TT$7,500 / Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT) In competition: Riding Bull Cart – Rhonda Chan Soo Sixteen – Vashti Harrison The Cuatro Man – Mikhail Gibbings Paradise Lost – Christopher Laird BEST FILM AS DECIDED BY A YOUTH JURY TT$5,000 / Sponsored by bpTT In competition: Girlhood – Céline Sciamma: France The Greatest House in the World – Ana V. Bojórquez and Lucía Carreras: Guatemala, Mexico Güeros – Alonso Ruizpalacios: Mexico Honeytrap – Rebecca Johnson: United Kingdom Margarita, with a Straw – Shonali Bose: India On the Road, Somewhere – Guillermo Zouain: Dominican Republic Stories of Our Lives – Jim Chuchu: Kenya, South Africa Theeb – Naji Abu Nowar: Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE TT$5,000 In competition: Casa Blanca – Aleksandra Maciuszek: Cuba, Mexico, Poland Citizens of Nowhere – Regis Coussot and Nicolas Alexandre Tremblay: Dominican Republic, Haiti The Last Colony – Juan Agustín Márquez: Puerto Rico My Father’s Land – Miquel Galofré and Tyler Johnston: The Bahamas, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS BEST FEATURE FILM – FICTION BEST FEATURE FILM – DOCUMENTARY BEST SHORT FILM TT$5,000 each / Sponsored by Flow
SPECIAL AWARDS CARIBBEAN FILM MART BEST PROJECT A place in the Rotterdam Producers Lab at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016 Sponsored by bpTT BEST EMERGING TRINIDAD+TOBAGO FILMMAKER An all-expenses paid trip to the Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016 Sponsored by bpTT RBC FOCUS: FILMMAKERS’ IMMERSION PITCH WINNER TT$20,000 / Sponsored by RBC Royal Bank
THE JURIES
DC
RL
PP
Diana Cadavid Diana Cadavid is a Programming Associate at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she has provided support for the Ibero-American programme for the past six editions. She is the Programming Manager for the International Film Festival of Panama, and programmes for the aluCine Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto. She also collaborates with Torontonian artists in the editing and montage of installation pieces. Romola Lucas Romola Lucas, an attorney by profession, is the Co-Founder of the Caribbean Film Academy (CaFA), a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit organisation working to increase the visibility of Caribbean filmmakers both in the region and in the diaspora. She works as a producer on CaFA’s productions, and blogs about Caribbean films and filmmaking.
FEATURES
SB
SHORTS
JL
NG
Shonali Bose Shonali Bose is a filmmaker, with a Masters in Political Science from Columbia University and an MFA in Directing from the UCLA Film School. Her debut narrative feature film, Amu (2005), opened at the Berlin International Film Festival and won numerous awards. Bose’s second feature film, Margarita, with a Straw (2014; ttff/15), opened at the Toronto International Film Festival to great acclaim. She lives between Los Angeles and India and is a single mother. Jaie Laplante Jaie Laplante is the Director of the Miami International Film Festival, a position he has held since 2010. He began his career as a critic and journalist in Canada in the late 1980s. He then worked on numerous independent productions in Toronto and Los Angeles, and received an Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Sugar. He was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Film & Entertainment Advisory Board in 2013. Nicole Guillemet Nicole Guillemet served as Vice-President of the Sundance Institute and Co-Director of the Sundance Film Festival for over fifteen years, and Director of the Miami International Film Festival from 2002–2007. In the last eight years, she has worked as a consultant for various festivals and serves on the board of a number of arts organisations, including Women Make Movies. She is an executive producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Square (2013).
Percy Pinedo Percy Pinedo is a native of Curaçao. Since 2006, he has been project leader of all projects of the Fundashon Bon Intenshon (Foundation for Good Intention). He is responsible for the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival, Curaçao International Blue Seas Festival, and is the Director of the Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE
BG
JN
CS
Blanca Granados Blanca Granados is Head of Industry at the Cartagena International Film Festival in Colombia, curator of the Ibero-American section of the International Film Festival of India in Goa, Director of Public Relations for the International Film Festival of Panama, and a publicist at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has an MA in Film and Literature from the University of Toronto. Jason Nathu Jason Nathu is an attorney-at-law and a tutor at the Legal Aid Clinic at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. He is also responsible for the Human Rights Law Clinic, in which he trains students in human rights education and advocacy, in areas such as human trafficking, bullying in schools and LGBT rights. Chiara Sangiorgio Chiara Sangiorgio joined Amnesty International’s global death penalty team in 2008, and has since then coordinated its campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. She has coordinated Amnesty International’s work in support of the UN General Assembly’s resolutions on a moratorium on the death penalty, and participated in research and advocacy missions for the organisation.
ttfilmfestival.com
7
FESTIVAL GUIDE
WE’RE SO GOOD AT GETTING IT RIGHT We’re even bad at pretending to get it wrong.
8
15–29 september
opening night film
TUESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER QUEEN’S HALL St Ann’s Road, Port of Spain 6.00pm – Cocktail reception 7.30pm – Film screening: Sweet Micky for President Ben Patterson and Pras Michel will be present to introduce their film. EUPHORIA LOUNGE Dundonald Street, Port of Spain 9.30pm – After-party (cash bar) Limited tickets are on sale for $200. To book, please call 621.0709.
SWEET MICKY FOR PRESIDENT Director: Ben Patterson 2015 Haiti, USA Haitian Creole, French and English, with English subtitles Documentary feature / 89 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Sweet Micky for President follows Pras Michel, founder of the acclaimed Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group the Fugees, as he returns to his homeland of Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake and finds a country in paralysis. With no experience or money, Pras mobilises a presidential campaign for the unlikeliest of candidates: his friend Michel Martelly, aka Sweet Micky, Haiti’s most popular, outlandish and controversial pop star. The naively idealistic and politically inexperienced pair set out to triumph against a corrupt government, civil unrest and a fixed election. When Pras’ former bandmate, superstar Wyclef Jean, also enters the presidential race, their chances seem further doomed, but despite the odds, they never give up on their dream of changing the course of Haiti’s future forever. Pras Michel as storyteller and Ben Patterson as director of Sweet Micky for President, brilliantly capture an important—and improbable—moment in Haiti’s history, as a fledgling democracy battles to produce a government worthy of the country’s status as the world’s first black republic.
About the director Ben Patterson is a native of Alliance, Ohio. In 2008, he founded the New York City-based media production company, Onslot Creative. He has produced segments for several concert documentaries and television movies. Sweet Micky for President is his first feature-length documentary. About the producer Pras Michel rose to international superstardom as a member of the Fugees, who stepped onto the music scene with a hip-hop sound mixed with a Caribbean beat. As a solo artist, he is best known for writing and producing the hit “Ghetto Superstar”. Pras is managing director of a private equity fund, and was one of the leading campaign fundraisers for Barack Obama.
ttfilmfestival.com
9
FESTIVAL GUIDE
It’s not simply what you escape. It’s what you encounter when you get here. With a prime location in the heart of downtown Port of Spain, Hyatt Regency Trinidad is the premier hotel for any type of getaway. Spacious suites offer spectacular gulf views, flat-screen televisions and our signature Hyatt Grand Bed™, while our 9,000 square-foot locally inspired spa and rooftop infinity pool overlooking the gulf provide a luxurious retreat. World-class cuisine, sushi bar, lobby lounge and deluxe facilities designed to accommodate weddings, events and parties of all sizes ensure guests will get the most out of their stay. For reservations, call 868 623 2222 or visit trinidad.hyatt.com. Hyatt. You’re More Than Welcome.
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD 1 Wrightson Road, Port Of Spain 868 623 2222 The trademarks HYATT, and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. © 2015 Hyatt Hotels Corporation. All rights reserved.
10
15–29 september
the ttff/15 film lineup CARIBBEAN FEATURES
PANORAMA FEATURES
CARIBBEAN CLASSICS
The Caribbean section comprises feature-length films from the Caribbean, the diaspora, as well as films by international filmmakers made in and about the region.
The Panorama section consists of feature-length films from world cinema. The films in this section come from North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East.
This section comprises ten classic Caribbean films, screening in celebration of ten years of ttff.
The section is divided into four parts: fiction films in competition, fiction films out of competition, documentary films in competition, and documentary films out of competition.
The section is divided into two parts: fiction films and documentaries.
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FILMS This section comprises films under 30 minutes in length (shorts) and films between 30 and 52 minutes in length (medium-length films) from the Caribbean and its diaspora.
NEW MEDIA The New Media section comprises video art and experimental films made by artists and filmmakers from the Caribbean and its diaspora, and is cocurated by the ttff and ARC Magazine.
The section is divided into four parts: fiction films in competition, fiction films out of competition, documentary films in competition, and documentary films out of competition. There is also a special lineup of curated shorts packages.
The ttff/15 programming committee: Annabelle Alcazar, Jonathan Ali, Melvina Hazard, Bruce Paddington, Christopher Meir and Emilie Upczak
ttfilmfestival.com
11
CARIBBEAN FICTION FEATURES IN COMPETITION
MURDER IN PACOT
THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY
Director: Raoul Peck 2014 Haiti, France, Norway French and Haitian Creole, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/130 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Carlos Machado Quintela 2015 Cuba, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland Spanish, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/100 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
After the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, a bourgeois couple struggles to rebuild a life amid the rubble of their luxurious home. Needing money, they decide to rent the habitable part of their villa to Alex, a French aid worker. He brings with him Andrémise, a poor but ambitious Haitian girl. The couple, strained by the loss of their social position, their ideals and their dreams, must face up to this unwelcome intrusion.
When the USSR collapsed, so did the Soviet-Cuban plan to build the Caribbean’s first nuclear power plant. Twenty-five years later, the “Project of the Century” remains unfinished, colouring the lives of the inhabitants of the nearby Electro-Nuclear City (ENC). Three generations of men—Otto, Rafael and Leo—live in an apartment in the ENC, unable to get on with one another. Trapped by the promise of a future that never came, they are the unwilling protagonists in this radioactive ballad to solitary men.
Wed 23 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS
12
Wed 23 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
SAND DOLLARS
VENICE
Directors: Israel Cárdenas, Laura Amelia Guzmán 2014 Dominican Republic, Mexico, Argentina Spanish, English and French, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/85 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Kiki Álvarez 2014 Cuba, Colombia Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/74 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic is a tourist’s dream: lush vegetation, windswept beaches and turquoise waters. Anne, a rich, elderly Frenchwoman, has been in a relationship in Las Terrenas for some time with Noelí, a young Dominicana. Although Anne knows that Noelí sees her primarily as a source of money, she is hopelessly in love with the girl. When Noelí reveals that she’s pregnant, Anne’s romantic illusions start to come undone.
It’s payday at the hair salon in Havana where Mónica, Violeta and Mayelin work, and the three young women decide to go out together. They begin to share details of their lives, their dreams and their desires, and a new intimacy develops among them. Finally they arrive at a club. It is here, surrounded by sweaty bodies and pulsating techno music, that the women separate, each looking for fulfillment that she cannot share with the others.
Thu 24 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Wed 16 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
15–29 september
CARIBBEAN DOCUMENTARY FEATURES IN COMPETITION
CASA BLANCA
CITIZENS OF NOWHERE
Director: Aleksandra Maciuszek 2015 Cuba, Mexico, Poland Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary feature/60 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Directors: Regis Coussot, Nicolas Alexandre Tremblay 2015 Dominican Republic, Haiti Spanish and Haitian Creole, with English subtitles. Documentary feature/52 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Nelsa, 76, and her son Vladimir, 37, who has Down syndrome, share a tiny room in an apartment building in Havana. Vladimir is the only one to care for Nelsa; Nelsa is the only person to watch over Vladimir. Every day, Nelsa wanders the streets in search of her only child, who prefers to play cards and drink rum with the local men rather than spend time with his mother. When Nelsa falls gravely ill and goes to hospital, Vladimir is left in a precarious position.
September 2013. Almost 250,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent are now stateless due to a ruling of the country’s constitutional court. Identified as scapegoats for all the problems affecting the country, they have lost their rights, liberty and identity. Narrated by Haitian poet and playwright Jean-Claude Martineau, this film takes us to the heart of the human drama lived by these migrants who have sacrificed everything to follow their dream of freedom.
Fri 18 Sept, 2.30pm, UWI Wed 23 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Fri 18 Sept, 10.00am, UWI Tue 22 Sept, 1.45pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
DENIS
MY FATHER’S LAND
Director: Gabrielle Blackwood 2015 Jamaica English Documentary feature/60 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Directors: Miquel Galofré, Tyler Johnston 2015 The Bahamas, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago English, Haitian Creole, Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary feature/60 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Denis Mckenzie, a proud and independent family man from Jamaica, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 43. The disease eventually renders him almost completely paralysed and speechless. Given five years to live, Denis tries, with the assistance of his wife, to fight the aggressive and emaciating illness. Interspersed with imaginative recreations, Denis is a touching, uplifting testament to the dogged and indomitable character of the human spirit. Wed 16 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 18 Sept, 12.30pm, UWI Fri 25 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago Sun 27 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
Papa Jah, a Haitian gardener, has spent the last forty years in the Bahamas, living in a marginalised community named the Mud. When news arrives that his 103-year-old father has taken ill back in Haiti, Papa Jah fears he may not see him before he passes. Papa Jah travels back to Haiti to his family’s small village on the island La Tortue, to reunite with his father, hopefully before it is too late. Also in competition for best Trinidad and Tobago documentary Sun 20 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Fri 25 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago
ttfilmfestival.com
13
CARIBBEAN DOCUMENTARY FEATURES IN COMPETITION
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FICTION FEATURES IN COMPETITION
VANISHING SAIL
BAZODEE
Director: Alexis Andrews 2015 Antigua English Documentary feature/88 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Todd Kessler 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction feature/90 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
In the Grenadines, the traditions of boat-building were once crucial to the survival of the islanders. Today, these skills have all but vanished. Alwyn Enoe, one of the last boat-builders of Carriacou, practises a trade passed down the generations from the Scottish settlers who arrived in the 19th century. Approaching his 70s, Alwyn decides to create a final sailing vessel before the skills introduced by his ancestors are lost forever.
Anita is the daughter of Ram, a secretly deep-in-debt businessman. About to marry a wealthy suitor, Anita meets a rugged soca singer, Lee, hired at the last minute to perform at her engagement party. Sparks fly, and soon the two have fallen for each other. Nikhil, Anita’s malevolent, future brother-in-law, notices. Once he discovers the truth about Ram’s finances, he threatens to expose everything, forcing Anita to fight for the wealth that truly matters—love.
Sun 20 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Wed 23 Sept, 8.00pm, Globe Cinema Q+A This is a special event. Tickets cost $250 for screening, and $350 for screening and after-party. See page 45 for details.
PENDULUM
SALLY’S WAY
Director: Michael Rochford 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction feature/72 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Joanne Gail Johnson 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction feature/87 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
When Luther, the CEO of a major software company, realises he has a stalker intent on doing him harm, he calls in Ryan, an old friend and former soldier. Ryan, who is battling with post-traumatic stress disorder, tracks down the stalker and is forced to kill him, but in so doing, makes a shocking discovery. Now Ryan must decipher whether he is being framed or succumbing to the delusions of his illness.
Twelve-year-old Sally needs to help her ailing grandmother, the only family she has left. She must battle bullies and integrate herself into the household that has taken her in, a place her grandmother once worked as a maid. Along the way, terrified that she is about to be sent to an orphanage, she has to overcome obstacles no child should have to face.
Thu 17 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Sat 26 Sept, 6.30pm, UWI Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago
14
15–29 september
Sat 19 Sept, 10.45am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 7.15pm, UWI Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Mon 28 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Tue 29 Sept, 10.00am, Southern Academy for the Performing Arts Q+A Tue 29 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne Tobago
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO DOCUMENTARY FEATURES IN COMPETITION
CARIBBEAN FICTION FEATURES OUT OF COMPETITION
TRAFFICKED
OUR SOUL TURNED INSIDE OUT
Director: Sean Hodgkinson 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English and Spanish, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/72 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Mary-Ann Brailey 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary feature/65 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
George, Penny and Nadia are best friends. While on vacation on an idyllic Caribbean island, they find themselves being seduced by a stranger’s wealth and charm. When the stranger’s true motives are revealed, the three friends realise that they are pawns in a deadly game.
Our Soul Turned Inside Out looks at the traditional mas characters of Carnival and the psychic impulses behind them. These characters include blue devils, jab jabs, midnight robbers and stick-fighters. Through them, a depth of conflict is seen: physical and verbal aggression, negotiation and sublimation. The film explains how this has changed and why.
Wed 16 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Fri 25 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago
Fri 18 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Q+A
RE-PERCUSSIONS: AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY
JANUARY 1ST
Director: Kim Johnson 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary feature/52 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Erika Bagnarello 2014 Dominican Republic, Costa Rica Spanish, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/85 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Re-percussions: An African Odyssey is the return of the Trinidad and Tobago steelpan to its African roots. As Nigerian panman Bowie Sonnie Bowei attempts to nurture a steelband movement in Africa, he has to confront the challenge of propagating a creation of the descendants of enslaved people in a complex society, with its own percussive traditions.
Twelve-year-old Sebastián’s father has just left. He has supposedly gone to work in Santo Domingo, but everyone knows Sebastián’s parents have split up. In a fit of pique, Sebastián helps a local criminal break into his mother’s restaurant. However, the thief makes off with more than agreed, including an old piano, an heirloom of his father. Together with his best friend, Sebastián sets off to the city to get the piano back.
Fri 18 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sun 20 Sept, 6.00pm, Couva Joylanders Panyard Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago Tue 29 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago
Fri 18 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
15
CARIBBEAN FICTION FEATURES OUT OF COMPETITION
CARIBBEAN DOCUMENTARY FEATURES OUT OF COMPETITION
ON THE ROAD, SOMEWHERE
ROSE AND THE SOLDIER
Director: Guillermo Zouain 2015 Dominican Republic Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/70 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Directors: Jean-Claude Barny, Jean-Claude Flamand 2015 Martinique, France French, with English subtitles Fiction feature/90 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
For their last vacation before heading off to university, best friends Oliver, Moises and Hemingway go on a road trip. The boys start in the north of the country, with an eventual destination in the south, where Oliver’s girlfriend, Veronica, is staying with her grandmother. Along the way the car breaks down frequently, introducing the trio to a colourful cross-section of Dominican society and to a beautiful country they’ve always taken for granted.
Martinique, 1942. Rose, a young teacher, is fired from her job by the Vichy regime of Admiral Robert. Rose seeks to leave the island by boat with a group of fellow dissidents. Her plans are thwarted by the landing on the island of a German officer, and her meeting with Jacques Meyer, the captain of the local navy. A strange confrontation between the German officer, Captain Meyer and rebellious Rose then begins.
Thu 17 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
16
Thu 24 Sept, 11.40am, UWI Fri 25 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
WITHOUT WINGS
CINEMA PUERTO RICO: A VISUAL ANTHOLOGY
Director: Ben Chace 2014 Cuba, USA Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/84 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Directors: Mariel C. Marrero-García, Freddie Rodríguez 2015 Puerto Rico Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary feature/106 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Isabela Muñoz, a once-famous Cuban ballerina, passes away. On hearing the news, seventy-year-old Luis Vargas, her former lover, becomes tormented by a fragment of the melody from a performance Isabela gave in 1967. Luis tries to complete the melody as a way of letting go of the past, but after a meandering search through the streets of Havana, he’s led deeper into a world of memory he has spent decades trying to forget.
This documentary tells the story of Puerto Rican cinema, from its inception to the present day. It contains over a hundred clips from many of the island’s key films, all stitched together with narration from and interviews with some of Puerto Rico’s established and emerging filmmakers. They consider questions such as: What issues are reflected? How are they presented? Are the films representative of the Puerto Rican culture and reality?
Thu 17 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 3.00pm, UWI Fri 25 Sept, 9.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Wed 23, 6.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
15–29 september
PANORAMA FICTION FEATURES
DREADLOCKS STORY
A JOURNEY THROUGH FRANK ETIENNE’S WORLD
Director: Linda Aïnouche 2014 Jamaica, India, France, USA English, French and Hindi, with English subtitles. Documentary feature/83 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Arnold Antonin 2015 Haiti French and Haitian Creole, with English subtitles Documentary feature/86 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Dreadlocks Story explores the history of Rastafarianism through a previously unexplored prism: hair. It shows the spiritual significance of the much-criticised dreadlocks hairstyle as well as the roots of Rastafari culture, both of which are entangled with the Hindu tradition in Jamaica. The film features revealing interviews with historian Verene Shepherd, David Hinds of the reggae band Steel Pulse, and Monty and Blade Howell, sons of Leonard “Gong” Howell (“the first rasta”).
Frank Etienne is one of Haiti’s most prolific writers. He is also a multidimensional artist, who defines himself as “the greatest creator worldwide.” This film is a trip into the literary, poetic, theatrical and picturesque work of Frank Etienne. Also included are interviews with Etienne’s family, friends and peers, including the Haitian-Canadian novelist Dany Lafèrierre. Thu 24 Sept, 6.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Thu 17 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 18 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Thu 24 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago
THE LAST COLONY
CIUDAD DELIRIO
Director: Juan Agustín Márquez 2015 Puerto Rico English and Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary feature/90 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Chus Gutiérrez 2014 Colombia Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/99 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
In 1898, the United States invaded and colonised Puerto Rico. Since then, Puerto Ricans have engaged in a polarising debate on the status issue, disputing between options of statehood, independence and commonwealth. Shot during the period of the 2012 plebiscite held to try to redefine the island’s relationship with the US, The Last Colony considers the views of many leading, Puerto Rican figures in response to a century-old question: Will Puerto Rico remain America’s last colony?
Javier, a Spanish doctor visiting Cali, Colombia, meets a beautiful dancer named Angie, and they have a whirlwind romance. Back in Madrid, Javier can’t forget her and soon returns to Colombia, but Angie is preoccupied with fending off her boorish ex-boyfriend and practising for the world’s biggest salsa show. Ciudad Delirio is a rousing, romantic story of one man’s determination to win over the woman he loves, against a swirling backdrop of exuberant music and dance.
Fri 18 Sept, 11.00am, UWI Tue 22 Sept, 6.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A Tue 29 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
Thu 24 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS
ttfilmfestival.com
17
PANORAMA FICTION FEATURES
18
COURT
CRUMBS
Director: Chaitanya Tamhane 2014 India Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English, with English subtitles Fiction feature/116 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Miguel Llansó 2015 Ethiopia, Spain Amharic, with English subtitles Fiction feature/68 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
A sewage worker is found dead inside a manhole in Mumbai. An elderly folk singer is arrested on a charge of inciting the worker to commit suicide. His trial is a ridiculous display of institutional incompetence, with endless delays, coached prosecution witnesses, and obsessive privileging of arcane colonial law over reason and mercy. This is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice, caste prejudice and venal politics; rich with comedy and tragedy, complexity and contradiction.
Candy believes he is from another planet. When the spaceship in the sky begins to turn on, he decides it is time to return home. Following a series of freak incidents, Candy—after invoking the protection of Michael Jordan at a shrine to the basketball star— leaves his loving wife and embarks on a surreal journey that leads him through the post-apocalyptic Ethiopian landscape as he confronts witches, Santa Claus, second-generation Nazis, and— finally—himself.
Wed 23 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Sat 19 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
GIRLHOOD
GONE WITH THE RIVER
Director: Céline Sciamma 2014 France French, with English subtitles Fiction feature/112 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Mario Crespo 2015, Venezuela Spanish and Warao, with English subtitles Fiction feature/104 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Fed up with her abusive family situation, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang. Marieme soon seeks solace in an older man who promises her money and protection. Realising this lifestyle will never result in the true freedom and independence she desires, she finally decides to take matters into her own hands.
Dauna is a member of the Warao tribe of the Orinoco River Delta. Her thirst for education is encouraged by her family and Father Julio. As Dauna grows, her desire to experience life beyond the river grows too. Tarcisio, her childhood sweetheart, supports her, but is tied to the traditional ways of the community. Dauna fears Tarcisio will succumb to what tradition dictates, thus thwarting her ambitions and dreams.
Sun 20 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 29 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 17 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Sat 26 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
15–29 september
THE GREATEST HOUSE IN THE WORLD
GÜEROS
Directors: Ana V. Bojórquez, Lucía Carreras 2015 Guatemala, Mexico Spanish and Maya, with English subtitles Fiction feature/74 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios 2014 Mexico Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/108 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Every day, Rocío, a Mayan girl living in the Guatemalan highlands, accompanies her pregnant mother while she tends the sheep. When her mother goes into premature labour, Rocío has to tend the sheep on her own. She whiles away the time playing with a friend when it happens: one sheep—the smallest—goes missing. Now Rocío must guide her flock through the rugged mountains in pursuit of the lost lamb, alone.
Exasperated by his unruly behaviour, Tomás’ mother sends him to stay with his brother, Fede, a university student in Mexico City. Fede and his flatmate Santos, apathetic towards a campus-wide student strike, spend their days at home watching pirated TV. Tomás arrives with a cassette of songs by Epigmenio Cruz, whose music is said to have made Bob Dylan cry. When the boys hear that Cruz is terminally ill, they set off to pay him their last respects.
Sat 19 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Sat 19 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
HONEYTRAP
MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW
Director: Rebecca Johnson 2014 United Kingdom English Fiction feature/93 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Shonali Bose 2014 India Hindi and English, with English subtitles Fiction feature/100 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Teenaged Layla travels from Trinidad to London to live with her mother. She’s swept off her feet by a gang leader, Troy, but in a world where being Troy’s girl buys both envy and status, her only true friend is Shaun, an outsider. When Troy discards her, Layla vows to win him back. Shaun becomes a pawn in her game, and the forces she has set in motion soon escalate out of control.
Laila is a bright young woman from Delhi with cerebral palsy. She falls in love with Nima, a boy in her class. When Nima rejects her, a heartbroken Laila accepts a place at university in New York. There she meets Khanum, a blind Pakistani girl. Slowly their friendship blossoms into a tender romance, and Laila is made to reconsider everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.
Wed 16 Sept, 9.15pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Fri 18 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
19
PANORAMA FICTION FEATURES
MY FRIEND VICTORIA
PANAMA CANAL STORIES
Director: Jean-Paul Civeyrac 2014 France French, with English subtitles Fiction feature/95 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Directors: Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim, Pituka Ortega Heilbron 2014 Panama Spanish and English, with English subtitles Fiction feature/106 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Eight-year-old Victoria, who is black, spends a night in the home of a white bourgeois family, which fuels her dreams of comfort and privilege. As an adult, she reconnects with the youngest son of her host family, bearing his child after a brief affair. All the while she drifts from job to job, independent, yet lacking focus—except for that one night from her childhood and its revelations. Based on a short story by Doris Lessing. Wed 23 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
20
The history of the Panama Canal and its impact is depicted in five linked short films, each one dealing with a different period in the canal’s existence. Beginning with the story of a young Jamaican man and woman who fall in love in 1913 while working on the construction of the canal, Panama Canal Stories tells tales of everyday folk whose lives are affected by one of the greatest engineering feats in the world. Fri 18 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 22 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS
RAINBOW
SECOND COMING
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor 2015 India Hindi and English, with English subtitles Fiction feature/106 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Debbie Tucker Green 2014 United Kingdom English Fiction feature/105 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Pari and and her brother, Chotu, live in a village in Rajasthan. Pari promises Chotu, who is blind, that he will be able to see by his ninth birthday. She believes that the movie star Shah Rukh Khan can help her fulfill her promise. When she learns the actor is shooting a film in the region, she spirits Chotu away. What unfolds is a magical journey where Chotu and Pari meet a host of colourful characters, who all nudge them one step closer to their destination.
Jackie, her husband Mark, and their eleven-year-old son, JJ, live in south London. As busy working parents, Jackie and Mark haven’t been physical in their relationship for a while. So when Jackie discovers she’s pregnant, she’s perplexed. Knowing that she hasn’t slept with anybody else, Jackie says nothing of her situation, trying to maintain everyday life. The pregnancy progresses but with unsettling side effects, and soon Jackie starts to fear for her state of mind.
Sun 20 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Wed 23 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS
15–29 september
THE SECOND MOTHER
SELKIRK, THE REAL ROBINSON CRUSOE
Director: Anna Muylaert 2015 Brazil Portuguese, with English subtitles Fiction feature/111 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Walter Tournier 2012 Uruguay, Argentina, Chile Spanish, with English subtitles Animated feature/80 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Val is a live-in housekeeper to a wealthy São Paulo family with a teenage son, whom she’s lovingly raised since toddlerhood. Everyone in the house has their place, until Val’s daughter, Jessica, arrives from Val’s hometown to take university entrance exams. Jessica’s confident and rebellious presence upsets the unspoken yet strict balance of power in the household. Val must decide where her allegiances lie, and what she’s willing to sacrifice.
Selkirk, an unruly, selfish pirate, is the sailing master of the Esperanza, an English galley roaming the South Seas in search of treasure. When Captain Bullock decides to abandon him on an uninhabited island, Selkirk discovers a new outlook on the world and learns to survive alone, becoming the real Robinson Crusoe.
Mon 21 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Wed 23 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 10.00am, UWI Fri 25 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne Tobago Tue 29 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS
SLOW WEST
STORIES OF OUR LIVES
Director: John Maclean 2015 United Kingdom, New Zealand English and French, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/84 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Jim Chuchu 2015 Kenya, South Africa English and French, with English subtitles Fiction feature/62 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Jay, a 17-year-old Scotsman, travels to the American West in the late 19th century in pursuit of the woman he loves. Confronted with the harsh realities of the frontier, he falls in with a mysterious traveller, Silas, who soon discovers that the focus of Jay’s affection has a price on her head. Together the two men navigate a vast wilderness while attempting to stay one step ahead of a bloodthirsty posse and a colourful bounty hunter.
In 2013, a Kenyan collective called the Nest began recording and collecting testimonies of people in the country identifying as LGBTI. After several months of touring the country and collecting hundreds of vivid, compelling stories, the Nest decided to turn some of these stories into films. Part human drama, part political protest, part visual poem, Stories of Our Lives is an unforgettable anthology of five short films that characterise the queer experience in Kenya.
Wed 16 Sept, 8.15pm, StudioFilmClub Q+A
Thu 24 Sept, 1.30pm, UWI Thu 24 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
21
PANORAMA FICTION FEATURES
SUGARCANE SHADOWS
THEEB
Director: David Constantin 2014 Mauritius, France Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction feature/88 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Naji Abu Nowar 2014 Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom Arabic and English, with English subtitles Fiction feature/110 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Bissoon and Marco have spent their lives working in the sugarcane industry, which is shutting down. There are plans to replace the crop with a luxury housing development, complete with a golf course. As their world falls apart, the men struggle to find a place in the new order. For Bissoon, the end of sugar brings emptiness and despair. Meanwhile, Marco becomes intrigued by Devi, the wife of the estate overseer who is supervising the closing of the sugar factory.
Arabia, 1916. Theeb lives with his Bedouin tribe in the desert. Having recently lost his father, it falls to Theeb’s elder brother, Hussein, to raise him. When a British army officer arrives on a mysterious mission, Hussein agrees to escort him to his destination. Theeb chases after his brother and soon finds himself at the centre of a bloody ambush. If he is to survive, Theeb must quickly learn about adulthood, trust and betrayal.
Sun 27 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 24 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
TIMBUKTU
VOICE OVER
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako 2014 Mauritania, France Arabic, French, Bambara, Songhay and English, with English subtitles. Fiction feature/97 minutes
Director: Cristián Jiménez 2014 Chile, France, Canada Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/98 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Not far from Timbuktu, Kidane, a Tuareg cattle herder, lives peacefully in the dunes with his family. In town, the people suffer from the regime of terror imposed by the jihadists determined to control their lives. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even football have been banned. Every day, improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences. When Kidane accidentally kills a fisherman who slaughters one of his cows, he has to face the new laws of the religious fundamentalists.
Sofía, a 35-year-old actress, moves back into her parents’ house. She battles her ex-husband over custody of the family dog, while her two kids, raised as vegetarians, become obsessed with the idea of eating meat. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Ana, returns home from Paris with a PhD, a French husband and a baby. Sibling rivalry rears its head. Things then threaten to go out of control when their father abruptly announces he’s leaving their mother.
Mon 21 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Wed 23 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago Sat 26 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago
22
15–29 september
Tue 22 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
PANORAMA DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
AMY
BIGGIE AND TUPAC
Director: Asif Kapadia 2015 United Kingdom English Documentary feature/128 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Nick Broomfield 2002 USA, United Kingdom English Documentary feature/108 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Amy Winehouse wrote and sang from the heart, and the combination of her raw honesty and supreme talent resulted in some of the most adored songs of the modern era. Her massive success, however, led to relentless media attention which, coupled with her troubled relationships and precarious lifestyle, saw her life tragically unravel. Featuring previously unseen archive footage, this moving, vital film tells the story of Amy Winehouse as it was meant to be told: in her own words.
In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip-hop’s infamous east coast-west coast rivalry. Biggie and Tupac follows Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the Los Angeles Police Department deliberately fumbled the cases to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.
Thu 17 Sept, 8.15pm, StudioFilmClub
Fri 18 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Wed 23 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Sun 27 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago Mon 28 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
THE CHINESE MAYOR
ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL
Director: Zhou Hao 2015 China Chinese, with English subtitles Documentary feature/89 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Pascal Plisson 2013 France English, Spanish, Berber and Tamil, with English subtitles. Documentary feature/75 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Once an imperial capital, decades of rampant coal mining have choked the Chinese city of Datong in soot, depleted its resources and stagnated the economy. The mayor, Geng Yanbo, embarks on a radical mission to restore the ancient city and rejuvenate it through culture. To succeed, he must execute mass-scale demolition. Some call him the devil mayor, but Geng is too bent on his utopian vision to care. Meanwhile, China’s ruling elites are watching him closely.
Jackson, from Kenya, walks through a savannah populated by wild animals to get to school. Carlito rides across the Argentine plains to do the same. And Zahira has to walk along mountain paths in Morocco before she gets to class. On the Way to School immerses us in the extraordinary routines of these children, who, every day, must set out on a long, perilous journey that will lead them to knowledge.
Sat 19 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
Mon 21 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tobago Fri 25 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Tue 29 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tobago
ttfilmfestival.com
23
PANORAMA DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER
AVA AND GABRIEL: A LOVE STORY
Director: Nick Broomfield 2014 USA, United Kingdom English Documentary feature/110 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Felix de Rooy 1990 Curaçao, Netherlands Papiamentu and Dutch, with English subtitles Fiction feature/100 minutes
In 2010, Lonnie Franklin Jr was arrested in South Central Los Angeles after a 25-year murder spree. His arrest, completely accidental, was followed by accusations that the killings went on for so long because the victims were all black women. Tales of the Grim Sleeper looks into how it was possible for all this to happen, and gives voice to a people who have been dealt a grave injustice that extends far beyond this case.
In 1940s Curaçao, Gabriel Goedbloed, a charismatic painter, arrives from Holland to paint a mural of the Virgin Mary in St Anna’s Church, under the request of its parish priest. The colonial Antillean society proves less than tolerant towards the visitor, especially after he chooses Ava—a young, mixed-race teacher, who is engaged to be married, as his model for the Virgin Mary. Fri 25 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A
Sun 20 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
BIM
THE HARDER THEY COME
Director: Hugh A. Robertson 1974 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction feature/100 minutes
Director: Perry Henzell 1972 Jamaica English Fiction feature/103 minutes
After his father’s death, Bheem Singh is sent to live with his aunt in Port of Spain. Bullied at school and abused at home, he runs away and begins a life of petty crime. After returning to the countryside— and taking a new name, Bim—he becomes leader of the sugar workers. Bim is soon made leader of the colony’s opposition party. It won’t be long, however, before his violent past catches up with him.
Ivan Martin arrives in Kingston from the countryside with dreams of becoming a successful reggae singer. After being jailed briefly for a knife fight, he lands a contract and records his first song, “The Harder They Come”. A bitter dispute with a corrupt producer forces Ivan to resort to adopt the life of a criminal. When he kills some cops during a malicious raid, his song is released and tops the charts, earning him folk-hero status.
Thu 24 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Sun 20 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A
24
15–29 september
CLASSIC CARIBBEAN FEATURES
THE MAN BY THE SHORE
MEMORIES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Director: Raoul Peck 1983 Haiti, Canada, France French, Haitian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction feature/106 minutes
Director: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea 1968 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/97 minutes
Haiti, the 1960s. The corrupt François “Baby Doc” Duvalier has risen to power, and his private army, the Tonton Macoutes, enforce his bidding with an iron fist. The father of eight-year-old Sarah, a discredited army officer, is forced, with his wife, to flee their town by Janvier, a vicious Tonton Macoute. Sarah and her two sisters are left behind in the care of their grandmother, who risks her life to secure them from Janvier, who is bent on revenge.
In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Sergio, an affluent writer, chooses to stay behind in Cuba while his wife and family escape to nearby Miami. He is pessimistic about the Revolution’s promise to bring sweeping change to his country, and squanders his days prowling the streets of Havana looking for female companionship. Trouble erupts when Sergio has a fling with the chaste Elena, whose family then accuses him of rape.
Mon 21 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Tue 22 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
ONE PEOPLE
ONE WAY TICKET
Director: Pim de la Parra 1976 Suriname, The Netherlands Dutch, Hindustani, Sranan Tongo, with English subtitles Fiction feature/111 minutes
Director: Agliberto Meléndez 1988 Dominican Republic Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/90 minutes
Roy is a young, black university student in Amsterdam. When he hears that his mother, back home in Suriname, is dying, he borrows money from his white, Dutch girlfriend to return to the newly independent nation. Struck by a fervent patriotism, Roy decides to give up his studies in Holland and remain in Suriname, against the wishes of his family. A greater scandal erupts when he begins a romantic relationship with Rubia, a young Hindu woman.
Faced with a precarious economic situation and poor standards of living, a group of friends initiate a plan to leave the Dominican Republic, illegally, by boat. One Way Ticket is based on actual events that occurred in September 1980, when several Dominicans were suffocated inside a container ship, the Regina Express. Thu 17 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Wed 23 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
25
CLASSIC CARIBBEAN FEATURE FILMS
STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE
SUGAR CANE ALLEY
Directors: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Juan Carlos Tabío 1993 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/110 minutes
Director: Euzhan Palcy 1983 Martinique, France French, with English subtitles Fiction feature/133 minutes
David is a university student in Havana in 1979. He loves his country and believes in the Revolution and its ideals. He meets Diego, a gay artist, unhappy with the Castro regime’s attitude toward the LBGT community. David’s classmate, Miguel, plans to use David to spy on Diego, a person whom he sees as aberrant and dangerous to the Communist cause. Diego, for his part, initiates the friendship to strictly pursue sexual intentions.
Martinique, the 1930s. José and his grandmother live in a small village, where everyone works in the fields cutting cane. Wages are low and conditions are abysmal. The only way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, however, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother decide to move to Fort-de-France to make the boy’s studies easier.
Sat 19 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Wed 16 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad
WHAT HAPPENED TO SANTIAGO Directors: Jacobo Morales 1989 Puerto Rico Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction feature/105 minutes Santiago is a widower and a retired accountant. As his children have lives of their own, his days have grown increasingly lonely. For entertainment, he takes walks in the open spaces of Old San Juan. One day he meets Angelina, who comes to share his pleasure in these walks. Soon he is arranging his walks so as to meet her, but she refuses to give out any information about herself. As his attachment to her grows, so does his curiosity, and before long he hires a private detective to find out her story. Fri 18 Sept, 3.30pm, UWI
26
15–29 september
ALTO VISTA
APRIL 4TH 1968
Director: Juan Francisco Pardo 2015 Aruba Papiamentu, with English subtitles Fiction short/5 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Myriam Gharbi 2014 Guadeloupe Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/24 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Souls trapped in a moment, searching for love, satisfaction and forgiveness. Alto Vista is a place that not only unites a family, but also divides them, repeating their past and reflecting their future. Wed 23 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Young Sabine lives with her aunt in the countryside of Guadeloupe. As she leaves home in her pretty dress and newly-braided hair, she has no idea that on this particular day she won’t be going to school. Fri 18 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 22 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FICTION FILMS IN COMPETITION
AURORA
THE ENGLISH TEACHER
GIANTS
Director: Pascal Fontana 2015 Puerto Rico Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/21 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Alán González 2015 Cuba Spanish and English, with English subtitles Fiction short/15 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Director: Damian Marcano 2015 Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, USA Dutch and English, with English subtitles Fiction short/15 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Six-year-old Aurora is abandoned in the mountains by human traffickers. She wanders until she finds a cabin in the woods. The owner returns and realises somebody has been at his place. The next morning he is taken by surprise with the discovery of this high-spirited child.
Tired of nursing her husband through his terminal illness, 65-year-old Sonia, a retired teacher, decides to resume giving classes at her Havana home. Like the city, stagnant over time, and in the darkness of her house, she must face her feelings in order to regain her freedom.
Sat 19 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Giants is a moving story about young immigrant children in the Netherlands and the people they look up to, their giants. Also in competition for best Trinidad and Tobago short or medium-length fiction film.
IN THE HORIZON’S DREAMS Director: Ramón Alfonso Peña 2015 Dominican Republic Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/16 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE 1961, Dominican Republic. Chico relives the last moments spent at home with his older brother Luis, who wishes to study in the capital city, and their mother, mourning the loss of her husband due to the Trujillo dictatorship. The arrival of a telegram confirming Luis’s departure might change their lives forever.
Thu 17 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 9.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 17 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Fri 25 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob
Tue 22 Sept, 1.45pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
MOMMY WATER
TI COQ
TWILIGHT
A WALL
Director: Julien Silloray 2015 Guadeloupe French, with English subtitles Fiction short/25 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Nadia Charlery 2015 Martinique French and Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/23 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Eight-year-old Rosental lives with his father in the seaside village of Port Louis. He is intent on finding his mother, who recently passed away. Kamo, the village sorcerer, informs him that she has turned into a mommy water, a siren who lures fishermen to a realm deep beneath the ocean.
Josué is a roguish boy living with his grandmother. He has a pet rooster that he loves, and wishes to train him to become a dreaded fighting cock. A succession of unexpected events, however, looks set to frustrate his plans.
Director: Juan Pablo Daranas Molina 2015 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Medium-length fiction/37 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE Alicia, a circus clown, dreams of being an actress. When the circus arrives in a remote village she meets Abelito, a boy with a skin disorder that prevents him from going out in the sun. As Abelito looks forward to the circus, Alicia anxiously awaits news from Havana about a casting.
Director: Javier Ferreiro 2014 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/12 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE Tommy works as a builder at Sauro’s house. Tommy is attracted to Sauro and takes every opportunity to be near him. One day something happens that will bring the two men closer than ever before.
Fri 25 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Wed 23 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
Thu 24 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Wed 23 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
ttfilmfestival.com
27
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FICTION FILMS IN COMPETITION
FADE TO BLACK
GOLDFISH
THE ENEMY
THE FAREWELL
Director: Christopher Guinness 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction short/11 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Elenie Chung 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction short/12 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Aldemar Matías 2014 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary short/26 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Alejandro Alonso 2014 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary short/25 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Off the coast of northern Trinidad, sometime in the near future, Thomas, an elderly man, struggles to hold on to his memories in his last days. Meanwhile his caregiver, Angelo, engages in an online relationship with the nefarious Dark Eyes, which proves to have costly repercussions.
A goldfish experiences exclusion, alienation and isolation, while apartment hunting.
In a fumigation centre in Havana, Mayelín has the ungrateful task of fining citizens who infringe sanitary regulations. Apart from fighting dengue and disciplining her workers, she is, herself, under pressure from one of her supervisors. Mayelín must learn to find her place within a stressful and sometimes aggressive work environment.
Pablo Fabelo, a retired miner, becomes obsessed with finding the old awards and medals he won years ago that are no longer in his box. Convinced his daughter has taken them, he has an argument with her that increases the tension between them.
Sat 19 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sun 27 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Sat 19 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
LORENZA, THE RADIO AND YOU Director: Roya Eshraghi 2014 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary short/12 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
28
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN COMPETITION
Wed 23 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Wed 16 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Fri 25 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob
THE MIRACLE WORKER
PAPA MACHETE
SIXTEEN
Director: Diana Montero 2014 Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary short/28 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Jonathan David Kane 2014 Haiti, USA, Barbados Haitian Creole, with English subtitles Documentary short/10 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Vashti Harrison 2015 Trinidad and Tobago, USA English Documentary short/7 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Haitian farmer, Alfred Avril, is one of the last remaining masters of tire machèt, the martial art created by enslaved Haitians to fight Napoleon’s armies. Teaching about the practical and spiritual value of the machete—both a weapon and a farmer’s key to survival—Avril provides a link between his country’s past and its present.
Sixteen is a coming-of-age story. It is an exploration of memory and what time can change. The sound and image form a marriage between the past and the present in the three layers: the story of a difficult childhood, that of a beautiful adulthood, and a voice recounting fading memories. Also in competition for best T+T short or medium-length documentary film.
Lorenza, the Radio and You narrates a fragment from the daily routine and highlights the challenge of solitude of a Cuban woman, while she searches the radio frequencies for her favourite soap opera. This film is a cinematographic gesture that tries to rediscover the capacity of observing, and allows the hidden charms of magical coincidences to astonish us.
Dalkys is a Santería priestess who heals the sick through the power of Saint Lazarus. But despite her mystical gift, she is unable to cure her husband, Evelio, who has diabetes. As Evelio—who does not believe in his wife’s powers—gets worse, Dalkys begins to doubt her abilities.
Tue 22 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 17 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Wed 23 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Thu 24 Sept, 10.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob
15–29 september
Sun 20 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Fri 25 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tob
Mon 21 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Thu 24 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN COMPETITION
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FICTION FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION
THE CUATRO MAN
PARADISE LOST
RIDING BULL CART
ACKEE & SALTFISH
Director: Mikhail Gibbings 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/14 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Christopher Laird 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Medium-length documentary/34 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Rhonda Chan Soo 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/12 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Cecile Emeke 2014 United Kingdom English Short fiction/18 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
The Cuatro Man is a portrait of Robert Munro, a virtuoso Trinidad and Tobago musician. Regarded as a legend in his own music community, he faces a relative lack of recognition in mainstream culture alongside his four-stringed musical instrument.
Carnival artist, Peter Minshall, tells the story of the design and construction of Paradise Lost, his first masquerade band for the Trinidad and Tobago carnival in 1976. He does so while viewing and reacting to the remastered version of the only known film footage of the band on stage.
Riding Bull Cart is a portrait of a farmer, Boylie. Boylie carries us on his daily journey to cut grass for his cattle, taking us against the ebb and flow of the quickening pace of modernisation, into a grassy haven where we find refuge from the maddening heat, haze and pollution.
After she forgets to soak the saltfish overnight, Rachel and her friend Olivia set out to get some ackee and saltfish from the Caribbean takeaway. But their mission turns sour as the social ills present in their native Dalston in east London divide their opinions, and tensions begin to rise.
Thu 17 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A Tue 29 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob
THE EXTRAORDINARY MR JÚPITER Director: Federico Torres Fernández 2015 Puerto Rico Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/17 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE Abandoned as a child, Franco Júpiter grew up wondering about the mysteries of the universe. This curiosity gave him powers no one could dream of. As an adult, Franco now uses his powers to give him something he’s been missing all his life: love.
Fri 18 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Sun 27 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Sun 20 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS
FROM DIRT
I ATE THE COSMOS FOR BREAKFAST
IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE
Director: Hester Jonkhout 2015 Netherlands Antilles No dialogue Short fiction/12 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Director: Dan Sickles 2015 Puerto Rico English Fiction short/3 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Yoel Morales 2015 Dominican Republic Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/11 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Two creatures find themselves in nowhere land. As they discover each other, chemistry happens. From Dirt examines human attraction through dance.
I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast is a short poetry-film based on a poem of the same name. It articulates the connection between nature and the divine, between the mundane and the celestial.
On the day that the world is going to end, a young couple take their robot servant and head to the river to escape the chaos of the city.
Thu 24 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Sat 19 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Sun 20 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 17 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
29
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH FICTION FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION
JUST A DROP
THE MISADVENTURES OF BRIAN AND SACHIN
Directors: Shea Best, Steven Hadeed Jr, Dominic Koo 2015 Trinidad and Tobago No dialogue Fiction short/6 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Nicholas Clarke, R. Anderson Edghill 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Medium-length fiction/34 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
During the dry season a drop of water embarks on a journey to save a dying flower. Mon 21 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Two teenage village boys set out on a journey into the forest to track down a local eccentric after he takes off with their prized cricket ball.
Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 6.00pm, NALIS, POS Q+A
Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A
Sat 26 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A
PARTY GIRL
Directors: Maya Cross-Lovelace 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Medium-length fiction/38 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Roma Zachemba 2015 Trinidad and Tobago, Poland English Short fiction/11 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Noah’s girlfriend, Shenelle, breaks up with him on the day of his 21st birthday. Noah gets a call from the magic birthday man who gives him until midnight to replace Shenelle—if he doesn’t, there will be disastrous consequences.
Trinidad, 1970, just before the Black Power Revolution. A poolside party with an all-white crowd is in full swing. When an unexpected guest arrives, desire leads events to take a different turn. Wed 16 Sept, 9.15pm, MovieTowne POS
Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A
Q+A Thu 24 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
QUEDATE
THE RESORT
SO NOW, WHAT DO WE DO?
THE YOUTH
Director: Bradley Bixler 2015 USA Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/23 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Director: Shadae Lamar Smith 2015 USA, Trinidad and Tobago English Fiction short/16 minutes INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Director: Nirvania Quesada 2015 Puerto Rico Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short/3 minutes TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PREMIERE
Director: Dehanza Rogers 2015 USA English Fiction short/15 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Guillermo works for a human trafficking ring. One night he discovers two refugees, Alondra and her son, Victor, hiding in his truck. He reluctantly shelters them in his apartment, and begins to grow attracted to them. Soon the secret makes its way out.
The Resort comprises a series of three vignettes that follow a young man as he sells love for a living.
Fri 18 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
30
OFF THE BOX
15–29 september
Thu 24 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Mon 28 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Tue 29 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Joseph spends all day preparing to give someone a gift as an apology. Just who that someone is, turns out to be quite a surprise. Fri 18 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS
Said graduated from university two years ago with big ideas. He was going to do things, to change the world. Instead, he’s frustrated that life is going nowhere. Then a friend offers him a chance to make a difference. Mon 21 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Wed 23 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob Sat 26 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 8.00pm, MovieTowne Tob
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION
BOTTOM IN DE ROAD
BOXEADORA
CITY ON THE HILL
CONNECTED
Directors: Oyetayo Ojoade, Sharon Syriac 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Medium-length documentary/50 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Meg Smaker 2015 USA, Cuba Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary short/17 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Directors: Patricia Mohammed, Michael Mooleedhar 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Medium-length documentary/47 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Kyron Reid 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/13 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
With wit and humour, Bottom in de Road explores “bottom power”, offering analysis of the female bottom as seen through the gaze of the Caribbean man. The role of the bottom in expressing freedom and as a source of religious controversy are also considered.
One woman defies Fidel Castro’s ban on female boxing to follow her dreams of Olympic glory and become Cuba’s first female boxer. Wed 16 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 9.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Tue 22 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Tue 29 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob Sun 27 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS
City on the Hill is a look at the history of the communities erected on the hillside slopes of Laventille. The film examines the evolution of the chequered relationship between the landscape and its inhabitants, as well as selected aspects of Laventille’s architecture.
Tobago’s mud mas culture is set to outgrow Carnival celebrations on the island. Connected takes a detailed look at Tobago’s mud mas sensation. Tue 22 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Sat 26 Sept, 3.00pm, MovieTowne Tob Sun 27 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 5.30pm, MovieTowne Tob
Fri 18 Sept, 6.30pm, UWI Q+A Mon 21 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 6.00pm, NALIS, POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A
THE CREATIVE SOUL OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
THE DANGERS OF PROGRESS
Director: Craig Leon 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/28 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Director: Avrinel Dorcin 2013 Haiti Haitian Creole, with English subtitles Documentary short/10 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE
Can a country achieve economic development without losing its soul? In this film, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and others from Trinidad and Tobago, weave a story of creativity, culture and sustainable development.
In Haiti, the traditional, organic way of raising chickens is quickly being replaced by intensive or factory poultry farming. The Dangers of Progress compares both methods to see which is the better, for the economy and human nutrition.
Fri 18 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Tue 22 Sept, 1.45pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
DOWN AND OUT
DREAMS IN TRANSIT
Directors: Shanice Martin, Michaela Spencer, David Villafana 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/12 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Karen Martinez 2015 Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom English Medium-length documentary/30 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Down and Out takes a look at the struggles that homeless people face in society, and how the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons works toward alleviating these problems.
Dreams in Transit is a poetic reflection on the theme of identity and contemporary migration. In the film, the director, a London-based Trinidadian, returns to the Caribbean to explore the meaning of home, and where it is both migrants and nonmigrants might be said to belong.
Mon 21 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 6.00pm, NALIS, POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A
Wed 16 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Fri 25 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
ttfilmfestival.com
31
SHORT AND MEDIUM-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS OUT OF COMPETITION
32
MARACAS VALLEY: A WATERSHED IN CRISIS
OUTLOUD
PAPPY
PERRY HENZELL: A FILMMAKER’S ODYSSEY
Director: Renée Pollonais 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/23 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Chantale Glover 2015 USA, Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/17 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Sandra Vivas 2015 Dominica English Documentary short/10 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: David Garonzik, Arthur Gorson 2015 Jamaica, USA English Documentary short/27 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Maracas Valley, one of several watersheds in the Northern Range, is under threat from heavy human development. This documentary seeks to bring awareness to the situation.
After experiencing a number of difficulties in her personal and professional life because of her gender, Nadia, a black, Christian, transgender individual, decides to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.
For the last 30 years Pappy has been running unsuccessfully for Prime Minister of Dominica, each time gaining fewer votes than before. In 2014 he runs again, this time on a platform to legalise marijuana.
Mon 21 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
Thu 24 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS
Q+A Wed 23 Sept, 6.00pm, NALIS, POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Q+A
Sat 26 Sept, 5.00pm, UWI Mon 28 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS
A SAFE SPACE
SCYANT: THE JOURNEY
SHOW ME YOUR MOTION: CARIBBEAN FILM FESTIVALS
Director: Renaldo Matadeen 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/13 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Shaunecia Beguesse 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/13 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Bruce Paddington 2015 Trinidad and Tobago English Documentary short/20 minutes WORLD PREMIERE
A Safe Space chronicles the formation of a foundation of the same name in response to the tragic suicide of George Kazanijan, a gay teenager.
From the Live at Hyatt show to the Soca Monarch finals, Scyant: The Journey follows the XDA dance troupe through the 2014 Carnival season.
Thu 24 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Mon 28 Sept, 1.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Tue 22 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A Sat 26 Sept, 6.30pm, UWI Q+A Sun 27 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Show Me Your Motion visits the Havana Film Festival, FEMI in Guadeloupe, and the trinidad+tobago film festival, to capture the excitement of these events. It includes interviews with filmmakers and festival organisers, while showing selections from a number of Caribbean films.
15–29 september
Sat 19 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Sun 27 Sept, 3.30pm, MovieTowne POS Q+A
Perry Henzell (1936–2006) is famous as the man who put Jamaica on the map of world cinema with his film The Harder They Come. This documentary looks at the second and final feature that he made, No Place like Home (2006), and the long journey it took to bring the film to the big screen. Sun 20 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A
Fri 25 Sept, 8.00pm, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Q+A
it starts here.
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ttfilmfestival.com
33
FESTIVAL GUIDE
short film packages INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL OF MAURITIUS Trinidad and Mauritius share very similar histories. The ttff is pleased, for the first time, to present a selection of short Mauritian films from the International Short Film Festival of Mauritius (ISFFM). Similarly, a selection of films from the ttff will screen at ISFFM in October 2015. The package of ISFFM shorts (90’ duration) will screen at ttff/15 as follows: Tue 22 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Tue 29 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
At the Animae Caribe 2014 launch
ANIMAE CARIBE The Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival has been held every year in Trinidad and Tobago since 2001. The largest animation film network in the Caribbean, Animae Caribe was founded to raise the awareness of animation and technology in the Caribbean. We are pleased to be screening two short animation packages (one for children and one for adult audiences), each fifteen minutes in length, and programmed by Animae Caribe at ttff/15. SCREENINGS Children’s package Wed 23 Sept, 10.30am, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne Tobago Tue 29 Sept, 11.00am, MovieTowne POS
PHONE CONNECTION Director: Sophie Robert 2015 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/4 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Neha and Hanuman share the same birthday, but they cannot get along because of communication problems.
PRISON Director: Ritvik Neerbun 2011 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/9 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE When Kalot, on death row, learns he is to be hanged the next day, he gets lost in his memories.
A MOMENT AT LA CHAUMIERE Director: Jérôme Valin 2009 Mauritius No dialogue Documentary short/3 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE La Chaumière is a rural area at the edge of the city of Port Louis, where people live to the rhythms of farming.
SLIPPED AND FELL Director: Joëlle Ducray 2010 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/10 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Textile worker Sheila struggles to provide for her daughter while deciding what to do about a new pregnancy.
BARRIERS Director: Gaston Valayden 2010 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/7 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Two neighbours of different political allegiances are brought together by a hurricane.
PERFECT DAY Director: Jérôme Valin 2011 Mauritius No dialogue Fiction short/12 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE A homeless woman, in search of something to eat, discovers a screaming baby in a dustbin.
Adults’ package Sat 19 Sept, 6.30pm, MovieTowne POS Fri 25 Sept, 6.00pm, MovieTowne POS
34
15–29 september
The package of ESFF shorts (104’ duration) will screen at ttff/15 as follows: Wed 23 Sept, 1.30pm, MovieTowne POS Mon 28 Sept, 4.00pm, MovieTowne POS
COLAS Director: David Constantin 2003 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/13 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Colas, a fisherman who loves to read, is shocked to discover his wife Elise has pulled out the pages of his dictionary in order to wrap the doughnuts she sells.
HOME, AWAY Director: Wassim Sookia 2011 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/17 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Alex, a Manchester United fan, excitedly awaits the arrival of the men who will install his new satellite dish ahead of his team’s game with Liverpool.
MADE IN MAURITIUS Director: David Constantin 2009 Mauritius Mauritian Creole, with English subtitles Fiction short/7 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE When Bissoon’s old radio blows a fuse, Ah-Yan, the shopkeeper, tries to convince him to chuck it in and buy a high-tech one.
EDINBURGH SHORT FILMS FESTIVAL The Scottish influence in Trinidad goes back well over a hundred years. We are, therefore, pleased to be screening a selection of films from the Edinburgh Short Films Festival (ESSF) at ttff/15. A selection of ttff films will be screened at ESSF in November 2015.
CLUTCHING AT STRAWS: FRAGMENTS OF A SHETLAND TRADITION Director: Louise Scollay 2012 United Kingdom, English Documentary short/4 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE In Clutching at Straws, the old Shetland custom of straw guisers or “skekkling” is revived through new eyes and revisited through old voices.
Fiction short/7 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE The Misbehaviour of Polly Paper Cut, a deliciously, darkly witty tale about a young woman, is laced with a culty, comic book aesthetic.
CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Walk Tall follows the life of George Weedon, who still pursues the life gymnastic at the age of 91.
THE HOURGLASS Director: Joscha Thelosen 2012 Germany, No dialogue Animated short/9 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE One day, Death, who lives alone in a wasteland, receives an unexpected visitor.
BUTTERFLIES Director: Isabel Peppard 2012 Australia, English Animated short/13 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE A struggling artist accepts a paying job that threatens to kill her imagination, in this steampunk/ fantasy tale.
HENRY AND THE PUFFINS Director: Liz Musser 2012 United Kingdom, English Documentary short/5 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Henry and the Puffins follows young Henry and his relationship with the puffins on the remote Scottish island of Fair Isle, where the summer sun lasts all night.
CODA Director: Alan Holly 2014 Ireland, English Animated short/9 minutes After being hit by a car, a resident of an Irish town confronts Death and his own mortality.
ONE MAN’S LOSS Director: Philip Sansom 2012 USA, English Fiction short/6 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE A vagabond’s luck is dramatically altered when he treads on a piece of glass outside the apartment of an arguing couple.
GETTING ON Director: Ewan Stewart 2012 UK, English Fiction short/10 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE An ordinary Glasgow homemaker has a sudden, unexpected encounter with an other-worldly presence.
THE MISBEHAVIOUR OF POLLY PAPER CUT Director: Bryan Ferguson 2013 UK, USA English
WALK TALL Director: Kate Sullivan 2011 UK, English Documentary short/11 minutes
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
ENTITY Director: Andrew Desmond 2014 France, English Fiction short/14 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Entity is a science-fiction tale about being lost in space and careering, out of control, towards an unexpected and unknown destination.
LOVE CAKE Director: Eleanor Yule 2012 United Kingdom English Fiction short/15 minutes CARIBBEAN PREMIERE Love Cake is a bittersweet comedy about food-related romantic entanglements.
ttfilmfestival.com
35
FESTIVAL GUIDE
new media For the fifth consecutive year, the trinidad+tobago film festival and ARC Magazine present New Media, a collection of artists’ works that explore a range of themes and issues, while pushing and blurring the boundaries between film and art. This year, New Media takes the form of four nights of events, plus one work that will be available to view at MovieTowne Port of Spain for the duration of the Festival. FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 7.00pm | Medulla Art Gallery 37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook. Tel: 622.1196 EXPLORATIONS A collection of works that explore the relationship between the self and our varied internal and external worlds.
WEDNESDAY 16–TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER Jonkonnu / Gens inconnus 11am–8pm daily | MovieTowne POS lobby Olivia McGilchrist in collaboration with the Carlton Walters Jonkonnu Band Jamaica / Canada / 2015 3 x 3 minute video sequences with sound, virtual-reality headset, wooden structure A cube-shaped pine box with decorative engravings atop a wooden structure houses a virtual-reality headset in which the viewer interacts with a three-screen video installation of traditional Jamaica Carnival Jonkonnu performers. As the viewer puts on the headset, (s)he enters a 3D space in which the audiovisual sequences reveal snippets of the performance from both sides of the mask by proxy of a GoPro headmounted camera worn by the band members.
THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER Tribute to Peter Dean Rickards StudioFilmClub | Building Seven, Fernandes Business Centre A tribute to the late, groundbreaking Jamaican artist Peter Dean Rickards, who worked across photography and video to create a collection of gritty, lyrical and beautiful imagery from and of his native Jamaica. Featuring the videos Ambush, Kingston 1996, Solaris, Proverbs 24:10, Stone, Ninjaman, I Had that Dream Again (TRT approx. 17 minutes). The evening will also feature a number of projected images from Rickards’ The Afflicted Yard series. Ross Sheil, one of the managers of Rickards’ estate, will be present to introduce the work. This event takes place as a part of StudioFilmClub; doors open at 7.00pm
36
15–29 september
13 BITS, POWER TOOLS & ACCESSORIES Horacio Hospedales Trinidad & Tobago / 2013 / 16’ World Premiere 13 Bits, Power Tools & Accessories is an attempt to distill stowed content from the witnessing of Moonman’s music television landing to the array in online junk bonds of prepackaged, viewer friendly and eagerly consumed media.
THE NAKED TRUTH Kareem Mortimer The Bahamas / 2014 / 37’ Trinidad and Tobago Premiere The Naked Truth deals with the construction of race specific to the Bahamian context. This work shows a series of individuals being painted black or white. While one sees a black woman being painted white, one can hear a conversation of a white woman talking about her experience as a white Bahamian. This construct is then inverted.
INVISIBLE LANDSCAPE Sandra Vivas Dominica / 2014 / 6’ World Premiere Vivas creates a dance while hidden inside a black cloth envelope. Her silent dance is an abstract poetic reflection on women in art history, evoking landscapes, Madonnas, women in burkas, and makes evident the trap of invisibility women embody.
POCKET LINING Lauren Marsden Trinidad and Tobago, Canada / 2015 / looped digital video Pocket Lining is one of the works in Marsden’s “Ecstatic Time” series, which presents a set of short, looping videos and animated GIFs. It documents a brief gesture that portrays a sense of redundancy, futility and slowness in a local, cultual context.
For White Background
WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 7.00pm | Alice Yard 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook PROXIMITIES 2: DESTINOS POSIBLES This selection of video works, first presented in 2014 as part of the groundbreaking exhibition Cuban-American: An Empire State of Mind at Lehman College Art Gallery in New York City, tackles tricky themes inspired by the United States: as the familiar homeland for second and third-generation children of Cuban parents, or as the distant, imagined place that has historically empowered diverse ideologies in Cuba. The larger exhibition was cocurated by Yuneikys Villalonga and Susan Hoeltzel, while the video art programme, presented here, was organised by guest curator Meykén Barreto. This is the second in the Proximities series of video works presented by Alice Yard, exploring the Caribbean’s relationships to nearby regions.
Tony Labat’s Mayami: Between Cut and Action (1986, 14’) is an essay on identity, reality and representation. Using a crude portrayal of Latino drug dealers from an episode of the TV series Miami Vice, Labat develops a complex theatrical performance including the participation of the artists Tony Ousler and Winston Tong.
For Black Background
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 9.00pm | Big Black Box 33 Murray Street, Woodbrook Tel: 622.1001
Juan Carlos Alom re-edited the journey of Cuban thinker, Jose Martí, on the Eastern side of Cuba, which is described in his last diary. The artist toured the route for two months, filming the contemporary reality of the area and using the words of Martí. Diary (2009, 13’) is the result of this experience.
ARTICULATE SPECTACLE Featuring works* by Rodell Warner (Trinidad and Tobago) Warner will present a number of GIFs and tweets set to sound to create an immersive and engaging visual experience for the viewer.
In Investment (2011, 4’) Glenda León reflects on the word “inversión” and its double meanings in Spanish: to invest money in something and to turn something upside down. As a result of this reflection, the artist develops a performance in which she creates dust by scraping away the image from a one-hundred dollar bill, and then inhales it.
*Works contain flashing images An after-party will follow. The Snow is Beautiful (2005, 8’) by Felipe Dulzaides explores the psychological concept of an individual who has been displaced. It uses a non-linear narration to describe an aimless journey, and the notion of “landscape” as psychological context.
In We Don’t Need to Tell Anyone the Way We Think (2013, 11’) Ana Olema studies the behaviour of Cubans from all over the world; she uses the Facebook identities of a group of people, extracting the statements given in the politicalideology question in their profiles.
Under Discussion (2005, 6’) by Allora & Calzadilla is part of a wider project about the Vieques conflict in Puerto Rico. In this video, a local person takes viewers around the restricted area of Vieques, using a table-boat, and remembers the struggle of its people.
Luis Gárciga explores expectations in Possible Destinies (2009, 10’). This is the documentation of a public intervention on the streets of Havana, when the driver of an American 1950s taxi asks clients to pay him by responding to the question: Where do you want to get in your life?
The Guardian (2007, 5’) by Humberto Díaz captures a segment of reality that turns both poetic and questioning at the same time. He highlights the relationship between a surveillance camera and a bird in what he calls “a sensitivity ratio”.
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
Technical support for New Media is generously provided by North Eleven, official projection partners of the ttff.
ttfilmfestival.com
37
university of the west indies
UWI selection, Stories of Our Lives
This year, the ttff and the Film Programme at the University of the West Indies both celebrate their tenth anniversary. It is also the seventh year that the Festival and the Film Programme have been in partnership, and a number of ttff/15 film selections will be presented on campus at the Film Programme building, 12 Carmody Road, St Augustine. The screenings will take place over two days (Friday 18 and Thursday 24 September) and one night (Saturday 19
UWI selection, Selkirk
September). Screenings will be comprised of films by filmmakers from T+T, the wider Caribbean and the rest of the world, and will include films by students and alumni of the Film Programme. Then on Monday 28 September, also at the Film Programme building, film scholar Dr Tamara Falicov will give a talk entitled Film Funding Initiatives for Caribbean and Latin American Filmmakers: A Case for Further North-South Collaboration. The Caribbean Cinema Now
Dr Dr Tamara Tamara Falicov Falicov
academic symposium, which takes place from Thursday 24– Saturday 26 September at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, is being held in association with the Film Programme. See page 54 for details of the symposium.
For further information about any of the events taking place at the Film Programme building, please call the secretary of the programme, Ms Nareeba Seenath, at 662-2002 ext 82727.
All events taking place at the Film Programme building are free of charge. See pages 56–59 of this guide for the schedule of films that will be screened on campus, and check the films section for the synopses of the films.
studiofilmclub
Amy
Founded by the artists Peter Doig and Che Lovelace, Studiofilmclub (SFC) began screening independent and art-house films in Building 7 of the Fernandes Compound, Eastern Main Road, Laventille, in 2003. In 2006, SFC began hosting screenings and guests as part of the ttff. Guests of SFC have included British-Caribbean artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien (ttff/08), and New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als (ttff/09).
Slow West
An exhibition featuring some of the iconic posters that Doig created for the regular screenings at SFC was hosted at the ttff/11. In 2012, the work of BritishCaribbean filmmaker Steve McQueen took centre stage, while 2013 saw a screening of the restored version of Shirley Clarke’s classic 1967 documentary, Portrait of Jason. After a one-year break, SFC at ttff is back with two nights of activities. On Wednesday
Tribute: Peter Dean Rickards
16 September there will be a screening of the fiction feature Slow West (2015), directed by John Maclean (a ttff/12 guest, and who will be here to present his film) and starring Michael Fassbender.
Also on the 17th, there will be a tribute to the late Jamaican artist Peter Dean Rickards (page 36), and a party to round out the evening. Events on both evenings begin at 8.15pm; doors open at 7.00pm.
Then on Thursday 17 September there will be a screening of the Asif Kapadia documentary Amy (2015), about the late singer Amy Winehouse. (See page 21 and page 23 for the synopsis of each film, respectively.)
ttfilmfestival.com
39
FESTIVAL GUIDE
40
15–29 september
rbc focus: filmmakers’ immersion + pitch session
RBC Focus 2015 facilitator, Christina Lazaridi
RBC Focus 2014 participants
The Programme Now in its fifth year, the RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion is a four-day development programme that gives ten selected Caribbean filmmakers the opportunity to learn from film professionals. The filmmakers will enter the programme with a concept for a feature-length fiction film, from which they will be expected to develop a detailed treatment. Led by a facilitator, the participants will engage in discussions on a range of topics concentrating on the artistic side of filmmaking.
The Participants This year’s participants are: Luis Ernesto Doñas (Cuba) Sandra Vivas (Dominica) Dulcita Lieggi (Dominican Republic) Kojo McPherson (Guyana) Bradley Bixler (Puerto Rico) Javier Colón (Puerto Rico) Nicholas Clarke (TT) Sonja Dumas (TT) Michael Rochford (TT) Ernest Che Rodriguez (TT)
The Pitch The second and final stage of the RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion, the pitch session, will see the ten participants pitch the projects they worked on during the first three days of the workshop to a panel of film industry professionals. The person with the best pitch, as determined by the panel, will win a prize of $20,000, sponsored by RBC Royal Bank. The pitch will take place on Saturday 26 September in the San Fernando Room, Hyatt Regency Trinidad, at 10.00am. It is free and open to the public.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR Christina Lazaridi is a scriptwriter, screenwriting teacher and script consultant. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the short One Day Crossing (2001), and her screenplays have won multiple awards, including a Student Academy Award. Lazaridi holds a BA in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing (Honours) from Princeton University, and an MFA in Screenwriting (Honours) from Columbia University School of the Arts, and teaches at both schools.
dreamticket: bring the magic of movies to children at the ttff/15
The Greatest House in the World
In celebration of its tenth anniversary, the ttff is giving you the opportunity to enable children to see movies at the ttff/15. Under the DreamTicket initiative, boys from the St Dominic’s Children’s Home and the St Michael’s Home for Boys, and girls from the St Jude’s Home for Girls will get to attend screenings of family-friendly films during the ttff/15, which takes place from 15–29 September.
Sally’s Way
You can contribute to DreamTicket by making a donation of TT$100 for each child who will be attending the screenings. Your donation will cover the purchase of a movie ticket, snacks and a drink, and transportation costs to and from the cinema for one child. Of course, if you wish to sponsor more than one child, you are welcome to do so! You can make your donation to DreamTicket in one of three ways:
• Via the secure PayPal online payment system: http://www. ttfilmfestival.com/dreamticket/
Every little bit helps. We thank you for your contribution.
• To the ttff’s bank account (a/c number 110000000711026) at RBC Royal Bank, Maraval branch • In cash at the film festival’s offices, 199 Belmont Circular Road, any weekday up to Friday 11 September. From Monday 14th September donations can be made at the ttff Secretariat at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad.
ttfilmfestival.com
41
FESTIVAL GUIDE
42
15–29 september
how animation and vfx can give your film a provocative edge
A scene from Pothound (Christopher Guinness, ttff/12)
SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER Hyatt Regency Trinidad 9.00am to 12.00pm This workshop takes place in partnership with Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival. Free of charge. To register please call 621.0709
Many filmmakers often rely solely on the perspective of the cameraman and a good script to capture an audience with their storytelling. For many local filmmakers, the use of animation or visual effects is something they consider better for big-budget features or cartoons.
Camille Selvon-Abrahams
In this workshop, a panel of experts will demonstrate how different techniques—compositing, animation and visual effects—can enhance the look and storytelling elements of your next film project.
However, oftentimes the use of small bits of these techniques can completely transform the impact of a story and allow filmmakers to add a touch of visual fantasy to their production.
Moderator Camille Selvon-Abrahams Panelists Christopher Guinness Brett Lewis Michael Richards Nicholas Maxwell
Animation and New Media Festival
link. think. drink.
Making connections at ttff
As part of our tenth anniversary celebrations, the ttff and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) are pleased to launch the inaugural link. think. drink. session—an opportunity to connect the worlds of the T&T private sector and emerging filmmakers. Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT), this session was borne from the idea that while independent filmmakers in the international industry can access multiple sources of funding to make their films, this is not the case in
Creating opportunities
T&T. There is a need, therefore, for the private sector to be introduced to the film sector, the filmmakers, the incentives available to them, and the best practices in other countries for private-sector support of films. The main goal of link. think. drink. will be to educate decisionmakers from some of the country’s top companies about the film industry, why it is important, and their role as potential investors in film productions in T&T. At the same time, local filmmakers will be educated about the views of
the private sector, they will be able to engage in discussion, and have the opportunity to make new connections. Participants will be specifically invited by the ttff and AmCham.
The session takes place Tuesday 22 September at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad. Presented by the ttff and AmCham, sponsored by FilmTT, and supported by contributing partners: the Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism, InvesTT, the Embassy of the United States of America, and YoPro Global.
ttfilmfestival.com
43
FESTIVAL GUIDE
44
15–29 september
we are new fire
We Are New Fire @ ttff/14
For the second year, the ttff is collaborating with the New Fire concert series, to bring We Are New Fire: Part 2 to Festival guests and the music-loving public. New Fire is a groundbreaking initiative that features the best acts from T&T’s diverse progressive music scene. The bands and music that have been featured at the event receive little to no radio airplay, so the concerts provide an opportunity for people to discover an array of genres that are created right here. The series is an intervention aimed at forming a
more inclusive music industry, and contributing to positive societal change. New Fire also exposes the Festival’s international guests to forms of music most do not know exist in T&T. New Fire has been growing in popularity since it began in January 2014. Artistes featured so far include 3Canal, the Blackman Family, Orange Sky and Freetown Collective. The series is supported by the Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism, Culturego, and Selfmade Studios.
We Are New Fire: Part 2 takes place on Thursday 24 September from 9.00pm at the Nu Pub (formerly Mas Camp Pub), on the corner of French Street and Ariapita Avenue in Woodbrook.
For more information on New Fire, call 271.1073, 492.7516 or 788.0966; email newfirett@gmail. com; or join them on Facebook at New Fire World and Instagram @newfirett.
Featured acts are Inzey and the Dopeskis, 5 Miles to Midnight, and jointpop. The concert will also see the launch of New Fire’s West Indian Contemporary Arts Festival, scheduled for March 2016.
special event: world premiere of bazodee featuring machel montano
Bazodee
The ttff is partnering with Monk Pictures & Indiepelago Films and FilmTT to bring a special event to audiences during the ttff/15: the world premiere of the feature film Bazodee, starring multiple-awardwinning soca superstar, Machel Montano. The film will have its debut on Wednesday 23 September 2015, at the historic Globe Cinema, followed by an after-party at Aria Lounge on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook. Tickets are on sale at the ttff’s office for this exciting, special event.
ttff/14 audience at Globe Cinema
The long-anticipated Bazodee is directed by American filmmaker Todd Kessler, features popular Indian television and film actor Kabir Bedi, and introduces London-born newcomer of Sri Lankan parentage, Natalie Perera, in the female lead role. This musical drama stars Montano as a singer who falls for an Indian businessman’s daughter, who happens to be engaged to a man she doesn’t love. (See page 14 of the guide for the film’s synopsis.)
The screening of Bazodee will be preceded by an introduction from Todd Kessler, Machel Montano, Kabir Bedi and Natalie Perera, as well as some of its co-stars, Valmike Rampersad (from Trinidad and Tobago) and Staz Nair, both based in the UK. After the screening, patrons with tickets that include entry to the after-party can head to Aria, where they will have the opportunity to mingle with the stars.
Tickets for this special event are on sale from 04 September 2015. Tickets for the screening cost $250, while tickets for the screening and after-party cost $350. To book your tickets call 621.0709, or email hello@ttfilmfestival.com.
ttfilmfestival.com
45
Implemented by the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States
ACP-EU Support Programme to ACP Cultural Sectors
Funded by the European Union
ACPCultures+ Programme
Implemented by the ACP Group of States, financed by the European Union Mise en œuvre par le Secrétariat des Etats ACP, finance par l’Union européenne Supporting African, Caribbean and Pacific cultural sectors Social and economic development Build viable cultural industries Protect cultural diversity BUDGET
Soutien aux opérateurs culturels d’Afrique, Caraïbes et Pacifique Développement social et économique Bâtir des industries culturelles viables Protéger la diversité culturelle WWW. ACPCULTURESPLUS.EU
SECTORS / SECTEURS
production, distribution, diffusion, training and regulation production, distribution, diffusion, formation et règlementation cinema, audiovisual, theatre, dance, literature, music, heritage and more… cinéma, audiovisuel, théâtre, dance, littérature, musique, héritage et plus…
for cultural decision makers! pour décideurs et opérateurs culturels.
Film supported by the ACPCultures+ Programme in 2015
�
� �
OVER/SUR OVER/SURMORE THAN PLUS/ DE MORE/THAN PLUS OVER/SUR MOREDE THAN / PLUS DE
30 €€30 € 55 5 200 60 30 200 60 55 60 200 ECTS MILLIONMILLION Run Lonbraz Kann PROJECTS OPERATORS ACP COUNTRIES CULTURAL OPERATORS by Philippe Lacôte Constantin ACP COUNTRIES by DavidCULTURAL
PROJECTS
NEWS, INTERVIEWS NEWS, INTERVIEWS VIDEOSFROM FROMCULTURAL CULTURALNEWS, OPERATORS VIDEOS OPERATORS INT
morethan than 400 VIDEOS studies FROM CULT more studies The recommendations Eye of 400 the storm” tools,
MILLION PAYS ACP OPÉRATEURS CULTURELS NO FUTURE WITHOUT CULTURE
more than tools, recommendations
by Sékou Traoré OPÉRATEURS CULTURELS PAYS ACP tools, recom CULTURAL OPERATORS ACP COUNTRIES PAYS ACP OPÉRATEURS CULTURELS
Contact: infocomacpculturesplus@acp.it
we are caribbean film www.caribbeanfilm.com
Welcome to the Caribbean Film Mart + Caribbean Film Database The Caribbean Film Mart The Caribbean Film Mart (CFM) is set to introduce Caribbean films in development and preproduction to the global film industry. This will give filmmakers the opportunity to meet with international film producers, sales agents and film funds, with the aim of creating professional relationships and partnerships that will enable the production, marketing and distribution of Caribbean films. For the complete list of projects, see pages 48–49. Details of participating industry guests can be found on pages 50–52. The Caribbean Film Database The Caribbean Film Database (CFDB) presents information on over 500 independent feature-length films made in and about the Caribbean. Accessible in English, Spanish and French, the database acts as a resource for filmmakers, producers, scholars, festival programmers, regional film commissions and industry professionals. Films listed on the CFDB meet specific criteria: they are feature films (defined here as 52 minutes and over), they are non-studio films, and they are made in or about the Caribbean. The focus of the database is contemporary, so most of the films listed were made between 2000 and 2014. However, as a nod to the history of filmmaking in the Caribbean, there is a classics section that is comprised of a number of seminal films from the region. www.caribbeanfilm.com
These projects are co-financed by the ACPCultures+ Programme, funded by the European Union (European Development Fund) and implemented by the ACP Group of States.
ttfilmfestival.com
47
FESTIVAL GUIDE
24–26 SEPTEMBER Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Laura Amelia Guzmán
Kareem Mortimer
German Gruber
Ian Harnarine
48
15–29 september
BEAUTY KINGDOM Dominican Republic, Fiction Directors: Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas Producers: Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas, Mónica De Moya In a magical place in the Caribbean, the most expensive film of all time is about to be shot. The Diva, a 70-year-old eccentric actress, has arrived to star in the film. She finds herself surrounded by the absurdity that such a film production implies, as she rigorously prepares for her role. All the while, she senses the impending end of the world. Nonetheless, the film must go on. CARGO The Bahamas, Fiction Director: Kareem Mortimer Producers: Trevite Willis, Alexander Younis Kevin is a Bahamian fisherman whose life is slowly unraveling. After wasting his remaining money at a gambling house he is approached by a security guard, Mark, who suggests that Kevin supplement his income by using his vessel as a means to transport people illegally into the United States. Kevin leads scores of migrants on a treacherous, unsettling and perilous final journey.
CONCH Curaçao, Fiction Director: German Gruber Producer: German Gruber A young boy runs away from home after the loss of his mother, searching for the message that he saw her whisper into a conch shell the night before her death. Between nightmares of drowning and daydreams of becoming a musician, he goes around asking the characters he meets along his desolate journey about the message in the conch. To find out, he will have to confront his fear of the sea.
DOUBLES WITH SLIGHT PEPPER Trinidad and Tobago/USA, Fiction Director: Ian Harnarine Producer: Ryan Silbert Dhani, a young Trinidadian street vendor, struggles to support himself and his mother by selling doubles. When his estranged father, Ragbir, unexpectedly invites him to New York, Dhani must travel to America and decide if he will save his father’s life. Based on the multiaward-winning short film by Ian Harnarine and executive-produced by Spike Lee.
Asha Lovelace
Arturo Infante
Annabelle Mullen
Christian James
THE DRAGON Trinidad and Tobago, Fiction Director: Asha Lovelace Producers: Asha Lovelace, Lesley-Anne Macfarlane Aldrick’s sole responsibility in life is to his dragon masquerade that he plays for Carnival. When he finds himself falling for Sylvia, the most desired young woman on the hill, he is unable to commit to her and she succumbs to the advances of an older man. This plummets Aldrick into a moment of blind rebellion that ends in tragedy and forces him to confront his role as dragon and man. THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF CELESTE GARCIA Cuba, Fiction Director: Arturo Infante Producers: Claudia Calviño, Alejandro Tovar Celeste is in her sixties and sells tickets at a planetarium. The discovery of an alien race shocks the world. Humans will send a spaceship carrying regular citizens to make contact with the alien civilisation. Tired of her monotonous life, Celeste decides to apply for a spot on the ship and embark into the unknown. What Celeste and the rest of the passengers on the ship seek in another galaxy is the Cuban dream of a better life. THE FISHERMAN’S SON Puerto Rico, Fiction Director: Edgar Deluque Producer: Annabelle Mullen A transsexual runs away to his childhood home at a fishermen’s island after murdering a policeman. He must face his father who he hasn’t seen in fifteen years and who doesn’t want anything to do with his transsexual child.
GREEN DAYS BY THE RIVER Trinidad and Tobago, Fiction Director: Michael Mooleedhar Producer: Christian James Set against the backdrop of rural Trinidad in 1952, this is the story of fifteen-year-old Shell, the new boy in the village. Shell naively navigates a love triangle between an attractive Indian girl, Rosalie, and the more personable Joan. Though flattered by the friendship of Rosalie’s father, he focuses on becoming a man in the wake of his father’s terminal illness and will discover the difficult choices ahead.
projects
Miquel Galofré
Bruno Mourral
Jason Fitzroy Jeffers
Nina Vilus
“HELLO NICKI” Trinidad and Tobago, Documentary Director: Miquel Galofré Producer: Jean-Michel Gibert This documentary follows Shanice, a teenage girl from Trinidad, as she seeks to actualise her grand dream of making music and collaborating with Nicki Minaj. Shanice is a spirited soul living with cerebral palsy and has a unique way of viewing the world. She is keenly aware of the isolation her appearance has caused, but her personality remains bright, upbeat and hopeful.
KIDNAPPING INC. Haiti, Fiction Director: Bruno Mourral Producers: Gaethan Chancy, Bruno Mourral, Raoul Peck This is a twisted, dark comedy about two delivery men working for an underground kidnapping corporation in Haiti. Doc and Zoe are scheduled to deliver a senator’s son worth $300,000. In the midst of their usual bickering, one kills the senator’s son accidentally. Trying to fix the mess they find themselves in, they stumble upon the senator’s son’s lookalike, which sets them on the craziest kidnapping of their lives.
PAPA MACHETE Haiti/Barbados/USA, Documentary Director: Jonathan David Kane Producers: Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Keisha Rae Witherspoon Two hundred years ago, Haitian slaves defeated Napoleon’s armies with the very tool they used to work the land: the machete. Papa Machete explores the esoteric martial art that emerged from this victory through the life and recent death of Alfred Avril, a poor farmer who was one of the art’s few remaining masters. With his passing, Avril’s two sons are confronted with loss, legacy and American dreams.
Mason Richards
Storm Saulter
Vashti Harrison
THE SEAWALL Guyana/USA, Fiction Director: Mason Richards Producer: Sohini Sengupta Malachi, a struggling young writer in Brooklyn, learns of his girlfriend’s pregnancy and returns to his birth country, Guyana, to sell off his inheritance. In Guyana, Malachi ends up confronting his estranged father who abandoned him as a child. Malachi gets closure, and makes decisions about the kind of father he would be to his unborn child.
SPRINTER Jamaica, Fiction Director: Storm Saulter Producer: Donald Ranvaud Akeem, a young Rastafarian, surprisingly shatters the 200-metre high-school track record. He must make the national team to compete at the World Youth Championships in Philadelphia if he wants a chance to reunite with his mother who has been living there illegally for ten years. Akeem’s overnight popularity and the sudden return of his estranged older brother disrupt his focus. Meanwhile, a scandal is brewing that threatens to derail his career before it’s even started. WIND RUSH Trinidad and Tobago/USA, Documentary Director: Vashti Harrison Producer: Vashti Harrison Calypso music serves a significant role in the Caribbean emigrant experience in London, which began in earnest in the 1950s. Calypso was the music of the minority, the voice of the other, and it helped to define the West Indian identity in England. Using the music of calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Kitchener as a roadmap to this journey of discovery and displacement, the film will focus on their homes both in Trinidad and London.
POTOMITANS: WOMEN PILLARS IN REVOLT Guadeloupe, Documentary Director: Bouchera Azzouz Producers: Nina Vilus, Laurence Lascary This film is an exploratory journey into the heart of the everyday life of five Guadeloupean women. Liliane, Ginette, Vanessa, Corinne and Chantal are considered “potomitans”, women who assume professional and familial responsibilities without the help of a man. Everything rests on the courage of these women, who are trying to emancipate themselves by claiming a new way of being a woman.
ttfilmfestival.com
49
FESTIVAL GUIDE
24–26 SEPTEMBER Hyatt Regency Trinidad
ALFREDO CALVIÑO Founder and CEO of Brazil-based Habanero Film Sales, Alfredo Calviño has served as advisor and juror for Sundance, TAREULA II, Cannes, Guadalajara, Iberoamerican Films, Ventana Sur and Havana Film Festival. He was instrumental in the design, implementation, international promotion and sales campaigns of films such as Strawberry and Chocolate, I Am Cuba and Juan of the Dead. Habanero specialises in quality art-house films, helping to design and implement co-production and distribution strategies for all media platforms. AURÉLIEN BODINAUX Belgium-born Aurélien Bodinaux worked as an entertainment financial consultant for Arthur Andersen in California before creating Neon Rouge Productions in 2002. At Neon Rouge he develops, produces and directs socio-cultural fiction and documentary films that have screened at festivals such as Locarno, Fespaco, Berlin, Fipa, Amiens, Kiev and Idfa. Neon Rouge’s goal is to discover and nurture writers, directors, artists and technicians from the genesis of an idea to its implementation and its promotion. BARTHÉLÉMY FOUGEA Barthélémy Fougea is the producer & founder of Winds Films, which has produced nearly thirty documentary films on international subjects related to discovery, human adventure and travel for television and cinema. In collaboration with Boréales Production Company, Barthélémy served as producer and executive producer on more than thirty documentary films and docudramas made for television and cinema. Barthélémy received the César Award (the French Academy Award) for best documentary in 2014 for the film On the Way to School (ttff/15). BLANCA GRANADOS Blanca Granados is Head of Industry at the Cartagena International Film Festival in Colombia, curator of the Ibero-American section of the International Film Festival of India in Goa, Director of Public Relations for the International Film Festival of Panama, and a publicist at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has an MA in Film and Literature from the University of Toronto. DAMON D’OLIVEIRA Producer Damon D’Oliveira has been responsible for bringing to screen some of Canada’s more innovative feature films: Poor Boy’s Game, RUDE, Love Come Down, H, Proteus and Lie with Me. Under the umbrella of the production companies Conquering Lion Pictures (with partner Clement Virgo) and Flimshow Inc., D’Oliveira’s films have been distributed and sold internationally to over forty countries and have been selected for festivals around the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance and Rotterdam.
50
15–29 september
DONALD RANVAUD Since 1989, Ranvaud has worked with directors and in countries that would soon become prominent in the world of independent film: in China he produced Life on a String and Farewell My Concubine; in Latin America, from 1994 to present, he produced Central Station, Rolling Family, Xango, To the Left of the Father, Babilonia 2000, Madame Sata, and City of God, garnering a total of twelve Oscar nominations. He was also executive producer on The Constant Gardener by Fernando Meirelles. ELISABETH OPDAL Elisabeth Opdal has worked in the field of documentary production since 2003, both as producer and project manager. She was Managing Director of Foundation Films from the South, which hosts the Films from the South Festival and manages the Sørfond: Norwegian South Film Fund. The latter provides filmmakers in developing countries with capital for projects and professional networks. Elisabeth is now a consultant for both the Sørfond and the Norwegian Film Commission. ELSA REYES Elsa Reyes studied Hispanic Literature and subsequently worked in the publishing industry, which prepared her for her move to the film and commercial industries. In 2001, she started producing both narrative and documentary shorts. In 2007, she founded Zensky Cine with Cinematographer Ramón Orozco, with the idea of making fresh and innovative cinema. ERIC SCHNEDECKER Eric Schnedecker is a partner at Urban Distribution International (UDI), an international sales company that presents art-house films by promising young filmmakers and renowned directors whose films distinguish themselves through innovation and originality. Eric has extensive international experience working for major entertainment companies such as Universal, Disney, Turner and Arte. He is based in New York where he is responsible for international sales and acquisitions at UDI. GIZELLE LUE Gizelle Lue is the Festival and Acquisitions Coordinator at Cinemavault, a worldwide sales agent specialising in motion pictures. Cinemavault helps producers organise financing and shepherds projects through development, casting, production and post-production. Gizelle works with directors and producers to strategise a film’s festival run, with the goal of maximising sales and global theatrical exposure. She also works with producers on projects in various stages: from script development to packaging and acquisition.
industry
JAMESON OYER As the Manager of Digital and Video Direct Marketing at Kino Lorber, Jameson Oyer works on film distribution and manages recently launched Sol y Luna, Kino Lorber’s new label that will bring Spanish-language films to audiences in the US. With a library of over 1,000 titles, Kino Lorber continues to be one of the strongest film distributors offering the best in contemporary, classic and documentary films. JAN MILLER Jan Miller is an international consultant and trainer specialising in film and television co-production and co-venturing. For twenty years she has delivered one of the top pitching and content development workshops in the world. Her awards include ITV’s Woman of Vision Award, WIFT-Toronto’s first Crystal Award for Excellence in Training/Professional Development, and the WIFT-AT Wave Award for her significant contribution and support of the Atlantic screen industry. JAVIER FERNANDEZ CUARTO Javier Fernandez Cuarto is the artistic coordinator of Blood Window, the largest Latin American genre film market hosted at the Ventana Sur, the Latin American Film Market based in Buenos Aires. Ventana Sur has more than 2,000 accredited members and includes more than 300 buyers and sellers from across the five continents. Javier also works at the Argentina National Film Board in the management of international affairs. KATHRYN KENNEDY Winner of the Bingham Ray New Talent Award for 2015, Kennedy’s first feature film My Name is Emily was the opening film at the Galway Film Festival 2015. She launched Kennedy Films, a film production company based in Dublin, Ireland, in December 2012, with a short film, Just Saying, by writer/director Dave Tynan, which was an instant viral sensation, achieving over 440,000 hits to date. Kennedy Films produces fiction and documentary feature films and are now developing concepts for television. LUCIUS BARRE Lucius Barre promotes worldwide distribution of films from many cultures. He was the first crossover international publicist for Pedro Almodóvar, Shinji Aoyama, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Atom Egoyan, Zacharias Kunuk and Tom Tykwer, and has in recent years promoted work by new and established filmmakers from almost twenty countries. He served as English-language press officer for Cannes for eight years from 1978, and is currently on the organising teams of the Locarno and Rotterdam film festivals.
MARJORIE BENDECK REGALADO Marjorie Bendeck Regalado, originally from Honduras, studied Film Production in Mexico and Cuba. Based in Germany since 2003, she works for festivals, funds and training programmes in Europe and Latin America. Currently she evaluates feature projects for Ateliers du Cinema Européen – ACE Producers Network; Connecting Cottbus East – West Co-production Market; Creative Europe – MEDIA Film Development Fund; and the Berlin International Film Festival’s Talent Project Market and World Cinema Fund. MOIRA GRIFFIN Moira Griffin is the Senior Manager of Diversity Initiatives at the Sundance Institute, which provides residential labs, grants and ongoing mentorships for more than 350 artists each year. Sundance Institute also acts as a champion and curator of independent stories. With numerous projects under her belt for a variety of companies, Moira is consistently focused on helping directors move their projects from development through post-production. MOLLY O’KEEFE Molly O’Keefe is the Director of Scripted Programs at the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI). Previously, Molly was the Director of Development and Production at Sundance Productions where she developed series for CNN, FX, HBO, Ovation, EPIX, Sony and Paramount. TFI champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world. Each year, TFI empowers filmmakers with funding and resources to fully realise their stories and connect with audiences. NAIMA ABED Naima Abed began her career at Celluloid Dreams, where she handled the legal and financial aspects of production, distribution and licensing. She then moved to eOne Films, where she helped set up the international sales department. Naima current oversees development, production and financing at Memento Films, a select sales company designated to track and accompany high-profile, director-driven, independent films. Memento chooses only eight to ten projects a year in order to offer tailor-made synergies and business expertise. NATHALIE STREIFF Nathalie Streiff first worked as programing assistant of several film festivals, and then supervised the film office at the French Embassy in Berlin. From 2009 to 2011, she ran the Fonds Sud Cinéma programme. Nathalie is now in charge of World Cinema Support, a selective fund, under the Institut Français, which is in charge of implementing France’s cultural action abroad, and is dedicated to encouraging coproductions and the creation of works that help promote cultural diversity.
ttfilmfestival.com
51
FESTIVAL GUIDE
24–26 SEPTEMBER Hyatt Regency Trinidad
RACHEL WATANABE-BATTON Award-winning producer Rachel WatanabeBatton has created content for PBS, VH1, BET, Centric, HBO, Discovery and Lionsgate, amongst others. She is currently producing a documentary feature with acclaimed writer/director Julie Dash, developing the narrative feature Skylarking with writer/director Tanya Hamilton, and developing a first-person historical transmedia project called The Un-Americans, focusing on her multi-ethnic family and the impact of war, progressive politics, race, migration and religion.
SHRIHARI SATHE Shrihari Sathe is a New York and Mumbai-based independent filmmaker and producer. Sathe’s sophomore production It Felt Like Love worldpremiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam, with great reviews. It is available in over 30 countries. Sathe is a 2013 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow and has received fellowships from Independent Filmmaker Project, Film Independent and the Sundance Institute, among other institutions.
ROBERT MAYLOR Rob Maylor is the Manager of Worldwide Sales at Magnolia Pictures, where he specialises in VOD, New Media and TV distribution. Rob also represents the company’s new film slate and extensive library catalogue at major film festivals and markets. Magnolia Pictures is the theatrical and home-entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a verticallyintegrated group of media properties that includes the Landmark Theatres chain and AXS TV.
SYDNEY LEVINE Sydney Levine has over 35 years of experience in the entertainment industry. She is a writer at Indiewire’s popular blog, SydneysBuzz, which consists of articles and acquisitionsrights reports on the international film business. She also engages in professional education, strategic planning and consulting for individuals, companies and countries seeking to improve their position in the international film market. Sydney works with various film markets administering buyers’ data, and giving tours of the markets to newcomers.
RON SIMONS Ron Simons is the Founder and President of SimonSays Entertainment, a production company with a focus on narratives that dig deeply into the outsider’s struggle for dignity and acceptance, and produces projects that combine commercial viability with artistic integrity. He is a three-time Tony Award-winning producer and actor. Ron leads the strategic planning and development of theatre and film projects including the critically acclaimed films Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice and Mother of George (all Sundance premieres). His first documentary, 25 to Life, premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won best documentary. RYAN SILBERT Ryan Silbert is a New York-based independent filmmaker with award-winning work recognised by the Academy Awards, the Canadian Academy of Film & Television, Sundance, the Museum of Modern Art, Independent Filmmaker Project, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlinale. Recent producer credits include The Girl Is in Trouble, with executive producer Spike Lee (eOne 2015); God of Love (Oscar Winner for best live-action short); and Doubles with Slight Pepper (TIFF jury prize and Canadian Screen Award winner). SAMUEL CHAUVIN Co-founder of Promenades Films, Samuel’s main activity is the discovery of new talents coming from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. He has served as a jury member on Bolivia Lab V and VI, lectured on production and production management at Bucaramanga University in Colombia, facilitated a workshop in production and project management in Venezuela, and sat on review panels to evaluate the artistic analysis and potential of international financing of projects.
52
15–29 september
THIERRY LENOUVEL Since 2001, Thierry Lenouvel has produced or co-produced thirty films, several of which have received awards. He is the founder and organiser of the Script Development Fund of the International Film Festival of Amiens, and is a member of CICAE (Art House Theaters Association), Fonds Sud Cinéma, the European Film Academy and the Syndicate of Independent Film Producers. In 1993, he created Ciné-Sud Promotion, a company designed to promote art house films. TILANE JONES Tilane Jones is the Managing Director of AFFRM, the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, a black film distribution collaborative. Jones is also Manager of Production for Forward Movement Films, serving as a producer on all of the company’s visual products, including Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere, This is the Life, I Will Follow and Selma. YANICK LÉTOURNEAU Yanick Létourneau is the owner and cofounder of Peripheria, a production company with a mission to produce director-driven stories for local and international audiences. Actively working on international co-productions with Latin America, Africa and Europe, he is currently producing three narratives from Colombia, Mexico and Montreal, as well as three theatrical documentaries. Letourneau is an alumnus of the Cannes Producers’ Network, IFP No Borders, TransAtlantic Partners, TIFF Producers’ Lab and the Rotterdam Lab.
PARTNERS trinidad+tobago film festival The trinidad+tobago film festival is implementing the Caribbean Film Mart + Caribbean Film Database in association with the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo from the Dominican Republic, the Association for the Development of Art Cinema and Practice in Guadeloupe, the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema in Cuba, and the Festival Régional et International du Cinéma de Guadeloupe. These partners have continuously demonstrated their commitment to the development of the regional film industry and their contributions have been critical to the launch of the Caribbean Film Mart + Caribbean Film Database.
Association for the Development of Art Cinema and Practice in Guadeloupe (APCAG) APCAG works as a promotion and distribution network for independent art-house films from the South and, in particular, Guadeloupe and the Caribbean. It does so through cinemas and other projection venues (multimedia libraries, municipal offices of culture and sport, municipal and private halls, companies and training centres) as well as through the production of audiovisual materials (DVDs, books, brochures), by organising regional programming events (meetings, workshops, projections, promotion of cinema clubs), and by promoting local filmmakers and their works at regional and international festivals.
Festival de Cine Global Dominicano (FCGD) FCGD presents a selection of the best international, dramatic and documentary films to enrich the Dominican Republic’s film culture and to bring the seventh art into all sectors of Dominican society. The festival contributes to raising awareness and understanding of global issues through stories that have left a mark on our lives. It uses film as a way to promote and encourage discussion about social issues, politics and economics. The FCDG is facilitated by the Funglode, which was created in 2000 as a think tank and policy centre, with the objective of discussing, debating and promoting public policies in the Dominican Republic and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Festival Régional et International du Cinéma de Guadeloupe (FEMI) FEMI is a unique francophone film festival whose mission is to promote the films and filmmakers of the French Antilles, French Guiana and the wider Caribbean, who are insufficiently honoured and often unknown to the general public. FEMI also showcases the best of international cinema through a diverse programme of films inviting reflection on social issues, as well as exposing audiences to new talent and highlighting existing voices. Foundation of the New Latin American Cinema (FNCL) FNCL is a cultural non-profit organisation with the mission of contributing to the development and integration of Latin American and Caribbean cinema, and the strengthening of the cultural identity of the region. It was founded by the Latin American Filmmakers Committee and its president, the late celebrated novelist, Gabriel García Márquez.
THE CARIBBEAN FILM MART + DATABASE TEAM Si Media CFDB website Emilie Upczak Creative Director (CFM + CFDB project manager) Melanie Archer Art Director (CFDB project coordinator) Jasbinder Birk ACP coordinator Rhian Vialva CFM coordinator James Barber CFDB digital strategist Rhonda Chan Soo CFDB researcher Ayrïd Chandler CFDB graphic designer Nancy Derandamie CFDB contributor Adeline Gregoire, Nicholas Emery CFDB copy editors Tracy Assing, Anne Garcia, Arnold Letchie CFDB proofreaders Ayana Harper, Gaby Attong, Pascale Weekes CFM assistants
UWI Faculty of Humanities and Education Caribbean Interpreting and Translation Bureau CFDB Translation ttff: Bruce Paddington, Annabelle Alcazar, Jonathan Ali, Nneka Luke, Magella Moreau, Melvina Hazard, Azreena Khan, Philip de Gannes, Roma Zachemba, Shea Best, Tyler Johnston Partner representatives: Luis Notario, Omar de la Cruz, Marie Claude Pernelle, Patricia Monpierre, Alquimia Peña, Lisver Perdigón, Felly Sedicias, Priscilla Delannay, Camilus Rabin
ttfilmfestival.com
53
FESTIVAL GUIDE
caribbean cinema now THURSDAY 24–SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER Sapphire Room Hyatt Regency Trinidad 1.30pm–3.30pm In association with the Film Programme of the University of the West Indies (UWI)
Eat, for This Is My Body
Aliker
All panels are free and open to the public Call 621.0709 to register
Ten years on from the founding of the ttff, there is an increasing awareness of Caribbean cinema, both by the growing audiences who attend Caribbean film festivals, as well as by academics who write journal articles and teach Caribbean cinema at their universities and colleges. In order to consolidate the field of Caribbean film studies, we have assembled a group of regional and international scholars. We have grouped their work into three themes, which address the core issues in contemporary Caribbean cinema: “Films and Filmmakers”, “Historical and Cultural Contexts” and “Industry and Institutions”. THURSDAY 24: CARIBBEAN FILMS AND FILMMAKERS The aesthetics of resistance in Guy Deslauriers’s Aliker Savrina Chinien | UWI, St Augustine Guy Deslauriers’s film Aliker explores the postcolonial nation’s desire to establish a distinct identity despite its colonised past. This presentation will seek to show how, by drawing upon collective memory, Deslauriers puts forth the cultural identity of Martiniquans as a means of resistance against imposed neo-colonial culture and politics. Surrealism and the politics of hunger in Michelange Quay’s Eat, for This Is My Body Valerie Kaussen | University of Missouri This presentation will explore the dream-like aesthetics of Haitian-American director Michelange Quay’s 2007 film, Eat, for This Is My Body. In particular, it will explore how the film’s surreal style serves to denaturalise or make “strange” the relationships of power and dependency that inform colonial and post-colonial humanitarian enterprises in impoverished places like Haiti.
Returning to folklore to decolonise knowledge: Recent film adaptations of Caribbean folk stories Giselle Anatol | University of Kansas Folklore is often associated with a primitive past, but contemporary Caribbean filmmakers challenge this notion by incorporating folk-figures into present-day settings—not merely to preserve the stories themselves, but also to consider the viability of African values over Eurocentric ones. This presentation considers several representations of Caribbean folklore in film to explore this theme. SATURDAY 26: INDUSTRY AND INSTITUTIONS
Staging transnational histories and geographic movements in new Cuban cinema Valerie Forman | New York University Miguel Coyula’s Memories of Overdevelopment (2010) serves as a salient example of the transformation of Caribbean cinema. Placing this film in the context of Cuban cinema in recent years, this presentation explores how new Caribbean cinema represents daily life in the Caribbean and its diaspora, while challenging hierarchical ideologies of development.
Fund scouting in the North for the South: Finance strategies for Caribbean and Central American filmmakers via film festival funds, grants, and co-production markets Tamara Falicov | University of Kansas. This presentation will explore the preponderance of film funds made available for global South filmmakers mainly through European agencies (such as World Cinema Fund and Hubert Bals Fund), and the ways in which this funding dynamic might assist but also negatively shape production.
Telling Caribbean stories: Storm Saulter’s place in the new Caribbean canon Rachel Moseley-Wood | UWI, Mona The presentation proposes Jamaican filmmaker, Storm Saulter, as an important, new talent in Caribbean cinema through a discussion of his debut feature film, Better Mus’ Come (2010), and his work with the New Caribbean Cinema film collective.
Representing diversity in the Caribbean diaspora: A critical observation of the contemporary independent film movement Michelle Materre | New School Presenting a variety of media from across the Caribbean diaspora, this presentation considers the content, production values and relevance to the communities they represent. By examining the challenges of producing work interpreted by shifting geographic contexts, it also looks at how the moving image contributes to our understanding of Caribbean history and culture.
FRIDAY 25: HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS “My story is not a nice story”: Raoul Peck’s “African” films Professor Jane Bryce | UWI, Cave Hill Haitian auteur director, Raoul Peck, has to date made three films set in Africa. This presentation explores these films in light of Peck’s Caribbean background and in comparison to a long history of racist, stereotypical, cinematic constructions of “the dark continent” in American and European cinemas. Contrasting narratives of history and Identity in twenty-first century Puerto Rican documentaries Mary Leonard | University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus This presentation contrasts ideological stances underpinning documentaries that fall into three groups: documentaries about political figures; films that question this “great-man” approach; and films about subcultures that are political—since they are associated with the status and meaning of revolt, and the idea of style as a form of refusal.
54
Female directors and kinship in Caribbean cinema: An ongoing trend Norma Liz Rodríguez-Santiago | University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Compared to other regions, in the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean there is a higher percentage of working, independent, female directors. This presentation explores this growing trend of women as film directors in the Caribbean and the constant theme of kinship relations in their work.
15–29 september
New Technologies and Caribbean Cinema Luis Notario | Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry New technologies have led to a reduction in the costs of film production and created new modes of distribution. They also have a growing influence on the way films are consumed. This paper proposes a need to rethink Caribbean cinema in the light of the new paradigms of film production, distribution and consumption. Teaching films and cinema in contemporary Martinique: the search for an in-between model in a Caribbean context Yomé Toumson | University of the French West Indies This presentation investigates French film-studies curricula in Martinique, and considers both the films that are studied and those that get made. The presentation considers the challenges facing the students, as both consumers and producers of films, highlighting strategies and perspectives to further the cinematic discourse in a post-colonial Caribbean island.
caribbean film mart: pitch + panels
The pitches and panels are all free and open to the public. As seating is limited, pre-registration is strongly recommended. Sapphire Room, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Call 621.0709 to register. Thursday 24 September, 9.00am CARIBBEAN FILM MART PITCH Eight selected filmmakers from the Caribbean Film Mart will present fiveminute pitches of their projects to a group of visiting industry professionals. These industry experts may ask questions and will provide feedback on the projects to move each one forward. Thursday 24 September, 11.30am BOOK OF NEGROES AND MELAZA: CASE STUDIES ON CO-PRODUCTIONS What are the benefits of working with a co-producer? What are the challenges? Using the dramatic serial Book of Negroes and the narrative feature film Melaza as case studies, this presentation aims to reveal elements in the financing strategy of co-productions. Producer Damon D’Oliveira of Conquering Lion Pictures (Canada), and Samuel Chauvin from Promenades Films (France), will address the development process, including how they found a co-producer, the benefits and challenges of co-producing with South Africa and Cuba respectively, and where they sourced financing. They will also address how to work with informal co-ventures. Moderator: Marjorie Bendeck Regalado, Independent Consultant Friday 25 September, 11.30am I AM A PRODUCER! The producer has one of the least celebrated and yet most important roles in making a film. This presentation will address how each panelist got into producing, the choices they made along the way, training programmes they have gone through and what membership of guilds and organisations does for a producer. Panelists: Rachel Watanabe-Batton, PGA Diversity Chair Shrihari Sathe, Infinitum Productions Aurélien Bodinaux, Neon Rouge Production Moderator: Jan Miller, TransAtlantic Partners
GATHER ROUND Have a chance to sit with international industry professionals and find out more about film financing, labs, markets, sales and distribution. Roundtables discussions are free and open to the public. As seating is limited, pre-registration is strongly recommended. Prerequisite: You must be a filmmaker with at least two short films as writer, director or producer. Siparia Room, Hyatt Regency Trinidad Call 621.0709 to register. Thursday 24 September, 3.30pm Nathalie Streiff, Institute Français – Film Fund Alfredo Calviño, Habanero Film Sales – Sales Agent Molly O’Keefe, Tribeca Film Institute – Film Fund Gizelle Lue, Cinemavault – Sales Agent Friday 25 September, 3.30pm Moira Griffin, Sundance Institute – Film Fund Thierry Lenouvel, Cine Sud – Producer Tilane Jones, African Film Festival Releasing Movement – Sales Agent Javier Fernandez Cuarto, Ventana Sur – Film Market Saturday 26 September, 3.30pm Elisabeth Opdal, Sørfond – Film Fund Eric Schnedecker, Urban Distribution International – Sales Agent Naima Abed, Memento Films – Sales Agent Robert Maylor, Magnolia Films – Sales Agent
Saturday 26 September, 11.30am THE ART OF SUBTITLING Audiovisual translation is a major issue for the Caribbean film industry. This final link of the production chain is very often the most efficient passport for a movie to travel around the world. The purpose of this presentation, led by Pauline Cabidoche, is to introduce professionals s uch as producers, directors, festival representatives and technicians,to the standards they should expect from professional subtitling, and to draw up an inventory of the existing methods and circuits practicable in our space. Pauline Cabidoche is an audiovisual translator from Guadeloupe. After years of work experience in an audiovisual lab in Paris, where she managed hundreds of subtitling projects from all around the world for cinema and television, she is now an independent professional focused on giving back to Caribbean cinema what it gave her: pride, love for languages and international visibility.
ttfilmfestival.com
55
FESTIVAL GUIDE
56
time
venue
11.00am
MOVIETOWNE POS
1.30pm
MOVIETOWNE POS
4.00pm
thursday 17 sept
friday 18 sept
The Extradinary Mr. Júpiter 17' (GA) + On the Road, Somewhere 72' (GA)
So Now, What Do We Do? 4' (GA) + January 1st 85' (12+) Q+A
The Farewell 25' (GA) + Denis 60' (GA)
The Miracle Worker 28' (GA) + Dreadlocks Story 80' (14+) Q+A
1.15pm April 4th 1968 24' (GA) + Panama Canal Stories 106' (PG)
MOVIETOWNE POS
Boxeadora 16' (GA) + Venice 73' (16+)
The English Teacher 15' (PG) + Without Wings 90' (14+)
Paradise Lost 35' (GA) Q+A + Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 52' (GA) Q+A
6.30pm
MOVIETOWNE POS
Dreams in Transit 30' (GA) Q+A + Trafficked 72' (16+) Q+A
Giants 16' (PG) + Pendulum 72' (14+) Q+A
Biggie and Tupac 108' (16+)
9.00pm
MOVIETOWNE POS
9.15 Party Girl 11' (14+) Q+A + Honeytrap 93' (16+)
10.00am
UWI
Citizens of Nowhere 52' (GA)
11.00am
UWI
The Last Colony 90' (GA)
12.30pm
UWI
Denis 60' (GA)
2.30pm
UWI
Casa Blanca 60' (GA)
3.30pm
UWI
What Happened to Santiago 105' (GA)
5.00pm
UWI
Dreadlocks Story 80' (14+) Q+A
6.30pm
UWI
City on the Hill 47' (GA) Q+A
8.15pm
STUDIOFILMCLUB
6.00pm
COUVA JOYLANDERS PANYARD
9.00am
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
10.00am
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
6.00pm
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
8.00pm
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
7.00pm
MEDULLA ART GALLERY
15–29 september
wednesday 16 sept
The Cuatro Man 14' (GA) Q+A + Gone with the River 104' (GA) These films are free courtesy of bpTT, see page 5 for details
Slow West 84’ (16+)
Amy 128’ (16+) + Peter Dean Rickards Tribute
Sugar Cane Alley 108' (14+)
One Way Ticket 90' (14+)
Quedate 23' (PG13) + Margarita with a Straw 100' (16+) These films are free courtesy of bpTT, see page 5 for details
The Creative Soul of Trinidad and Tobago 25' (GA) Q+A + Our Soul Turned Inside Out 65' (GA) Q+A
NEW MEDIA featuring works by Horacio Hospedales, Sandra Vivas, Kareem Mortimer + Lauren Marsden
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
saturday 19 sept
sunday 20 sept
monday 21 sept
tuesday 22 sept
10.45am Sally's Way 87' (GA) Q+A
Vanishing Sail 88' (GA)
On the Way to School 81' (GA)
April 4 1968 24' (GA) + Panama Canal Stories 106' (PG)
Pappy 10' (GA) + The Chinese Mayor 89' (GA)
Rainbow 106' (GA)
The Youth 16' (PG) + Timbuktu 97' (14+)
1.45pm The Dangers of Progress 11' (GA) + In the Horizon's Dreams 16' (GA) + Citizens of Nowhere 52' (GA)
Aurora 21' (GA) + The Greatest House in the World 76' (GA)
I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast 3' (GA) + Papa Machete 10' (PG) + My Father's Land 62' (GA) Q+A
Just a Drop 6' (GA) Q+A + Down and Out 12' (GA) Q+A + Maracas Valley: A Watershed in Crisis 23' (GA) Q+A + City on the Hill 47' (GA) Q+A
Connected 13' (PG) + Scyant: The Journey 13' (PG) Q+A + Bottom in de Road 44' (PG) Q+A
Animae Caribe Animated Shorts Package 15' + Fade to Black 10' (GA) Q+A + It Has Been a Pleasure 10' (GA) + Crumbs 68' (14+)
Tales of the Grim Sleeper 110' (16+)
Goldfish 12' (GA) Q+A + Gueros 106' (16+) These films are free courtesy of bpTT, see page 5 for details
Ackee & Saltfish 18' (PG) + Girlhood 113' (16+)
International Short Film Festival of Mauritius Package 90’ (PG13)
Sixteen 7' (GA) + Second Mother 110' (14+)
Lorenza, the Radio and You 12' (GA) + Voice Over 96' (14+)
Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 52’ (GA)
ANIMATION WORKSHOP (p. 43)
DOCUMENTARY MASTERCLASS (p. 41)
DOCUMENTARY MASTERCLASS (p. 41)
The Last Colony 90’ (GA) Q+A
Strawberry and Chocoloate 108' (16+)
Perry Henzell: A Filmmaker's Odyssey 26' (GA) Q+A + The Harder They Come 102' (16+) Q+A
The Man by the Shore 106' (PG)
Memories of Underdevelopment 97' (PG)
ttfilmfestival.com
57
FESTIVAL GUIDE
58
time
venue
wednesday 23 sept
thursday 24 sept
friday 25 sept
11.00am
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 1
Sally's Way 87' (GA) Q+A
Paradise Lost 35' (GA) Q+A+ Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 52' (GA) Q+A
Ti Coq 23' (PG) + Rose and the Soldier 90' (14+)
1.30pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 1
Edinburgh Short Film Festival package 100’ Q+A
Sixteen 7' (GA) (Q+A) + The Second Mother 110' (14+)
I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast 3' (GA) + Papa Machete 10' (PG) Q+A + My Father's Land 60' (GA) Q+A
4.00pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 1
Twighlight 37' (GA) + Casa Blanca 60' (GA)
Aurora 21' (GA) + The Greatest House in the World 76' (GA)
Giants 16' (PG) + Pendulum 72' (14+) Q+A
6.30pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 1
Alto Vista 5' (16+) + Second Coming 105' (PG) Q+A
A Wall 12' (14+) + A Safe Space 13' (GA) Q+A + Outloud 17' (PG) + Stories of Our Lives 60' (16+)
Quedate 23' (PG13) Q+A + Margarita, with a Straw 100' (16+) Q+A
9.00pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 1
Murder in Pacot 130' (16+)
The Resort 16' (14+) + Sand Dollars 85' (16+) Q+A
9.30pm The English Teacher 15' (PG) + Without Wings 90' (14+) Q+A
10.30am
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 2
Animae Caribe Children's Animated Shorts Package 15' + Selkirk 80' (GA)
The Miracle Worker 28' (GA) + Dreadlocks Story 80' (14+)
On the Way to School 81' (GA) Q+A
1.00pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 2
The Enemy 26' (GA) + Project of the Century 100' (14+)
Theeb 100' (14+)
Dreams in Transit 30' (GA) Q+A + Trafficked 72' (16+) Q+A
3.30pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 2
Mommy Water 25' (GA) + My Friend Victoria 95' (16+)
From Dirt 11' (GA) Q+A + Ciudad Delirio 100' (16+)
The Farewell 25' (GA) + Denis 60' (GA) Q+A
6.00pm
MOVIETOWNE POS SCREEN 2
Court 116' (14+)
Party Girl 11' (14+) Q+A + Honeytrap 93' (16+)
Animae Caribe Animated Shorts Package 15' + Fade to Black 10' (GA) Q+A + It Has Been a Pleasure 10' (GA) + Crumbs 68' (14+)
11.00am
MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO
3.00pm
MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO
The Miracle Worker 28' (GA) + Dreadlocks Story 80' (14+)
Papa Machete 10' (PG) + My Father's Land 60' (GA)
The Farewell 25' (GA) + Denis 60' (GA)
5.30pm
MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO
The Youth 16' (PG) + Timbuktu 97' (14+)
On the Way to School 81' (GA)
Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 52' (GA)
8.00pm
MOVIETOWNE TOBAGO
Biggie and Tupac 108' (16+)
Giants 16' (PG) + Trafficked 72' (16+)
The Resort 16' (14+) + Pendulum 72' (14+)
10.00am
UWI
Selkirk 80' (GA)
11.40am
UWI
Rose and the Soldier 90' (14+)
1.30pm
UWI
Stories of Our Lives (16+)
3.00pm
UWI
Without Wings 90' (14+)
5.00pm
UWI
Gone with the River 104’ (GA)
7.15pm
UWI
Sally’s Way 87’ (GA)
7.00pm
ALICE YARD
9.00pm
BIG BLACK BOX
6.00pm
NALIS POS
10.00am
SOUTHERN ACADEMY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
9.00am
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
6.00pm
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
The Cinema of Puerto Rico 106’ (GA)
A Journey Through Frank Etienne’s World 86’ (GA) Q+A
8.00pm
HYATT REGENCY TRINIDAD
One People 106' (PG)
Bim 100' (PG)
15–29 september
Animae Caribe Children's Animated Shorts Package 15' + Selkirk 80' (GA)
NEW MEDIA: Destinos Posibles
Just a Drop 6’ (GA) Q+A + Down and Out 12’ (GA) Q+A + Maracas Valley: A Watershed in Crisis 23’ (GA) Q+A + City on the Hill 47’ (GA) Q+A
9.00am–4.30pm PANELS + PRESENTATIONS (pp. 54–55 for details)
9.00am–4.30pm PANELS + PRESENTATIONS (pp. 54–55 for details)
Show Me Your Motion: Caribbean Film Festivals 20' (GA) Q+A + Ava & Gabriel 100' (16+) Q+A
Screenings are subject to change, so please check our website before attending a screening.
saturday 26 sept
sunday 27 sept
monday 28 sept
tuesday 29 sept
Just a Drop 6' (GA) Q+A + Down and Out 12' (GA) + Maracas Valley: A Watershed in Crisis 23' (GA) Q+A + City on the Hill 47' (GA) Q+A
Connected 13' (PG) + Scyant: the Journey 13' (PG) Q+A + Bottom in de Road 44' (PG) Q+A
Sally's Way 87' (GA) Q+A
Animae Caribe Children's Animated Shorts Package 15' (GA) + Selkirk 80' (GA)
Tales of the Grim Sleeper 110' (16+)
Mommy Water 25' (GA) + My Friend Victoria 95' (16+)
Biggie and Tupac 108' (16+)
The Last Colony 90' (GA)
The Extradinary Mr Júpiter 17' (GA) + On the Road, Somewhere 72' (GA)
Twighlight 37' (GA) + Casa Blanca 60' (GA) Q+A
Edinburgh Short Film Festival films package 100' (16+)
International Short Film Festival of Mauritius Package 90' (PG13)
Rainbow 106' (GA)
Goldfish 12' (GA) + Gueros 106' (16+)
The Enemy 26' (GA) + Project of the Century 100' (14+)
Court 116' (14+)
Boxeadora 16' (GA) + Venice 73' (16+) Q+A
Riding Bullcart 12' (GA) Q+A + Sugarcane Shadows 88' (PG)
Alto Vista 5' (16+) + Second Coming 105' (PG)
Murder in Pacot 130' (16+)
So Now, What Do We Do? 4' (GA) + January 1st 85' (12+)
On the Way to School 81' (GA)
The Creative Soul of Trinidad and Tobago 25' (GA) Q+A + Our Soul Turned Inside Out 65' (GA) Q+A Vanishing Sail 88' (GA) Q+A
Dangers of Progress 11' (GA) + In the Horizon's Dreams 16' (GA) + Citizens of Nowhere 52' (GA) Q+A
A Wall 12' (14+) + A Safe Space 13' (GA) Q+A + Outloud 17' (PG) + Stories of Our Lives 60' (16+)
Ti Coq 23' (PG) + Rose and the Soldier 90' (14+)
The Cuatro Man 14' (GA) Q+A + Gone with the River 104' (GA) Q+A
Pappy 10' (GA) + The Chinese Mayor 89' (GA)
From Dirt 14' (GA) + Ciudad Delirio 100' (16+)
Ackee & Saltfish 18' (PG) + Girlhood 113' (16+)
The Youth 16' (PG) + Timbuktu 97' (14+)
Lorenza, the Radio and You 12' (GA) + Voice Over 96' (14+)
Theeb 100' (14+)
The Resort 16' (14+) + Sand Dollars 85' (16+) Sally's Way 87' (GA)
Connected 13' (PG) + The Cuatro Man 14' (GA) + Bottom in de Road 44' (PG)
Biggie and Tupac 108' (16+)
The Resort 16' (14+) + Pendulum 72' (14+)
On the Way to School 81' (GA)
Giants 16' (PG) + Trafficked 72' (16+)
The Farewell 25' (GA) + Denis 60' (GA)
The Miracle Worker 28' (GA) + Dreadlocks Story 80' (14+)
Connected 13' (PG) + The Cuatro Man 14' (GA) + Bottom in de Road 44' (PG)
Sally's Way 87' (GA)
The Youth 16' (PG) + Timbuktu 97' (14+)
Papa Machete 10' (PG) + My Father's Land 60' (GA)
Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 52' (GA)
Just a Drop 6’ (GA) Q+A + Scyant: the Journey 12’ (PG) Q+A + Down and Out 12’ (GA) Q+A + The Cuatro Man 14’ (GA) Q+A + Outloud 17’ (PG) + Maracas Valley: A Watershed in Crisis 23’ (GA) Q+A + The Misadventures of Brian and Sachin 34’ (GA) Q+A + Off the Box 38’ (PG) Q+A + Bottom in de Road 45’ (PG) Q+A + Pendulum 72’ (14+) Q+A
Talk by Dr Tamara Falicov: Film Funding Initiatives for Caribbean and Latin American Filmmakers: A Case for Further North-South Collaboration
ARTICULATE SPECTACLE Works by Rodell Warner
Sally’s Way 87’ (GA) 9.00am–4.30pm PANELS + PRESENTATIONS (pp. 54–55 for details)
ttfilmfestival.com
59
FESTIVAL GUIDE
index of films 36 29 26 36 23 26 27 24 34 14 23 24 31 31 35 13 23 16 13 31 17 35 35 35 31 18 31 18 29 31 13 37 31 17 31 28 27
13 Bits, Power Tools & Accessories Ackee & Saltfish Alto Vista Ambush Amy April 4th 1968 Aurora Ava and Gabriel: A Love Story Barriers Bazodee Biggie and Tupac Bim Bottom in de Road Boxeadora Butterflies Casa Blanca The Chinese Mayor Cinema Puerto Rico: A Visual Anthology Citizens of Nowhere City on the Hill Ciudad Delirio Clutching at Straws: Fragments of a Shetland Tradition Coda Colas Connected Court The Creative Soul of Trinidad and Tobago Crumbs The Cuatro Man The Dangers of Progress Denis Diary Down and Out Dreadlocks Story Dreams in Transit The Enemy The English Teacher
ttff office 199 Belmont Circular Road Port of Spain Trinidad+Tobago Tel: (+)1.868.621.0709 Tel: (+)1.868.621.3473 ttfilmfestival.com
60
15–29 september
35 29 28 28 29 35 27 18 28 18 19 37 19 24 35 35 19 35 29 36 27 37 36 29 15 36 17 30 36 17 28 35 35 25 32 19 37 25
Entity The Extraordinary Mr Júpiter Fade to Black The Farewell From Dirt Getting On Giants Girlhood Goldfish Gone with the River The Greatest House in the World The Guardian Güeros The Harder They Come Henry and the Puffins Home, Away Honeytrap The Hourglass I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast I Had that Dream Again In the Horizon’s Dreams Investment Invisible Landscape It Has Been a Pleasure January 1st Jonkonnu / Gens inconnus A Journey Through Frank Etienne’s World Just a Drop Kingston 1996 The Last Colony Lorenza, the Radio and You Love Cake Made in Mauritius The Man by the Shore Maracas Valley: A Watershed in Crisis Margarita, with a Straw Mayami: Between Cut and Action Memories of Underdevelopment
28 The Miracle Worker 30 The Misadventures of Brian and Sachin 35 The Misbehaviour of Polly Paper Cut 34 A Moment at La Chaumière 27 Mommy Water 12 Murder in Pacot 13 My Father’s Land 20 My Friend Victoria 36 The Naked Truth 36 Ninjaman 30 Off the Box 16 On the Road, Somewhere 23 On the Way to School 35 One Man’s Loss 25 One People 25 One Way Ticket 15 Our Soul Turned Inside Out 32 Outloud 20 Panama Canal Stories 28 Papa Machete 32 Pappy 29 Paradise Lost 30 Party Girl 14 Pendulum 34 Perfect Day 32 Perry Henzell: A Filmmaker’s Odyssey 34 Phone Connection 36 Pocket Lining 37 Possible Destinies 34 Prison 12 The Project of the Century 36 Proverbs 24:10 30 Quedate 20 Rainbow 15 Re-percussions: An African Odyssey 30 The Resort 29 Riding Bull Cart
16 32 14 12 32 20 21 21 32 28 34 21 37 30 36 36 21 26 26 22 9 24 22 27 22 15 27 37 14 12 22 35 27 37 26 16 30
Rose and the Soldier A Safe Space Sally’s Way Sand Dollars Scyant: the Journey Second Coming The Second Mother Selkirk: The Real Robinson Crusoe Show Me Your Motion: Caribbean Film Festivals Sixteen Slipped and Fell Slow West The Snow is Beautiful So Now, What Do We Do? Solaris Stone Stories of Our Lives Strawberry and Chocolate Sugar Cane Alley Sugarcane Shadows Sweet Micky for President Tales of the Grim Sleeper Theeb Ti Coq Timbuktu Trafficked Twilight Under Discussion Vanishing Sail Venice Voice Over Walk Tall A Wall We Don’t Need to Tell Anyone the Way We Think What Happened to Santiago Without Wings The Youth
THE FESTIVAL TEAM Bruce Paddington Founder + Festival Director Annabelle Alcazar Programme Director Emilie Upczak Creative Director Jonathan Ali Editorial Director Nneka Luke External Relations Director Melanie Archer Art Director Melvina Hazard Director of Community Development Magella Moreau Director of Public Relations Azreena Khan Festival Coordinator Tyler Johnson Operations Manager Roma Zachemba Filmmaker + Guest Services Coordinator Rhian Vialva CFM Coordinator Shea Best CFM Technical Operations James Barber Online Strategist + Coordinator Jasbinder Birk ACP Coordinator Rhonda Chan Soo ACP Database Researcher Ayrïd Chandler Graphic Designer Rayya Mustapha MovieTowne Port of Spain House Manager Dainia Wright MovieTowne Port of Spain House Manager Susanne Ramrattan MovieTowne Tobago Coordinator Christopher Meir UWI Coordinator Johanna Thomas PR + Marketing Coordinator Adeline Gregoire Sponsorship + Events Coordinator Aurora Herrera Blogger + Writer Nadya Shah Programming Assistant Dominic Koo Technical Assistant