T+T shorts package 2

Through a series of surrealistic vignettes, Atrinibago explores the history of Trinidad and Tobago from a personal, diasporic lens. Each sequence incorporates defining points of the nation’s development, as well as sonic and visual homages to its various ethnic groups. These references range from musical compositions originating during the transatlantic slave trade to indigenous-inspired instrumentation and even incorporate Bhojpuri music. Each is paired with more personal and primary associations of the islands. Through a combination of familial and formalized research, the film aims to bridge a more intimate knowledge of the nation with a larger, more anthropological one. The film culminates in a joyful celebration of Trinidad and Tobago’s deeply layered culture. 

‘Play de devil’ is an intimate and atmospheric exploration of transformation, that delves into what it takes to become the dreaded Blue Devil – one of Trinidad’s most iconic traditional mas characters. Told through the grounded and powerful perspective of master practitioner Steffano ‘Steffy’ Marcano, the story reveals the discipline, ritual, and spirit behind the paint. 

‘Iconography: Mungal Patasar’ follows the life and musical journey of legendary sitarist, Dr. Mungal Patasar,  known for fusing Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument, steelpan, with sitar and tabla instruments with calypso, jazz and Indian raga melodies. He is an accomplished sitarist, composer and teacher, with an illustrious musical and philanthropic career spanning nearly six decades. 

On the island of Trinidad an Indo-Trinidadian priestess meets a queer feminist researcher of mixed-caste origins from Tamil Nadu, India. What transformative connections will be made across time and space?

‘Tanty, the divine mother and I’ explores the connection between a woman priestess from the Indo-Trinidadian Madrasi community, at a Mariamman temple in Trinidad and a queer feminist Tamil researcher of mixed caste origins with simultaneous experiences of caste oppression and privilege from Tamil Nadu. It is anchored in the significance of the divine feminine in both their lives. The film is a socio-historical exploration of faith and spirituality as a way of survival and resistance of marginalised people, land, their cultures and their being. Faith practices, these lives show, coexist with, while also challenging the dominance of normative structures of gender, sexuality, caste, class and race.