Are you passionate about film, storytelling, and how stories are shaped for audiences? Want to understand how a festival programme comes together and why curation matters?
The TTFF/26 Young Film Programmer Scheme invites Caribbean tertiary-level students aged 18-24 to learn directly from our programming team, gaining hands-on insight into ethical film curation, critical viewing, and festival decision-making. This is a chance to explore film programming as a real career pathway within the screen and cultural industries.
🗓 Application deadline: Wednesday 4 March
🎥 Fortnightly online meetings | March–June 2026
🌍 Open to tertiary-level students from the Caribbean. MUST be passport-holders of at least one Caribbean country.
✅ Must be enrolled in a regional or international tertiary-level institution
If you care about films that reflect the Caribbean as it is lived, not imagined, we’d love to hear from you.
👉 Click here to apply now and help shape the TTFF/26 programme.
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The TTFF/26 Young Film Programmer Scheme offers tertiary-level students aged 18-24 from the Caribbean the opportunity to work closely with the Festival’s programming team to gain first-hand insight into how a film festival curates its programme. Through guided discussions and fortnightly online meetings held from mid-March to late June 2026, participants are introduced to the values and responsibilities that underpin ethical Caribbean film curation. As TTFF senior programmer Ivonne Cotoruello notes, “we’re not here to flatten the Caribbean into a single postcard image… we choose films that speak to the Caribbean as it is lived, not imagined.”
Participants will learn how programmers assess films not only on artistic merit, but also on context, craft and storytelling, authorship, thematic coherence, authenticity, and regional relevance. Drawing on TTFF’s programming approach, young programmers are encouraged to consider who is telling a story, from what position, and for whom. In Cotoruello’s words, “this is not representation as window dressing; it’s curation as relation.” The scheme demystifies the decision-making processes behind festival programming while introducing film curation as a viable career pathway within the wider screen and cultural industries.
By foregrounding programming as a professional practice, the initiative helps young people who are passionate about film and storytelling to better understand the range of roles that exist beyond production, while developing critical viewing, discussion, and collaborative skills.
A modest stipend of TT$70 (US$10) is provided for each programming meeting attended, recognising participants’ time and contribution to the process.
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