Better Mus’ Come to screen at ttff headquarters to mark US release

Celebrated Jamaican feature film Better Mus’ Come (2011, 103′), written and directed by Storm Saulter, will be shown at a special screening on Wednesday 13 March at the trinidad+tobago film festival’s offices at 199 Belmont Circular Road, Belmont.

The screening takes place to coincide with the film’s theatrical release in the United States. There will be theatrical runs for the film in New York and Los Angeles, and special one-night engagements in several other US cities. The local screening is taking place in association with the film’s producers, Firefly Films of Jamaica.

Set in Jamaica in the 1970s, Better Mus’ Come is a fictional story inspired by a real event, the infamous Green Bay Massacre. The film follows the fortunes of young Ricky, who lives in one of Kingston’s violence-plagued garrison communities, and who leads a gang funded by one of the country’s two major political parties.

Trouble develops within the gang when Ricky begins to have doubts about the path he has chosen, and starts yearning after a different life, especially for his little son. To complicate matters, Ricky falls in love with the headstrong and beautiful Kimala, who lives in a part of the ghetto controlled by the rival political party.

When a particular shooting leads to an escalation of violence in the community, an army lockdown takes place. Ricky is forced to make a difficult decision, one that will have profound consequences for himself and those he loves.

Winner of the audience award for best narrative feature at the ttff/11, as well as the audience award at the Bahamas International Film Festival the same year, Better Mus’ Come went on to screen at the Black History Month programme of the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. The respected UK film journal Sight & Sound has called the film “potent”, drawing comparisons with the Perry Henzell classic, The Harder They Come.

“We are very pleased to again be screening Better Mus’ Come,” said Jonathan Ali, Editorial Director of the ttff. “It is an excellent film—and, might I add, a timely and relevant one—made by an extremely talented young regional filmmaker. And we are doubly pleased that now international audiences will get to experience this landmark achievement in Caribbean cinema.”

The screening of the film, which is for persons 18 years and over, begins at 8pm, and doors open from 7pm. There is a cost of $25 per patron, and there will be refreshments on sale. For more information, contact hello@ttfilmfestival.com or call 621-0709.

The ttff, which is in its eighth year, is presented by Flow and receives leading sponsorship from RBC Royal Bank, bpTT and the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company Limited.

SEE THE TRAILER FOR BETTER MUS’ COME HERE.