Juries Announced for Films in Competition at ttff/16

With a strong lineup of films in competition, the trinidad+tobago film festival is pleased to announce its selection of jury members who will select the winning films from those in competition at this year’s Festival.

The first jury will determine the best feature-length films (fiction and documentary) from the Caribbean and also from Trinidad and Tobago. A second will decide the best short films (fiction and documentary) from the Caribbean as well as Trinidad and Tobago, while an additional two juries will choose the Amnesty International Human Rights Prize, for the Caribbean film that best highlights a human-rights issue, and the United Nations T+T Award for Best Emerging Documentary Filmmaker

The members of the ttff/16  juries are as follows.

 

Features

• Stéphanie James, based in Guadeloupe, is a successful writer and producer of TV series and documentaries broadcasted on several regional, national and international networks and in international film festivals worldwide.
• Gladstone L. Yearwood is known for his writings on black film aesthetics. He is a Professor of Film and Creative Arts and Director at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination, UWI, Cave Hill Campus. His documentary films include Chattel House and Rum Shop.
• Lisa Burkett has over 25 years’ experience in public relations, media, promotions and philanthropy, playing an active role in several NGOs.

 

Shorts

• Pavel Giroud was born in Havana. His first feature, The Silly Age (2006), was selected as Best Cuban Film of the Year by the Cuban Critics Association. El Acompanante (2015), his third feature, has won various awards including at the Miami and Málaga Film Festivals.
• Lisa Wickham was one of the producers on Girlfriends Getaway (2014), a US film shot in Trinidad with a cinematic release both locally and abroad. In 2012, Wickham was the Line Producer/TT Supervising Producer for the award-winning Canadian film Home Again.
• Daphne McWilliams has produced music videos for artists such as Notorious BIG and Queen Latifah, and line-produced independent feature films including the Academy Award-nominated documentary Four Little Girls, directed by Spike Lee, and Feels Like Coming Home, directed by Martin Scorsese.

 

The United Nations T+T Award for Best Emerging Documentary Filmmaker

• Diane Quarless is the Director of the ECLAC Sub-regional Headquarters for the Caribbean.
• Nirad Tewarie is the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T (AMCHAM T&T)and also sits on the National Tripartite Advisory Council. He has previously worked on the Merchant Ivory production The Mystic Masseur, and is an Associate Producer of the film Bazodee.
• Susan Shurland is the current Secretary General of the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO.

 

The Amnesty International Human Rights Prize was announced earlier, and members of the COSTAATT Youth Jury, will be announced soon.

The ttff/16 awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 27 September, at the Central Bank Auditorium in Port of Spain.

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) celebrates films from and about the Caribbean and its diaspora, as well as from world cinema, through an annual festival and year-round screenings. In addition, the ttff seeks to facilitate the growth of Caribbean cinema by offering a wide-ranging industry programme and networking opportunities. The ttff is presented by Flow, given leading sponsorship by Trinidad and Tobago Film Company Ltd (FilmTT), and supporting sponsorship by RBC Royal Bank, The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, Embassy of the United States of America and the Tourism Development Company.