Showcase of Caribbean films to screen at Edinburgh Short Film Festival

A package of short Caribbean films—all previous selections of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff)—will screen at the Edinburgh Short Film Festival (ESFF) on Saturday 14 November.

The screenings of these short films form part of an exchange between ttff and ESFF. A package of short films from ESFF screened at ttff/15 in September.

“We are particularly pleased to partner with ttff as, like Scotland, T&T has a unique and distinctive culture of its own as well as profound love of film,” said Paul Bruce, Festival Director, ESFF.

Founded in 2011, ESFF evolved from the Leith Short Film Festival which was a community event that formed part of the Leith Festival. ESFF is now the largest dedicated short film festival in Scotland.

The ttff, founded in 2006, celebrates films from and about the Caribbean and its diaspora, as well as from world cinema, through an annual festival and year-round screenings.

The seven ttff selections that will screen at ESFF are:

10 Ave Maria, Ryan Oduber and Juan Francisco Pardo, Aruba (2011)
ABCs, Diana Montero, Cuba (2013)
Doubles with Slight Pepper, Ian Harnarine, Trinidad and Tobago (2012)
Grave Digger, Gabrielle Blackwood, Jamaica (2012)
A Home for These Old Bones, Julien Silloray, Guadeloupe (2013)
Old Moon, Raisa Bonnet, Puerto Rico (2013)
Passage, Kareem Mortimer, Bahamas (2013)

In addition to all the films having screened at past editions of the ttff, 10 Ave Maria, ABCs, Old Moon and Passage all won jury prizes at the Festival.

Editorial Director of the ttff, Jonathan Ali—who will be present at ESFF to introduce the film package—said, “The Scottish presence and influence in T&T and the Caribbean goes back over 200 years. So we look forward to presenting films from the region to a Scottish audience, just as we were thrilled to present shorts from Scotland and elsewhere at ttff/15.”

Image: A still from Old Moon