The TTFF kicks off in Tobago

A shot from Queen of the Brands, directed by Thomas Jemmerson of Trinidad and Tobago. Queen of the Brands is one of the films screening as part of the trinidad+tobago film festival/09 in Tobago

On Tuesday at 6.00pm the stars of The Ghost of Hing King Estate will be at MovieTowne in Lowlands for the official launch of the trinidad+tobago film festival/09 and the first screening of the film in Tobago.

Actresses Terri Bovell (who is from Tobago) and Cecilia Salazar will be in the company of Hing King‘s writer, Francis Escayg, when Tobago has its own cocktail reception to mark the occasion. The Ghost of Hing King Estate was directed by veteran filmmaker, Horace Ové, and is based on true events. The film is a supernatural thriller about mysterious deaths on an agricultural estate. Prior to these events, Hing King was a peaceful, scenic place, although not without its share of life’s usual dramas. Conflicts invoked by sex, lust, marriage, and betrayal grew as readily as the crops themselves, leading to situations at turns distressing and amusing. But in May 2006, as the deaths begin to occur, the relatively peaceful estate is forever changed. Carmelle, the plantation overseer’s wife, becomes vilified as people from nearby villages begin to suspect that she is responsible for the untimely deaths. Amidst mounting tensions, facades are broken down, relationships are tested, and friendships destroyed.

The Ghost of Hing King Estate is just one of the locally-made films screened during one week of the trinidad+tobago film festival in Tobago. Other local films include Queen of the Brands, the short film that opened the Trinidad launch of this year’s Festival, Sans Souci, which promises to be one of the Festival favourites, Coolie Pink and Green, about a young Indian girl growing up in the culturally multi-layered Trinidad and Tobago, and The Power of the Vagina, which got a standing ovation after its first screening in Trinidad. The five winning films from the Secondary Schools Short Film Competition will also be shown daily at 11.30pm during the one-week Festival in Tobago. Other daily screenings are at 5.30pm and 8.00pm.