Thirty-six New Media works to screen at 2013 trinidad+tobago film festival

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The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) has today announced its ttff/13 New Media programme, which is co-curated and presented with ARC Magazine and will take place from 20–27 September at Medulla Art Gallery, a venue partner of the Festival. Now in its third year, New Media features experimental films, video art and performances. The programme opens on 20 September at 6.00pm at Medulla with a live projection event by Jamaican artist Olivia McGilchrist.

This year, New Media will adopt an exhibition-style screening format, where the majority of selected works, with a total running time of 100 minutes, will be played on a loop daily from 11.00am–4.00pm, 21–27 September. These daily screenings will be complemented by a number of special evening events, including a closing night performance by Trinidadian artist, Rodell Warner, on the evening of 27 September.

The 36 works in New Media range in length from under one minute to 84 minutes and come from 27 artists across 15 countries, the majority of which lie within the Caribbean or its diasporas.

For the second year running, New Media will screen works produced as part of films4peace—the groundbreaking initiative from PUMA.Peace. This special event takes place on the evening of 21 September, to coincide with screenings at other venues across the globe in celebration of World Peace Day. Also on that evening, there will be an artist’s talk with local and visiting participants of this year’s New Media programme.

Additionally, for the second year running there will be a special showing of New Media works at the University of the West Indies. And, for the first time this year, there will be a New Media prize of TT $5,000, which will be awarded to the most promising participant of the programme.

“The ttff is happy to be partnering with ARC Magazine to once more put forward a needed platform for the display of high-calibre experimental works that are coming out of the region,” said Melanie Archer, Art Director of the ttff and co-curator of the New Media programme.

Holly Bynoe, Editor-in-Chief of ARC and another of New Media’s curators, added, “Video, sound, performative and installation art are burgeoning frontier fields, and it is necessary to showcase how Caribbean artists are striving to identify themselves with the evolving milieu. The selection of work here is irreverent, self-motivated and bold, a clear sign that new media works are now an embedded part of our cultural and artistic terrain.”

For the full lineup of New Media works, go here.