The winners of the award for Best T&T Film in Development at the 2017 T&T Film Festival (ttff), writers Karen Martinez and Georgia Popplewell and producer Lesley-Ann Macfarlane, say the prize is a sign of progress. It showed that bpTT and ttff are acknowledging that the process of making a film can be a long and arduous one.

The project, a feature-length narrative script called Scattered, has already won several prizes, including the Best Caribbean Film Mart Project award at ttff 2016, and has been shortlisted for the Sundance International Screenwriters’ Lab and CineMart Rotterdam.

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Highlights.

The ttff awards prizes in three categories: jury prizes, people’s choice awards and special awards. The awards ceremony took place on Tuesday 27 September at the Central Bank Auditorium in Port of Spain.

JURY PRIZES

BEST FEATURE FILM–NARRATIVE
TT$12,500 / Sponsored by The National Gas Company
In competition:
Antes Que Cante El Gallo (Before the Rooster Crows)-Arí Manuel Cruz, Puerto Rico-WINNER
El Acompañante (The Companion) – Pavel Giroud, Cuba
Esteban-Jonal Cosculluela, Cuba
Play the Devil-Maria Govan, Trinidad+Tobago, The Bahamas, the USA
The Cutlass-Darisha Beresford, Trinidad+Tobago

BEST FEATURE FILM–DOCUMENTARY
TT$12,500 / Sponsored by The National Gas Company
In competition:
Se Bondye vie Yuli (God Willing Yuli)- Jean Jean,Haiti/Dominican Republic-WINNER
Make Mine Country-Ian Berry,St.Lucia
Diva:Enemy of the People-Tony Oldham, St.Lucia

BEST SHORT FILM–NARRATIVE
TT$7,500 / Sponsored by The National Gas Company
In competition:
Carapazón/Shell-Joa Vidal, Cuba- WINNER
SO.C13.TY-Khris Burton, Martinique
Nightmare Before Wedding-Orain-Chomaud Fabienne, Guadeloupe
Lost Boy-Aisha Porter-Christie, Jamaica
Rico-Lynda D’Alexis, Guadeloupe

BEST SHORT FILM–DOCUMENTARY
TT$7,500 / Sponsored by The National Gas Company
In competition:
Iceberg-Juliana Gómez, Cuba- WINNER
Blessed Love-Kra Kouassi, Guadeloupe
Welcoming Arms-Rosanne Ma, Bermuda
H20 -Clish Gittens, Barbados

BEST T+T FEATURE FILM
Trip to Regional Festival/Market
Sponsored by The Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (FilmTT)
In competition:
The Cutlass – Darisha Beresford + Play The Devil – Maria Govan – JOINT WINNERS
Tomb – Nicholas Attin
Sanskara – Christopher Din Chong

BEST T+T SHORT FILM – NARRATIVE
Trip to Regional Festival/Market
Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company
In competition:
Sweat-Josiah Persad- WINNER
Redman-Jared Prima
Dream Seller-Shane Lee Kit

BEST T+T SHORT FILM – DOCUMENTARY
Trip to Regional Festival/Market
Sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company
In competition:
Who I say I Am- Amir Aether Valen Ali- WINNER
The Dying Swan: Ras Nijinsky in drag as Pavlova – Christopher Laird
How We Play with Fire – Desiree Sampson
Living Without You – Anna-Lisa Wickham

BEST FILM AS DECIDED BY A YOUTH JURY
TT$5,000 / Sponsored by COSTAATT
In competition:
Play The Devil-Maria Govan, Trinidad+Tobago, The Bahamas, the USA-WINNER
Battledream Chronicles-Alain Bidard, Martinique
Antes Que Cante El Gallo (Before the Rooster Crows) – Arí Manuel Cruz, Puerto Rico
Ixcanul-Jayro Bustamente, Guatemala
Mustang-Deniz Gamze-Ergüven, France
Mountains May Depart -Zia Zhange, China
Presos (Imprisoned) -Esteban Ramirez, Costa Rica

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE
TT$5,000
In competition:
Se Bondye vie Yuli (God Willing Yuli) Jean Jean, Haiti/Dominican Republic-WINNER
Antes que Cante el Callo (Before the Rooster Crows) Arí Manuel Cruz, Puerto Rico
El Acompañante (The Companion) Pavel Giroud, Cuba

UNITED NATIONS T+T AWARD FOR BEST EMERGING DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
TT$5,000
In competition:
Amir Aether Valen Ali-Who I Say I Am-WINNER
Desiree Sampson-How We Play With Fire
Jamie Lee Loy-Super Me
Dylan Quesnel-Small Change
Kyle Sahadeo-The Absentee

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS
TT$5,000 each / Sponsored by Flow

BEST FEATURE FILM – NARRATIVE: THE CUTLASS – Darisha Beresford
BEST FEATURE FILM–DOCUMENTARY: LANDFILL HARMONIC – Brad Allgood + Graham Townsley
BEST SHORT FILM: SWEAT-Josiah Persad

RBC FOCUS: FILMMAKERS’ IMMERSION PITCH WINNER
TT$20,000 / Sponsored by RBC Royal Bank
Juliette McCawley, Avalon

CARIBBEAN FILM MART BEST PROJECT AWARD JOINT WINNERS
6 month consultation from international film industry professional Sydney Levine of SydneysBuzz
Karen Martinez, Scattered + Sonja Dumas, Angels Living in Tunapuna

Sand Dollars, the tender story of an elderly French woman in a relationship with a much younger woman from the Dominican Republic, won the Best Fiction Feature prize last evening at the awards ceremony for the 2015 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff/15).

Directed by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán, the film beat three other films in the official competition to nab the coveted prize.

The Best Documentary Feature went to Aleksandra Maciuszek’s Casa Blanca, the moving tale of an elderly woman and her middle-aged son who has Down syndrome, as they navigate daily life in Havana.

Casa Blanca also received a special mention for artistic merit by the Amnesty International Human Rights Prize jury.

In the Trinidad and Tobago film categories, Sean Hodgkinson’s Trafficked, about three friends on holiday who become drug mules, walked away with the Best Fiction Feature prize, while Kim Johnson’s Re-percussions: An African Odyssey, about attempts to propagate T&T’s national instrument in Nigeria, won Best Documentary Feature.

The prize for best project at the first ever Caribbean Film Mart went to Kidnapping Inc of Haiti, by Gaethan Chancy, Bruno Mourral and Gilbert Mirambeau, Jr.

Here is a full list of the awards:

Best Film Awards – sponsored by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited
Best Fiction Feature: Sand Dollars, Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán, Dominican Republic/Mexico/Argentina
Best Documentary Feature: Casa Blanca, Aleksandra Maciuszek, Cuba/Mexico/Poland
Best Short Film, Narrative: Mommy Water, Julien Silloray, Guadeloupe
Best Short Film, Documentary: Papa Machete, Jonathan David Kane, Haiti/USA/Barbados

Best Trinidad and Tobago Film Awards – sponsored by the Film Company of Trinidad and Tobago (FilmTT)
Best Trinidad and Tobago Fiction Feature: Trafficked, Sean Hodgkinson
Best Trinidad and Tobago Documentary Feature: Re-percussions: An African Odyssey, Kim Johnson
Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Fiction: Fade to Black, Christopher Guinness
Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Documentary: Riding Bull Cart, Rhonda Chan Soo

People’s Choice Awards – Sponsored by Flow
People’s Choice Award, Best Narrative Feature: Sally’s Way, Joanne Johnson, T&T
People’s Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature: Vanishing Sail, Alexis Andrews, Antigua
People’s Choice Award, Best Short Film: City on the Hill, Patricia Mohammed and Michael Mooleedhar, T&T

Amnesty International Human Rights Prize: My Father’s Land, Miquel Galofré and Tyler Johnston, Bahamas/Haiti/Trinidad and Tobago

Amnesty International Human Rights Prize, Special Mention for Artistic Merit: Casa Blanca, Aleksandra Maciuszek, Cuba/Mexico/Poland

RBC: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize: Kojo McPherson, Guyana

Caribbean Film Mart Best Project Award: Kidnapping Inc, Gaethan Chancy, Bruno Mourral, Gilbert Mirambeau, Jr

Best Emerging Trinidad and Tobago Filmmaker (prize sponsored by bpTT): Michael Rochford

BPTT Youth Jury Prize for Best Film: Girlhood, Céline Sciamma, France

BPTT Youth Jury Prize Honourable Mention: Güeros, Alonzo Ruizpalacios, Mexico

BPTT Youth Jury Prize, Special Mention for Cinematography: The Greatest House in the World, Ana V. Bojórquez and Lucía Carreras, Guatemala/Mexico

Image: A still from Sand Dollars

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Behaviour, an incisive portrait of the life of an at-risk boy in Havana, claimed the top prize at the 2014 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) in an awards ceremony held in Port of Spain this evening.

Directed by Cuba’s Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Behaviour beat out four other films to nab the Best Narrative Feature prize at the Festival. Behaviour was also a favourite with the Festival’s youth jury, who awarded the film a special mention.

The youth jury gave its top prize to a Brazilian film, the charming LGBT-themed coming-of-age drama The Way He Looks, directed by Daniel Ribeiro.

Best Documentary Feature was awarded to a film from the Dominican Republic, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada’s You and Me, an intimate look at the complex relationship between an elderly woman and her domestic servant.

A documentary was also the winner of the Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature Film—Miquel Galofré’s Art Connect, an uplifting crowd-pleaser featuring young people from the urban community of Laventille in east Port of Spain, whose lives are transformed when they undertake an art project.

The inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize went to The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink’s touching, troubling reflection of the struggle gays and lesbians in Jamaica face to achieve their rights.

Here is a full list of the awards:

Best Narrative Feature: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba

Best Narrative Feature, Special Mention: Sensei Redemption, German Gruber, Curaçao

Best Documentary Feature: You and Me, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada, Dominican Republic

Best Documentary Feature, Special Mention: Hotel Nueva Isla, Irene Gutiérrez and Javier Labrador, Cuba

Best Short Film, Narrative: Bullock, Carlos Machado Quintela, Cuba

Best Short Film, Documentary: ABCs, Diana Montero, Cuba

Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré

Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative: Dubois, Kaz Ové

Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative, Special Mention: Noka: Keeper of Worlds, Shaun Escayg

Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Documentary: Field Notes, Vashti Harrison

Best New Media Film: They Say You Can Dream a Thing More Than Once: Versia Harris, Barbados

Amnesty International Human Rights Prize: The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink, Jamaica/USA

BPTT Youth Jury Prize for Best Film: The Way He Looks, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil

BPTT Youth Jury Prize for Best Film, Special Mention: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba

People’s Choice Award, Best Narrative Feature: A Story About Wendy 2, Sean Hodgkinson, T&T

People’s Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré, T&T

People’s Choice Award, Best Short Film: Flying the Coup, Ryan Lee, T&T

RBC: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize: Raisa Bonnet, Puerto Rico

RBC: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize, Special Mention: Davina Lee, St Lucia

Best Student at the Film Programme of the University of the West Indies: Romarlo Anderson Edghill

Best Trinidad and Tobago Film in Development: Rajah: The Story of Boysie Singh, Christian James

Image: A still from Behaviour