We’re delighted to announce the esteemed panel of programmers selecting films for the 18th edition of the trinidad+tobago film festival. The ttff/23 programming team is composed of film curators, producers, historians, writers and directors from Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and Cuba. They will select all the films for the 2023 film programme, as well as choose the films shortlisted for competition.

Ivonne Cotorruelo is a Cuban film curator and former producer based in New York, who has been empowering storytellers for over a decade. She is a features programmer at Cleveland International Film Festival CIFF, Miami International Film Festival MIFF, Outfest LA, trinidad+tobago film festival. She has served as juror for film festivals around the globe, and as reviewer for The Chicken and Egg fund, Warner Media New Voices Initiatives, Black and Latino Inclusion Fellowship in LA, and Disney. A Berlinale Talent Campus alumnus, she is always seeking out stories for underrepresented voices. and working on a plan of strategic diversity, equity and inclusion.

Danielle Dieffenthaller has over 20 years of experience in the television and film industry. She is the owner/producer/director of Dieffenthaller Style Films Ltd, which produced the popular programmes “Iere Vibe” and “The Reef”.  She was the main force behind the television production company Earth TV Ltd, and producer/director and co-writer of the acclaimed “Ecowatch” series and the long-running “Westwood Park” (100 episodes). Dieffenthaller’s resumé includes work with TTT, UK-production company Bandung Productions and the groundbreaking production house Banyan Productions, where she and one other crew member were the only local crew to capture the events of the 1990 attempted coup. She is a co-founder of FILMCO and the 2019 Arts and Letters Laureate of the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence.

Jim Kolmar is an independent programmer who curated films for South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) from 2009-2020, where he continues to consult on international and feature films. He is also currently programming for trinidad+tobago film festival, and was a founding committee member at Festival Internacional de Cine Tulum (FICTU). Jim was also a guest curator for Portland International Film Festival 2021. Jim is a contributing writer for Ambulante Film Festival in Mexico, and has served on juries, panels and committees for organisations including Austin Film Society, BAFICI, Berlinale, Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), CONNeXT, CPH:DOX, IDFA, IFFPanama, IN-EDIT Barcelona, San Sebastián, and Ventana Sur.

Dr Bruce Paddington
Bruce Paddington (PhD) is a filmmaker, academic and film festival curator. He was a senior lecturer in film at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and the co-founder of the Bachelor of Arts Film Programme. He is the founder of Banyan Productions, the New World Film Centre and the trinidad+tobago film festival and was the festival director from 2006–19. He is a programmer for trinidad+tobago film festival.

BC Pires was called to the bar of Trinidad and Tobago in 1984 and enrolled as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1989 but, since January 1988, has done nothing but write for a living. His satirical column, “Thank God It’s Friday”, published more or less every Friday of the last 32 years, has been published in the Express, the Guardian and Newsday. He has tried to write sensibly about film from an informed lay perspective since 1988. He sat on the first jury of the trinidad+tobago film festival and wrote the Judges’ Report. He has also written about West Indies cricket for publications all over the world, notably, the UK Guardian and Observer newspapers. He has lived in Port of Spain, London, Georgetown and, since 2008, Barbados. 

Patrice Robinson is a film programmer and writer based in London. She has volunteered at Leeds International Film Festival, Leytonstone Loves Film, Norwich International Film Festival and our very own trinidad+tobago film festival. She is currently a member of the cinema team at the Barbican Centre in London. Entering the film industry as a graduate of the Independent Cinema Office’s FEDs Scheme, Patrice is committed to programming films that speak to under served communities. Most recently, Patrice curated the season – Snapshots: Caribbean Cinema Up Close which explores Caribbean self-representation in film.  

The 2017 T&T Film Festival runs until September 26 at MovieTowne Port-of-Spain, San Fernando & Tobago and at the UWI.

Film writer BC Pires, will be picking a Film of the Day, every day. Pires sat on the first TT Film Fest Jury, wrote the Judge’s Report and has been the Youth Jury’s mentor since its inception in 2014. A different film will be picked every day, and other worthwhile films mentioned. Because of the limitations of programming schedules, the film of the day may not necessarily be the “best” one. Films with an * have been or will be daily picks.

The 12th Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival runs until September 26 on two screens in MovieTowne Port of Spain, one in San Fernando, another in Tobago and at the UWI.

Film writer, BC Pires, will be picking a Film of the Day, every day. Pires sat on the first TT Film Fest Jury, wrote the Judge’s Report and has been the Youth Jury’s mentor since its inception in 2014. A different film will be picked every day, and other worthwhile films mentioned.

Because of the limitations of programming schedules, the film of the day may not necessarily be the “best” one.

The first “film of the day” pick is a bit of a cheat: with three very strong contenders being denied an individual daily pick through the impossibility of scheduling everything good on its own day, rather than leaving one out, here is a trinity of choice for a T&T Film Festival; any one of them could “take win”

Now in its fourth year, the Youth Jury panel at the trinidad + tobago film festival (ttff)  offers five young people the chance of lifetime to see great films from all over the world, as well as learn the ‘how-to’s’ of critiquing them and gain exclusive access to some of the Festival’s major film events.

According to three members of the 2016 Youth Jury – Marc Angus Skinner, Christopher Lou-Hing and Asa Reyes – the experience was both amazing and transformational.

Nineteen-year-old Skinner described it as “spectacular”. “This [was] my first time sitting on a jury and I enjoyed interacting with people my own age. It was really wonderful to see different personalities interact, watch the same movie and come up with different conclusions…”

Lou-Hing, now a film student at University of the West Indies (UWI) stated, “I really didn’t know what to expect coming into the jury but it was so much more.” The 20-year-old said, “being on the jury really helped me with developing that critical eye when watching a film, which I think was a really good stepping stone into university for me”.

“I learned not just tolerance, but appreciation for things that I cannot easily identify with”, said 22-year-old Asa Reyes. “There was a need for  teamwork as I discovered each juror had their own perceptions of the different films.”  After serving on the youth Jury in 2016, Reyes returned to school to finish her  Bachelor’s Degree in Education.

Five young people got the chance of lifetime when they sat on the bpTT youth jury at the 2015 trinidad + tobago film festival (ttff/15), which ran from September 15–29.

The initiative was conceived in 2014, as a way of stimulating interest in and a critical appreciation for independent film among Trinidad and Tobago’s youth.

Saskia Johnson, Claude Lilford, Auset McClean, Sarah Mongroo and Teneka Mohammed were the five jurors selected for this year’s jury. They were chosen by an open call. To be considered for the jury, applicants had to be from 16 to 21 years of age. Each had to submit an essay saying what their favourite film is, and why.

Under the guidance of film critic and journalist BC Pires, the jury watched eight feature-length fiction films featuring young protagonists.

The films in competition were:

Girlhood: Céline Sciamma, 2014 / France
The Greatest House in the World: Ana V. Bojórquez, Lucía Carreras, 2015 / Guatemala, Mexico
Güeros: Alonso Ruizpalacios, 2014 / Mexico
Honeytrap: Rebecca Johnson, 2014 / United Kingdom
Margarita, with a Straw: Shonali Bose, 2014 / India
On the Road, Somewhere: Guillermo Zouain, 2015 / Dominican Republic
Stories of Our Lives: Jim Chuchu, 2015 / Kenya, South Africa
Theeb: Naji Abu Nowar, 2014 / Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom

Girlhood—the story of Mariemme, a black girl living in the suburbs of Paris who leaves her abusive home life and joins a gang—was the jury’s choice for best film. As the director of the winning film, Céline Sciamma will receive a cash award of $5000 from bpTT.

The jury also gave an honourable mention to Güeros, and a special mention to The Greatest House in the World for its cinematography.

After the ttff/15 awards ceremony on September 27, the members of the jury opened up about their experience.

“I’ve been a film enthusiast for about three years,” 19-year-old Claude Lilford said. “It’s been a unique chance, not something I would get the chance to do anywhere else—maybe a few other places in the world—but this is a unique experience and something I really wanted to be a part of.”

Lilford’s colleague, 20-year-old Teneka Mohammed, who is a Film Studies major at the University of the West Indies, commented on the scope of the experience.

“I watch film[s] in school but [this] was a bigger experience and I loved it! I want to be a film critic so of course I’m so happy this is going on my résumé.”

BC Pires—who has been writing about films since 1988 and who also sat on the first jury at the ttff—commended the jury members on their diplomacy.

“There are not enough superlatives to describe what a pleasure it is to be working with these young people,” he said. “They rose to their task amazingly well. If our Parliament could see how they spoke to one another. They were passionate and went to their task of listening to one another with, I think, a real honesty, humility and respect for the other person’s point of view. I think they might all consider a career in dispute resolution.”

Pires also gave a little insight into how he sought to guide the jury.

“We had meetings before the adjudication, and I did suggest to them an approach I thought they should take: to try to award the best film, not the film they liked most, although in the adjudication process, I did suggest to them that now is the time to bring back in passion.”

“They have no idea how much I really wanted to be a part of [the youth jury],” 18-year-old Sarah Mungroo said. “ I think I am in that limbo period between being an adult and a child and the youth jury really helped me figure out what I want to do with my life. After we finished deliberating I was thinking that I could do this for the rest of my life. I was so happy. Thank you bpTT and ttff for the opportunity!”

Image: the members of the ttff/15 bpTT youth jury, from left, Claude Lilford, Teneka Mohammed, Sarah Mongroo, Saskia Johnson and Auset McClean