When the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) pulls into San Fernando Hill this Saturday, April 15 to screen Miles Ahead, about famed jazz musician Miles Davis, you can expect one heck of a ride.

This is, after all, a focus on the heydey of jazz – with its wild parties, fights, infidelity, copious sex and drugs, but most of all – wonderful music made by troubled, yet talented, geniuses.

The movie is being screened as part of the ttff’s Community Cinergy Series – a free outdoor cinema experience, sponsored by bpTT.

Acclaimed around the world for his musical genius and innovation, Miles Davis (1926 – 1991) was at the forefront of a number of major stylistic developments in jazz over his five-decade career, and is considered to be among the most influential and celebrated figures in the history of jazz.

Born into an affluent middle-class African-American family, his father, Miles Dewey Davis II, was a successful dental surgeon, and his mother Cleota Mae, a music teacher and violinist. They owned a 200-acre estate and a profitable pig farm where Davis and his siblings rode horses, fished, and hunted. His later music career would seem far removed from this childhood idyll and become marked by hard times, controversy and drug addiction. Indeed, by his own account, Davis was at one point snorting four or five grams of coke a day, while also smoking four packs of cigarettes – a practice that would wreck havoc on his voice and his health.

The trinidad+tobago film festival’s Community Cinergy Series—a free outdoor cinema experience, sponsored by bpTT—continues this Saturday (April 8) at Lange Park Recreational Grounds, Chaguanas, from 7 pm, with the family-friendly animated film The Wonderful World of Goopi and Bagha.

Filled with vibrant colour and music, Shilpa Ranade’s film is a magical adaptation of a cherished Bengali children’s classic, and a remake of renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray’s beloved work.

Acclaimed as one of the great masters of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s 1969 film was his most commercially successful, and was itself an adaptation of his grandfather Upendra Kishore Roychowdury’s storybook Goopy Bagha.

With an anti-war message at its heart, Ranade’s latter-day animated version, in Hindi with English subtitles, premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013 and was shown at ttff/14.

The film follows the misadventures of Goopi and Bagha, two musicians banished from their respective villages for their tone-deaf music making. Left to wander the forests, their noisy cacophony, attracts the attention of a fearsome Ghost King who, enthralled by their sound, grants them three boons (blessings), plus a fourth to be saved for the future. They wish for tasty food to appear whenever they’re hungry, magic shoes that will transport them wherever they want to go, and the ability to enchant anyone who listens to their music.

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The trinidad+tobago film festival’s Community Cinergy Series—a free outdoor cinema experience, sponsored by bpTT—continues this Saturday (April 8) at Lange Park Recreational Grounds, Chaguanas, from 7 pm, with the family-friendly animated film The Wonderful World of Goopi and Bagha.

Filled with vibrant colour and music, Shilpa Ranade’s film is a magical adaptation of a cherished Bengali children’s classic, and a remake of renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray’s beloved work.

Acclaimed as one of the great masters of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s 1969 film was his most commercially successful, and was itself an adaptation of his grandfather Upendra Kishore Roychowdury’s storybook Goopy Bagha.

With an anti-war message at its heart, Ranade’s latter-day animated version, in Hindi with English subtitles, premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013 and was shown at ttff/14.

Read full article

The trinidad+tobago film festival’s Community Cinergy Series—a free outdoor cinema experience, sponsored by bpTT—
continues this Saturday (April 8) at Lange Park Recreational Grounds, Chaguanas, from 7 pm, with the family friendly
animated film The Wonderful World of Goopi and Bagha.

Filled with vibrant colour and music, Shilpa Ranade’s film is a magical adaptation of a cherished Bengali children’s classic, and
a remake of renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray’s beloved work.
Acclaimed as one of the great masters of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s 1969 film was his most commercially successful, and
was itself an adaptation of his grandfather Upendra Kishore Roychowdury’s storybook Goopy Bagha.
With an antiwar message at its heart, Ranade’s latterday animated version, in Hindi with English subtitles, premiered to great
acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013 and was shown at ttff/14.

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AS the dry season takes hold, the allure and romance of cinema under the stars is back on the trinidad+- tobago film festival’s calendar, with screenings in Chaguanas, San Fernando and Chaguaramas, as part of its Community Cinergy Series, sponsored by bpTT. More open-air screenings are planned in the coming months across both islands.
Through its community development programme, the ttff has presented over a 100 free film screenings to various communities nationwide, using film as a vehicle for social transformation and education and impetus for discussion.

According to the festival’s director of community development, Melvina Hazard, while the festival’s free outdoor screenings are popular, well attended and lots of fun for family and friends, they provide an opportunity for so much more.

“Open air cinema also plays an important role in social inclusion and community cohesion, reaching far flung and under-served communities that might not otherwise attend festival screenings in Portof- Spain. Community cinema can also be used to provide learning opportunities, improve skills, knowledge and sometimes even self esteem,” Hazard said in a media release.

“This April however, we are asking people to join us outdoors for the pure joy of a great night out under-thestars with family and friends.” Admission to all screenings is free.

THE trinidad+tobago film (ttff) festival heads back outside in April for three nights of open air cinema in Chaguaramas, Chaguanas and San Fernando, as part of its Community Cinergy Series, sponsored by bpTT.
The films, featuring creative geniuses who push the boundaries of “bold-facedness” and daring, are free, and offer a great night out under the stars for friends and families.

Films include an animation in Hindi with English subtitles suitable for all ages, a fictional narrative about jazz-legend, Miles Davis, and All Oceans Blue – a documentary made by and about the around-the world-adventures of local seafarer, Harold La Borde.

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) heads back outside in April, for three nights of open air cinema in Chaguaramas, Chaguanas and San Fernando, as part of its Community Cinergy Series, sponsored by bpTT.

The films, featuring creative geniuses who push the boundaries of bold-facedness and daring, are free and offer a great night out under the stars for friends and families.

Films include an animation in Hindi with English subtitles suitable for all ages; a fictional narrative about jazz legend Miles Davis; and All Oceans Blue, a documentary made by and about the around-the world-adventures of local seafarer, Harold LaBorde.

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