God Loves the Fighter, by T&T filmmaker Damian Marcano, screened to a packed audience Tuesday night, during the WeBeat Festival, at the St James Amphitheatre. The free screening was organised by the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and sponsored by Flow. Among those in attendance were lead actors Abdi Waithe (the gangsta, Stone) and Muhammad Muwakil (the protagonist, Charlie), and supporting actress Tishanna Williams.
The award-winning film God Loves the Fighter, by T&T filmmaker Damian Marcano, is expected to play to a full house when it screens in St. James on Tuesday, June 6, having previously played to sold-out audiences at the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) in 2013, and at other screenings around the world.
Melvina Hazard of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival and actor Muhammad Muwakil–who plays the titular role of Charlie–stopped by Loop to talk more about the film.
The free screening will take place during the WeBeat Festival, at 7 pm at the St James Amphitheatre, next door to the St James Police Station on the Western Main Road.
Shot during the 2011 State of Emergency, God Loves The Fighter tells a story about life lived on the edge – a life far removed from some, yet clearly very much part of the social fabric of urban T&T.
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.
Continuing it series of Community Cinergy film screenings on issues of human rights, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) will be focusing on domestic violence with a public screening of the film Private Violence, on Sunday 19 April, 4pm, at the Laventille Community Complex in Movant.
The series is sponsored by the US Embassy. The screening of Private Violence, which will be followed by a discussion, takes place in association with the organisations the Hearts and Minds of the Police Service and FireCircle.
The ttff will also be hosting a special, schools-only screening of the film Bully, followed by a workshop conducted by the Anti-Bullying Association of Trinidad and Tobago, at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts, San Fernando, on 22 April.
According to the ttff’s founder and director, Bruce Paddington, “Film is a powerful medium for public education and advocacy. It has an ability to bear witness and tell stories that challenge individuals and encourage understanding, empathy and a demand for justice for all. We are thrilled to have the support of the US Embassy in this initiative.”
About Private Violence (Cynthia Hill/2014/USA/81′)
Developed as a public advocacy vehicle that engages audiences in debates, prevention and other public-action strategies, Private Violence raises a troubling fact: that sometimes the most dangerous place for a woman is in her home. This award-winning documentary takes us behind closed doors into the often invisible world of domestic violence. Through the eyes of two survivors and an advocate, we bear witness to the complicated and complex realities of intimate-partner violence. The film shatters general assumptions about why women stay in abusive relationships, and will form the basis of a public discussion to take place after the film.
The community discussion will be led by:
Officer Kevin Romany, Hearts and Minds, Inter-Agency Task Force, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service
Diana Mahabir-Wyatt, The Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Sherna Alexander, The Organisation for Abused and Battered Individuals
Nicole Hendrickson and Steve Cupid Theodore, FireCircle
Luke Sinnette, The Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation
Cherylann Gajadhar, author of the book The Girl in The Cupboard and child abuse survivor
Working Women for Social Progress
Admission to the screening is free.
The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) continues to use film as a vehicle for social discourse and transformation, through its annual community Cinergy film series. On April 12, 19 and 22, the ttff and the US Embassy—sponsors of the series—will present three free film screenings to promote human rights.
Working with community activists and the embassy, the ttff will promote public awareness for the protection of the rights of women, children and the LGBT community in Trinidad and Tobago. The screening of three US films with topical and local resonance, focusing on domestic violence, bullying and gay-rights issues will each be followed by a community discussion, workshop and panel discussion, respectively, in order to foster dialogue on the issues of personal freedom, security, community support, public policy and legislation.
“Advancing human rights is central to our foreign policy,” Stephen Weeks, Public Affairs Officer of the US Embassy said, “and the fantastic programme put together by our friends at ttff demonstrates how film can start conversations that build stronger, more inclusive communities.”
The issues to be highlighted and films to be screened are:
LGBT rights: Pariah (Dee Rees/2011/86’/) on Sunday 12 April, 6:30pm, Woodbrook Youth Facility
In the coming-of-age film Pariah, Alike is a shy but talented Brooklyn teenager striving to survive adolescence with grace, humour and tenacity—sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward. The film follows her as she struggles with her conflicting identities, risks friendship and family, and faces heartbreak in a desperate search for sexual expression. There will be panel discussions before and after the film. This screening is being held in association with the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO).
This film is rated for viewers aged 16 years and over.
Domestic violence: Private Violence (Cynthia Hill/2014/81’/PG13) on Sunday 19 April, 4:00pm, Laventille Community Complex
Sometimes the most dangerous place for a woman is in her home. Private Violence, an award-winning documentary, takes us behind closed doors into the often invisible world of domestic violence. Through the eyes of two survivors and an advocate, we bear witness to the complicated and complex realities of intimate-partner violence. The film shatters general assumptions about why women stay in abusive relationships, and will form the basis of a public discussion led by community activists after the film.
This film is rated PG13.
Bullying: Bully (Lee Hirsch/2011/98’/PG13) on Wednesday April 22, 9:00am, Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA)
As the problem of bullying in schools becomes more critical, this presentation of the documentary Bully, to be followed by a workshop, seeks to engage students and educators in preventing the problem and finding solutions. The film offers an intimate, unflinching look at how bullying has touched five kids and their families. This will be a special screening for students; schools wishing to attend are invited to email ttff’s Director of Community Development, Melvina Hazard, for information and bookings at melvina@ttfilmfestival.com. There will be a workshop conducted by the Anti-Bullying Association of Trinidad and Tobago after the film.
This film is rated PG13.
Admission to all three screenings is free.
Image: A still from Pariah
For the third year in a row, the trinidad and tobago film festival (ttff) will feature a presentation of never-before-seen footage of vintage calypso, pan and mas, by Alaska-based retired judge and Carnival researcher, Ray Funk. This event—the final installment in the ttff’s Carnival Film Series (CFS)—will will take place on Sunday 25 January at the NALIS amphitheatre in Port of Spain from 6:30pm. Admission is free.
The presentation, entitled Ray Funk Presents: Calypso Craze, will also see the T&T launch of Calypso Craze: 1956-57 and Beyond. A project ten years in the making, Calypso Craze is a box set containing a 176-page hardcover book, a DVD and six CDs, compiled by Ray Funk and Michael Eldridge for Bear Family Records in Germany.
The set provides a comprehensive survey of the “calypso craze” that swept America in 1957, in part fuelled by the the million-selling album Calypso by Harry Belafonte. The intensity of the craze caused the American entertainment industry to forecast that calypso would kill rock and roll.
“This project grew out of a travelling and online exhibition that I co-curated over a decade ago on the globalisation of calypso music with Steve Stuempfle, then curator of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, and now executive director of the Society for Ethnomusicology,“ Funk recalls.
“I worked on this for several years and more recently brought in Michael Eldridge, who teaches at Humboldt State University in California and who has done extensive work on this period of calypso history.”
Since being released internationally, Calypso Craze has drawn glowing reviews. Black Grooves, the journal of the African-American music archives at Indiana University, called it “a true labour of love”, while Record Collector magazine deemed it “definitive” and “absorbing”. Uncut magazine declared it “an absolute delight”.
For the presentation at NALIS, Funk will be playing clips from the box-set’s DVD, as well as from two of the three calypso-themed films released in 1957, Bop Girl Goes Calypso and Calypso Heat Wave, the latter starring Maya Angelou. There will also be television footage from 1957, including Boris Karloff (of Frankenstein fame) singing “Mama Look a Booboo”, and an extempo calypso scene from a 1952 film, involving James Mason.
Last October, Funk launched a book of George Tang’s photographs on the Carnival bands of the late Stephen Lee Heung, We Kind ah People. At NALIS, Funk will show some previously unseen film footage that Tang shot of those bands. Additional footage will include home movies of Carnival from the 1960s, as well as the Mighty Sparrow’s first film appearance, from a 1956 Caribbean travelogue commissioned by KLM airlines.
“My goal each year is to offer an enjoyable look into the film history of Carnival,” said Funk. “This year I will be focused primarily but not exclusively on the calypso craze and I guarantee you will see footage that you have never seen before.”
Ray Funk Presents: Calypso Craze will be preceded by two short films, Living Legacies: Trains in Trinidad and Living Legacies: Clay and Dirt Ovens in Trinidad and Tobago, produced with the support of the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration, a sponsor of the 2015 edition of the CFS.
The public is advised that no refreshments will be on sale, so please feel free to bring your own.
Image: Maya Angelou in Calypso Heat Wave
Carnival Film Series to honour The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Superior, Pan! and the Calypso Craze
The trinidad+tobago film festival is starting off its 10th anniversary celebrations on a high note with its 5th annual Carnival Film Series (CFS). Over the past four years, the CFS has presented diverse and unusual representations of Carnival on film and screen. Films have included tributes to pioneers such as Lord Superior, Calypso Rose and Shadow, Peter Minshall and other Carnival practitioners in narrative and documentary forms. In addition, the highly entertaining, anecdotal presentations on vintage Carnival by historian Ray Funk has continued to delight and surprise audiences. For this year’s Carnival Film Series, the ttff promises even more diversity and entertainment. Admission is FREE to all screenings and presentations for the Carnival Film Series.
Calypso Dreams and Tribute to Midnight Robber, Brian Honoré at UWI
The first of the four-part 2015 Carnival Film Series will be shown on Saturday January 17 from 6:30pm at the UWI Film Department’s Studio at 12 Carmody Road, St Augustine. The programme will feature Calypso Dreams – directors Geoffrey Dunn and Michael Horne’s chronicle of the rich and complex cultural roots of calypso music in Trinidad and Tobago. Also on the programme is Robbertalk, a special film and Midnight Robber performance tribute to Brian Honoré, one of this country’s most popular Midnight Robbers, on the 10th anniversary of his passing. This will be preceded by Living Legacies: Trains in Trinidad; and Clay and Dirt Ovens in T&T – two short documentaries produced with the support of the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.
The Mighty Sparrow and Lord Superior at the Globe Cinema:
Next, the CFS moves on to the highly-anticipated Caribbean premiere of The Glamour Boyz Again: Sparrow and Lord Superior on The Hilton Rooftop, at the Globe Cinema, on Sunday January 18. At this screening, both Sparrow and Lord Superior will be present to receive honorary awards by the Embassy of The United States of America, Port of Spain. The audience in the 1,200 seat Globe Cinema will also be treated to an exclusive live performance by both honourees. This special event is sponsored by RBC Royal Bank in association with the Embassy of the United States of America. The International Art Alliance (IAA) is also working closely with the Embassy to facilitate the awards and the participation of The Mighty Sparrow and Lord Superior. This event starts at 6pm and doors open at 5pm. THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT
Pan! Our Musical Odyssey at San Fernando Hill
On Friday January 23 from 6.30pm, San Fernando Hill will become an outdoor cinema for the special showing of Pan! Our Musical Odyssey, which recently had its theatrical release at local cinemas. Limited DVDs and CDs of the film will be available for purchase. Refreshments will be on sale and limited seating will be provided. Audiences are invited to bring their own seating and refreshments.
Ray Funk Presents: Calypso Craze at NALIS, Port of Spain
The CFS will conclude at NALIS Amphitheatre on Sunday January 25 from 6.30pm, with Ray Funk Presents: Calypso Craze. Once again, Alaskan-based Carnival historian Ray Funk will thrill audiences with rare vintage Carnival film clips—this time focusing on the Calypso Craze—a comprehensive survey of the excitement for calypso that swept America in 1957 when the whole American entertainment industry thought calypso would kill rock and roll. This presentation at the NALIS Amphitheatre will also coincide with the official launch of the book, CD and DVD set of the same name. Both events on this weekend will be preceded by Living Legacies: Trains in Trinidad; and Clay and Dirt Ovens in T&T, produced with the support of the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.
The trinidad+tobago film festival is presented by Flow, and given supporting sponsorship by the Embassy of the United States of America.
The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is pleased to host a screening of the award-winning documentary Carmen and Geoffrey, next Friday, 31 October, at its office at 199 Belmont Circular Road in Belmont.
A tribute to the actor and dancer Geoffrey Holder, who died earlier this month at the age of 84, the screening takes place in association with BelFest, a celebration of the arts in Belmont.
The film begins at 7.00pm, and doors open at 6.30pm. Admission is free and all are invited.
Released in 2005, Carmen and Geoffrey is an affectionate and moving portrait of two towering icons of the arts, Geoffrey Holder and his wife Carmen de Lavallade. From the time they met and wed in 1955 until Holder’s death earlier this month at the age of 84, the two were celebrated dancers, actors, choreographers and much, much more, together and individually.
Geoffrey Holder’s many achievements include memorable performances as Professor Shakespeare X in the film Dr Doolitte and Baron Samedi in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. He also won two Tony awards for direction and costume design of The Wiz, an all-black adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.
Carmen and Geoffrey was filmed over three years in the United States, France and Holder’s native Trinidad and Tobago. It combines archival footage with candid interviews to provide a remarkable glimpse into the lives of an extraordinary couple.
Winner of the prize for best feature-length film at the ttff/09, Carmen and Geoffrey is directed by Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob, and is 80 minutes in length.
When Calypso Rose visited West Africa several years ago, admiring audiences gave her the name “the Lioness of the Jungle”.
Eventually that name would work its way into the title of a documentary film being made at the time about Rose, born McCartha Lewis in 1940 in Bethel, Tobago.
Entitled Calypso Rose: Lioness of the Jungle, the documentary, which is 85 minutes long, will be screened free of charge by the ttff on Friday 20 June from 7pm, at the Little Carib Theatre in Woodbrook.
The screening is sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company as part of the T&T Film Nights series, and is one of the events in the first-ever Street Arts Festival, being presented by the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries on June 21 and 22.
The Street Arts Festival is an initiative designed to promote various sectors of the creative industry, including film, fashion, music and the visual and performing arts.
Calypso Rose: Lioness of the Jungle was released in 2011 and is an intimate portrait of an extraordinary woman, the first to win both the Road March and Calypso Monarch (then known as the Calypso King) titles.
Now 50 years into her career, Rose has composed hundreds of songs and recorded dozens of albums, and been an inspiration to countless women calypsonians and soca singers. A number of these women, like Destra and Denyse Plummer, are interviewed in Lioness of the Jungle.
Directed by Cameroon-born, Paris-based filmmaker Pascale Obolo, the film is a travelogue of sorts, tracking Rose from Paris, where she is recording an album, to her native Tobago and Trinidad. The film then follows Rose to New York, where she lives, and finally to her ancestral homeland, Africa, with which she maintains a fierce connection.
Along the way we see many facets of Rose and learn of the great personal struggles she had to overcome, and come closer to understanding the woman behind the powerful public persona.
There’s nothing quite like watching a wonderful movie under the stars, and that’s just what the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is bringing to audiences across the country in its third annual Community Cinergy series, starting Friday 21 March.
Sponsored by bpTT, Community Cinergy consists of four free open-air screenings of great movies, all past ttff selections, from T&T and around the world, plus one special screening for the lads of the Youth Training Centre.
Refreshments and crafts will be on sale. There will be full seating at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association. You may wish to bring cushions to the St James Amphitheatre. There will be limited seating at San Fernando Hill, so you may wish to bring your own chairs or blankets. Please bring chairs or blankets to the UWI screening.
The full Community Cinergy lineup is as follows. Doors open at 6pm for screenings starting at 7pm.
Friday 21 March, 7pm
Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association, Chaguaramas
The Wind That Blows
Director: Tom Weston
2013/St Vincent and the Grenadines, USA/Documentary/60mins/All ages
This is a revealing portrait of a group of men from the island of Bequia, who engage in a dangerous and controversial activity: the hunting of humpback whales.
Alamar (To the Sea)
Director: Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio
2009/Mexico/Drama/73mins/All ages
Poetically told and breathtakingly shot, this film tenderly observes the relationship between an Amerindian fisherman and his young son.
Saturday 22 March, 7pm
UWI, St Augustine (opposite the Learning Resource Centre)
Doubles with Slight Pepper
Director: Ian Harnarine
2011/T&T, Canada/Drama/16mins/PG
A young doubles vendor faces a difficult decision when his estranged father returns home after years abroad.
Papilio Buddha
Director: Jayan Cherian
2013/India/Drama/108mins/16+
Set against the lush backdrop of Kerala in south India, this is a provocative film about the Dalits, a group of landless, indigenous people fighting against caste oppression.
Friday 28 March, 7pm
San Fernando Hill
The Suspect
Director: Leroy Smart
2010/TT/Drama/7mins/All ages
A bus passenger suspects that a crime is about to happen.
Lucky
Director: Avie Luthra
2010/South Africa/Drama/100mins/PG
After his mother dies, young Lucky, who is black, travels from the countryside to the city, where he forms an unlikely relationship with an elderly Indian widow.
Saturday 29 March, 6:30pm (closed screening)
The Youth Training Centre, Golden Grove
Maxi-Taxi Madness
Director: Dane John
2011/TT/Drama/12mins/All ages
A hilarious film about a rag-tag group of maxi-taxi passengers stuck in traffic.
Chance
Director: Evan Kaufman
2012/USA, US Virgin Islands
Drama/86mins/16+
A powerful story about the lengths a young man would go for his loved ones.
Sunday 30 March, 7pm
St. James Amphitheatre
Drink
Director: Juliette McCawley
2013/TT, UK/Drama/9mins/PG
An illegal immigrant in London is forced into an act of quiet desperation.
Twa timoun (Three Kids)
Director: Jonas D’Adesky
2012/Haiti, Belgium/Drama/81mins/PG
Inspired by true events, this is a moving portrait of three orphaned boys’ attempts at survival in the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.
Image: A shot from Alamar