In light of the on-going debate on homosexuality and gay rights, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is pleased to host a free screening of the gay-themed drama Children of God, at its offices, 199 Belmont Circular Road, Belmont, this coming Wednesday, 12 March.

Written and directed by Kareem Mortimer of the Bahamas, Children of God tells two overlapping stories. One concerns Jonny, a young, openly gay art student from Nassau who is alienated from his alcoholic father, and the recurring target of abuse by a gang.

Failing at school, Jonny goes to stay on the nearby island of Eleuthera in order to reconnect with his artistic gift. Here he meets and falls for Romeo, a brash, handsome musician who is also attracted to men, but living in the closet.

Lena, meanwhile, the wife of a fundamentalist preacher, travels to Eleuthera with her son to drum up support for a campaign to stop the push for gay rights in the country. As her seemingly perfect marriage begins to fall apart, Lena finds herself drawn to a soft-spoken, compassionate pastor, Reverend Clyde.

Through these life-changing encounters, Jonny and Lena find themselves coming to a fuller understanding of who they are, a realisation that will have profound consequences for them both.

Children of God premiered in 2009, and was a critical success at film festivals around the world. It was the closing night film at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and also screened at the ttff/10, where it won both the jury and audience awards for best dramatic film.

In its review of the film, the Caribbean Review of Books noted, “Forms of open racial discrimination commonly accepted a few generations ago are unthinkable now. Children of God quietly argues that our attitudes to differences of sexuality can and must also evolve towards a similar tolerance.”

The screening of Children of God, which is 104 minutes long, begins at 8.00pm, and doors open at 7.15pm. Space is limited, so please arrive early to ensure seating. Refreshments will be on sale.

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Image: Johnny Ferro (Jonny), left, and Stephen Tyrone Williams (Romeo) in a scene from Children of God

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is headed to Maracas and Matura this weekend with T&T Film Nights, its free series of community film screenings, sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company.

On Saturday 23 November, in partnership with the Maracas Community Council, a series of short local films will be screened at the Maracas Bay Community Centre from 6.00pm. Dainia Wright’s Mystic Blue explores the relationship between Mystic, a member of the Bobo Shanti faith, and Blue, a strong-willed woman who does not share her boyfriend’s beliefs. Knockabout, meanwhile, a T&T-style neo-noir directed by Emilie Upzack, follows a pair of detectives investigating a kidnapping.

After Mas, directed by Karen Martinez and ttff/13 Jury Prize-winner for Best Local Short Film, is a story about a young man and woman who from different backgrounds who meet and fall for each other during J’ouvert. If I Could Fly, by Maryam Mohammed, the story of a girl who wishes she could take to the sky like a kite, is also in the line-up. Completing the package are One Good Deed by Juliette McCawley—about a young boy’s encounter with some douens—and No Soca, No Life, a rags-to-riches story about an aspiring soca performer, directed by Kevin Adams and starring Terri Lyons.

There will be a free shuttle service to and from the Maracas Bay Community Centre for residents of the area. The shuttle leaves the Blanchisseuse Community Centre at 5.00pm, the La Fillette Community Centre at 5.15pm, and the Las Cuevas Community Centre at 5.30 pm. If you’re interested in using the service, please contact the Maracas Bay Community Council at 384-8074.

The following day, Sunday 24 November, T&T Film Nights will be at Matura Secondary School, from 5.30pm. In addition to Mystic Blue, the lineup contains the hilarious A Home for These Old Bones, a zombie comedy by Julien Silloray, set in Guadeloupe; Alexandra Swait Guild and Sarah Feinbloom’s Earth, Water, Woman, the inspiring story of the Fondes Amandes Community Re-Forestation Project; Renee Pollonais’ comedy Sweet Fries; and Til D Well Run Dry, a film by the students of Matura Secondary School.

There will also be a presentation by the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism on the National Registry of Artists and Cultural Workers. The Matura screening is held in association with the Nature Seekers Group, and will follow the group’s Christmas craft and family fair.

A number of the directors whose films are screening will be present for Q&A sessions on both days. Admission to T&T Film Nights is free. Audiences will receive free T-shirts, bags, cups, popcorn and other giveaways on a first-come, first-served basis.

Image: A still from A Home for These Old Bones

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) continues to expand its community film outreach programme with T&T Film Nights. From 16 November to 01 December, the ttff will present a series of five free community-based film screenings in Moruga, Mausica, Maracas Bay, Matura and Buccoo in Tobago. T&T Film Nights is an ongoing series of free community cinema sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, one of the ttff’s leading sponsors.

On Saturday 16 November at 6pm residents of Moruga will have the opportunity to see No Bois Man No Fraid, an uplifting and eye-opening documentary on stickfighting set in the Moruga community. A ttff/13 selection directed by Christopher Laird, the film is based on story of Keegan Taylor and Rondell Benjamin, two young martial arts experts from the Moruga Bois Institute. Taylor and Benjamin are also producers of the film and will join Laid in a question-and-answer session after the film, which screens at the Moruga Composite School.

Then on Wednesday 20 November, in a closed screening, cadets of the MILAT Military Academy in Mausica will learn about the healing, transformative power of music through another ttff/13 selection, Songs of Redemption. The story of a music rehabilitation programme in a Jamaican prison, the film was co-winner of the Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the ttff/13, as well as the People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary. Co-director of the film Miquel Galofré will attend the screening. Pothound, the popular short film by Christopher and Leizelle Guinness, will also be screened.

The following Saturday, on 23 November, the Maracas Bay Community Centre will be transformed into a temporary cinema as six short films are screened, from 6pm. Dainia Wright’s Mystic Blue explores the relationship between Mystic, a member of the Bobo Shanti faith, and Blue, a strong-willed woman who does not share her boyfriend’s beliefs. Knockabout, meanwhile, is a T&T-style neo-noir directed by Emilie Upzack. After Mas, directed by Karen Martinez and ttff/13 Jury Prize-winner for Best Local Short Film, is a story about a young man and woman from different backgrounds who meet and fall for each other during J’ouvert. If I Could Fly, by Maryam Mohammed, the story of a little girl who wishes she could take to the sky like a kite, will also join the line-up. Completing the package are One Good Deed by Juliette McCawley—about a young boy’s encounter with some douens—and No Soca, No Life, a rags-to-riches story about an aspiring soca performer, directed by Kevin Adams and starring Terri Lyons. This screening is presented in association with the Maracas Bay Community Council.

On Sunday 24 November the ttff teams up with the Nature Seekers group to present another series of short films, at the Matura Secondary School. In addition to Mystic Blue, there’s the hilarious A Home for These Old Bones, a zombie comedy set in Guadeloupe. The package will also include Earth, Water, Woman, the inspiring story of the Fondes Amandes Community Re-Forestation Project; Renee Pollonais’ comedy Sweet Fries; and Til D Well Run Dry, a film by the students of Matura Secondary School. There will also be a presentation by the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism on the National Registry of Artists and Cultural Workers. The screenings start at 5:30pm, following Nature Seekers’ Christmas craft and family fair.

T&T Film Nights will conclude in Tobago, at the Buccoo Community Centre on 01 December. This event takes place from 6pm in association with the Healing With Horses Foundation, following their annual Christmas Fair. The film being screened are Chrissy!, directed by Marcia Weekes, the inspiring story of a poor 10-year-old girl overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, and Captain T&T, by Christopher and Leizelle Guinness.

Admission to T&T Film Nights is free. Audiences will also receive free T-shirts, bags, cups, popcorn and other giveaways on a first-come, first-served basis.

Image: A shot from Christopher Laird’s No Bois Man No Fraid

After successful outdoor events in Chaguaramas, St Augustine, Port-of-Spain and San Fernando, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) brings its second annual Community Cinergy series to a close this Saturday and Sunday with two days of family-oriented activities and films in Tobago, at the Buccoo Integrated Complex.

Community Cinergy combines film screenings and live entertainment in open-air settings, and is sponsored by bpTT. This weekend’s film screenings take place in association with the Healing with Horses Foundation and the Growing Leaders Foundation, and the event is free, for all ages and open to the public.

Things kick off at 5pm on both days with live entertainment by the children of the Yahweh Foundation and a parade by the Healing with Horses Foundation.

Then from 6.30pm on Saturday a package of short children’s films will be screened. The lineup is:

The Itch of the Golden Nit
Director: Aardman Animation/UK/2012/34 mins
One Good Deed
Director: Juliette McCawley/TT/2012/12 mins
Mr Crab
Director: Faisal Lutchmedial/Canada/2012/5 mins
Pothound
Director: Christopher Guinness/TT/2012/11mins
Tinga Tinga Tales
Director: Tiger Aspect Productions/2011/24 mins
Healing with Horses: Love & Magic
Director: Elspeth Duncan/TT/2012/37 mins

Then on Sunday from 6.30pm the drama Habanastation, directed by Ian Padrón of Cuba, will be screened, in Spanish with English subtitles. The film tells the story of Mayito, the son of a wealthy jazz musician, who imagines all Cubans live as he does, eating chicken every day and playing video games on their Sony PlayStations. When he finds himself lost in a poor neighbourhood one day, however, he realises this is far from the truth, and must come to terms with the class differences that exist in modern-day Cuba.

Habanastation will be preceded by the short film Dis ah We Own?, Roxborough Secondary School’s prize-winning entry in the 2012 Secondary Schools Short Film Festival, and Elspeth Duncan’s Healing with Horses: Love & Magic.

Before and after the films on both days the Tobago Night Market, an initiative of the THA Division of Community Development and Culture, will take place. There will be refreshments as well as crafts and other products on sale, and giveaways from bpTT. Seating is provided in the stands.

Image: a shot from Habanastation

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) will end its activities for the year on a high note with a screening of the award-winning parang documentary La Gaita, followed by a live performance by the celebrated Lara Brothers parang group, on Saturday 8th December in Santa Cruz.

This free screening and performance will bring to an end the bpTT Community Cinergy series of film events held across the country in 2012.

Winner of the ttff/12 People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary, La Gaita profiles the Lara Brothers, the oldest existing parang group in T&T. The film, directed by Janine Fung, pays loving tribute to the band, telling their story in their own words and music. In particular, the film follows the gregarious, extroverted Willy Lara and his more reserved elder brother, the late Tito, whose moving funeral forms part of the film.

Speaking about her experience making the film, Fung noted that “The Lara Brothers have a responsibility—one they have taken on for the last 70 years—to serve their music, their faith and their country.”

She continued: “They are messengers, travelling from rumshop to rumshop throughout Trinidad performing, because they simply love parang, as a way to express themselves and for the people to relate to that expression.”

The film screening and live performance will be held at Baya’s Place, Chiquitto Drive, Sam Boucaud, Santa Cruz (next to the Brian Lara Grounds) from 7pm. Refreshments will be on sale.

The 2001 cinematic adaptation of VS Naipaul’s classic first novel, The Mystic Masseur, will be the next film screened as T&T Film Nights rolls into Holy Faith Convent, Couva on Thursday 19 April from 6pm.

T&T Film Nights is an initiative of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and Trinidad & Tobago Film Company (TTFC). The screening is free of charge, and is for persons 14 years and over. There will be food and drinks on sale.

Made by the celebrated Merchant/Ivory filmmaking team (Howards End, The Remains of the Day), The Mystic Masseur is the story of Ganesh Ramsumair, a would-be writer in pre-Independence Trinidad who undergoes various transformations, from struggling masseur to revered mystic to infamous politician. The film was shot on location in T&T.

Roger Ebert, in his review of the film, called The Mystic Masseur “a wry, affectionate delight,” adding that the film is “a human comedy about a man who thinks he has had greatness thrust upon him when in fact he has merely thrust himself in the general direction of greatness.”

The ttff is held annually in September and is presented by Flow, given leading sponsorship by RBC Royal Bank and bpTT, and supported by the TTFC, the National Gas Company, the Tourism Development Company, the Tobago House of Assembly and the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism. For more information visit www.ttfilmfestival.com.