In celebration of First People’s Day on October 13, the T&T Film Festival will host Indigenous Voices—an afternoon of films that present a diverse spectrum of indigenous storytelling and powerful narratives on the disappearing indigenous cultures of T&T and the Americas.

A release said the event will be held on October 14 from noon to 5 pm, at the Arima Town Hall, in association with the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, and with sponsorship from the Ministry of Community Development Culture and the Arts. The screenings are free.

Cast members, production staff and well wishers gathered at the Central Bank Auditorium to celebrate the very best of the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2017, at its awards ceremony on Tuesday evening. After a hectic week of film screenings, talks and panel discussions, folks involved in the film industry got a chance to talk about, cheer on and congratulate the winner and runners-up.

Columbus Communications (Flow) was the festival’s presenting sponsor and its director of marketing Cindy Ann Gatt, said in her short address that the company being proud to see that cinemas were fully booked during the various screenings in Trinidad and in Tobago for the first time.

Filmmaker Michael Mooleedhar proudly walked away with two awards for his Green Days by the River, winning in the Best T&T Feature Film and People’s Choice Best Narrative Feature Film categories.

The 12th T&T Film Festival closes with a spectacular bang today, with a terrific and groundbreaking film selection that was not picked before only because of the limitations of programming schedules. For many people, this will be the film of the festival.

Green Days by the River, T&T filmmaker Michael Mooleedhar’s film adaptation of the Michael Anthony novel, premiered at the T&T Film Festival on September 19. In this essay, Caribbean visual arts scholar Patricia Mohammed examines the film’s style and substance.

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

In his film adaptation of the Michael Anthony novel Green Days by the River, Michael Mooleedhar is not just interested in the remembrance of things past but in documenting the identity of a society in the making, locating the many parts that accumulate to the collective identity of this nation.

The world premiere of the T&T animated short Temple in the Sea takes place at the T&T Film Festival today.

The 15-minute film tells the story of Indian indentured labourer Siewdass Sadhu, who built the Temple in the Sea at Waterloo, Carapichaima. The story is told through the eyes of a young girl coming to terms with her heritage and identity.

“The look of the work draws on the opulence of Indian architecture and the lushness of Trinidad’s landscape,” said a description of the film on its Facebook page. “The scenes are sharpened by the dramatic choices that allow the audience to see how an Indian peasant during the time of indentureship and a contemporary girl of East Indian heritage might explore parallel paths and find similar answers. The story draws on Hindu mythology to provide some of the explanations and answers the young girl is seeking.”

With an irresistible Caribbean twist, in adapting Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Barbadian filmmaker Shakirah Bourne has a character named Bottom played by a woman.

In a 21st-century retelling of this classic comedy about breaking all kinds of rules, why not?

Similarly, the music-induced madness of a Caribbean carnival—in this case, Cropover—and the lush tropical bush are perfect substitutes for Shakespeare’s classical setting and more sedate European forest.

In a Caribbean Dream, Bourne blends Bajan accents and iambic pentameter in a combination so perfect that, like the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, it seems a match made in heaven.

In an introductory soliloquy, the beautiful changeling boy who inadvertently causes trouble between the fairy royals describes this version: it offers sunsets and flying fish, Bajan spouge music and calypso beats, mystery and magic.

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.

At one point, Norman Christie, bpTT’s Regional President, couldn’t get more than a sentence out about “our band” before the audience exploded into lusty applause and catcalls of appreciation.

He was at the podium offering welcoming remarks at the first official screening of To be a Renegade, a documentary his company funded to record the successes of the steelband Renegades, which it began sponsoring in 1970.

This was not just the showing of a documentary it was advertised to be; it was a celebration of champions in front of a home crowd. The band turns 70 in 2018 and was last documented comprehensively in Kim Johnson’s 2002 historical book about the band.

Many of the elements needed for an effective and compelling documentary record of Renegades as a band in 2017 are present in the film.

Vasha Narace’s short film, One In, won the Dutch Golden Stone Award for Best Short Fiction in 2016.

This film will have its Caribbean premiere at the T&T Film Festival which runs until September 26.

One In, a 15-minute short which addresses a sensitive social issue, portrays the poignant and dynamic relationship of an 11-year-old girl and her parents who take in their recently orphaned teenage nephew.

Narace wrote and directed the film as well as the music video and title song One In Deep sung by Amber Patiño, the lead actress.

“The subject matter was hard for the cast. In the beginning we couldn’t get through a reading without someone crying,” Narace said. “So I decided to have them pretend that the film was about something else completely just so we could make it through and still have some fun. I didn’t want these kids going home feeling sad or depressed. I actually had a therapist on set for a day in case anyone needed her.

Vashti Anderson’s feature film Moko Jumbie will make its Trinidad premiere on September 23 at MovieTowne in a special appearance at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. It is a film that is already creating an international buzz. The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June where it got strong reviews and was screened last month for the opening night at the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival in Canada and won the award for Best Screenplay.

Earlier this month it played for a very appreciative, large crowd at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and soon will be at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. It will be the opening night film at the Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami later this month.