The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (ttff) held its formal opening night gala at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) on September 19.

After the cocktail reception, guests were ushered into the Aldwyn Roberts, Lord Kitchener Auditorium, for the world premier of the film, Green Days by the River, based on the book written by Michael Anthony in 1952. Anthony who made a cameo appearance in the film interacted with guests at the event.

The entire cast along with director Michael Mooleedhar and producer Christian James also strutted on the red carpet.

Green Days won the best TT feature and people’s choice for best feature film narrative at the ttff awards on Tuesday. The film opened to the public on Tuesday.

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.

T&T films dominated the People’s Choice Awards at the T&T Film Festival Awards ceremony on Tuesday —with the film-viewing audience giving a resounding nod to Oliver Milne’s Salty Dog as the People’s Choice Best Short Film; Shari Petti’s Sorf Hair as People’s Choice Best Documentary and Michael Mooleedhar’s Green Days by the River as People’s Choice Best Narrative Feature. Each received a $5,000 cash prize sponsored by Flow.

It was a great night for Green Days by the River as it also picked up the Jury Award for Best TT Feature Film, with a cash prize of $10,000 sponsored by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, a release said.

Another local film getting the Jury’s nod was Maya Cozier’s Short Drop—for Best T&T Short, with a cash prize of $5,000 sponsored by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts. Scattered by Georgia Popplewell and Karen Martinez won Best T&T Film in Development with a cash prize of $10,000. This BPTT-sponsored Award seeks to support the completion of a local feature film currently in pre-production, which is to be made in this country by a T&T resident or national.

Trinidad and Tobago films dominated the People’s Choice Awards at the trinidad+tobago film festival Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, September 26  with the film-viewing audience giving a resounding nod to Oliver Milne’s Salty Dog as the People’s Choice Best Short Film; Shari Petti’s Sorf Hair as People’s Choice Best Documentary and Michael Mooleedhar’s Green Days by the River as People’s Choice Best Narrative Feature.

Each received a TT$5,000 cash prize sponsored by Flow.

It was a great night for Green Days by the River as it also picked up the Jury Award for Best TT Feature Film, with a cash prize of TT$10,000 sponsored by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture, and the Arts.

The drama Green Days by the River was the big winner on Tuesday night at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (ttff) bringing home both best TT feature and people’s choice for best feature film narrative.

The wins were announced at the ttff awards ceremony held at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port of Spain. The film, based on the novel by local writer and historian Michael Anthony, was directed by Michael Mooledhar and produced by Christian James. The coming of age story is set in Mayaro 1952 and is about a teenager named Shellie (Sudai Tafari) who is befriended by a plantation owner named Mr Gidharee (Anand Lawkaran) and falls for his beautiful daughter Rosalie (Nadia Nisha Kandhai).

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.

From the moment it was announced in early August that Green Days by the River would open the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, the excitement quickly grew to a fever pitch as many literary enthusiasts anxiously awaited to see the classic characters come alive on the big screen.

The National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) was filled to capacity on Tuesday as the TT Film Festival kicked off.

The cast of Green Days by the River were not the only ones who stepped on the red carpet; author Michael Anthony also got star treatment. Although he had not seen the film ahead of time, he indicated that he was honoured and even a bit surprised by all the buzz around the book.

With one action-packed week of films, panel discussions, special presentations, Q&As with filmmakers, limes and after-parties beginning today, here’s ten things you probably shouldn’t miss during this year’s Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival

Opening Night red carpet gala and film—Green Days by the River

September 19, NAPA, Port-of-Spain, 6 pm, by invitation or ticket only.

Michael Mooleedhar’s film follows Michael Anthony’s classic novel of adolescence, immersing the viewer in the sights and sounds of rural Trinidad 50 years ago. Many locals will have read it in their youth, and the film does a good job of reviving nostalgic memories of both the book and a way of life long since past.

In his latest project coming on the heels of a filmmaking career that has already brought him local and some regional and international recognition, director Michael Mooleedhar has adapted for film the novel Green Days by the River, published in 1967 by Trinidadian writer, Michael Anthony. The film is produced by Christian James with screen play by Dawn Cumberbatch, shot entirely on location in Trinidad using local actors and crew, and edited by Mooleedhar and James. Green Days by the River is Mooledhar’s first full length feature and has been selected by the trinidad + tobago film festival 2017 to be screened at its opening night gala on Tuesday, at the NAPA auditorium, Port of Spain.

Mooleedhar has been more well known for his directing or editing of shorter productions, among these the controversial documentary Queens of Curepe made in 2008, his final year student project as a BA Film Studies student at The University of the West Indies St Augustine (The UWI). He went on with Patricia Mohammed to make two award-winning films Coolie Pink (2009) and Green City on a Hill (2015) both of which won the Most Popular short film awards at the trinidad + tobago film festival in the years they premiered and have gone on to international screenings in India, New York, Toronto and London among other venues.

UWI medical student Nadia Kandhai never set out to be a movie star. However, a random meeting on a flight to Tobago set her on the path to play Rosalie, the female lead in Green Days by the River movie, that will be screened at the gala opening of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (ttff) next weekend.
“I’m a third-year medical school student,” said Khandhai as she reflects on how she ended up playing the lead female character.

“I met Christian (James) on a flight to Tobago. He told me I looked like what he imagined Rosalie would look like, I auditioned and here I am,” said Khadhai in a media release.

She is one of just under 100 local actors that bring Michael Anthony’s beloved novel Green Days by the River to the big screen nationwide on September 27.