Director: Dylan Verrechia
2010, Mexico
Spanish, with English subtitles
Narrative feature / 62 minutes / 18+

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Aidee Gonzalez (playing herself) is struggling to make something of her life after ridding herself of a marriage to an uncaring man. Aidee supports herself and her children as an exotic dancer at a shabby nightclub, where she meets Rosalba, with whom she falls in love. Aidee and Rosalba decide to start a family of their own, and begin looking for a sperm donor who is handsome—but not so handsome that he will steal Rosalba away.

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Dylan Verrechia is a Caribbean-raised, Danish-French-American cinematographer, director and screenwriter. As a cinematographer he has worked with Spike Lee and Todd Solondz, among others. He made the multiple-award-winning Tierra Madre with a cast of non-actors, a crew of one (himself), and a budget of US$2,000.

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Sun 25 Sept 2.00pm + Thur 29 Sept 2.00pm, The Little Carib Theatre

Director: Gerardo Chijona
2010, Cuba
Spanish, with English subtitles
Narrative feature / 88 minutes/ 18+

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Eunice, a teenage girl running away from her incestuous father, meets Alejandro, a rebellious rocker who has also left home. They decide to travel together, and escape to Havana, hoping to find paradise. Instead, they  encounter hardship—it is the early 1990s, the “Special Period” of deprivation in Cuba—and begin to contemplate the unthinkable: infecting themselves with the HIV virus so they can be admitted to the local AIDS hospice. An unforgettable tale of youth, love, sadness, and, ultimately, hope.

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Born in 1949, Gerardo Chijona is both a filmmaker and a film critic. He has many films to his credit, including dramas, documentaries and short films. Boleto al Paraiso, his fourth and most recent feature film, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

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Mon 26 Sept 4.30pm + Fri 30 Sept 7.00pm, The Little Carib Theatre
Sat 01 Oct 11.00am, Centre for Language Learning, UWI

Director: Gregg Helvey
2009, USA, India
Hindi, with English subtitles
Narrative short / 19 minutes

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Like most Indian boys, Kavi wants to play cricket and go to school. Instead he is forced to work in a brick kiln as a modern-day slave. He must either accept his fate, or fight for a different life. Winner of a Student Academy Award in 2009, and nominated for an Academy Award in 2010.

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An MFA graduate in Film Production from the University of Southern California, Gregg Helvey has worked on documentaries for the BBC and National Geographic as well as made his own documentary, Overexposed (2006), which examines how pornography affects men. He won a Student Academy Award for Kavi, and was nominated for an Oscar the following year for the same film.

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Sat 01 Oct 5.30pm,  Centre for Language Learning, UWI
Wed 28 Sept 7.00pm, MovieTowne, Port of Spain

Director: James O’Connor
2011, Trinidad+Tobago
English
Documentary feature / 70 minutes

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Born and raised in a rural village on the north-eastern coast of Trinidad, Chris Dennis has a dream: to become a world-recognised surfer. His considerable talent has taken him far, but to become one of the top 100 in his sport, this young man of modest means will need more than just his natural ability. Does Chris have what it takes to go all the way, or is he fated to remain between worlds?

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James O’Connor is the director of jtography, an award-winning corporate photography and film production company in Trinidad. Chris Dennis: Between Worlds is his first film.

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Mon 26 Sept 5.00pm*, MovieTowne

Director: Maria Peters
2011, The Netherlands
Dutch, with English subtitles
Dramatic feature / 130 minutes

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Waldemar is a young Surinamese man attending university in Amsterdam in the 1930s. He becomes a boarder in the house of Rika, a Dutch woman almost twice his age, who is separated from her two-timing husband. Rika and Waldemar fall in love, and when Rika becomes pregnant, her husband takes their four children away from her. With war approaching, her and Waldemar’s problems are only just beginning. Adapted from a novel based on true events.

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Maria Peters is well known in her native Netherlands for her children’s films. Sonny Boy is her first foray into adult-oriented drama.

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This film is presented in association with the European Film Festival and supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

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Fri 23 Sept 4.30pm, MovieTowne
Sat 01 Oct 1.00pm, Institute for Critical Thinking, UWI
Sun 02 Oct 7.00pm, MovieTowne

Director: Clairmont Chung
2010, Guyana
English
Documentary feature / 88 minutes / PG 13

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This documentary looks at the life of Dr Walter Rodney, one of the region’s great intellectuals and activists whose reach extended far beyond his native Guyana. Author of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney was a fearless champion of justice all over the world. His assassination in 1980 shocked the Caribbean and brought into focus the work he was doing. The story is told through archival footage and interviews with contemporaries and family members.

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Guyana-born director Clairmont Chung lives in the US and is an attorney by profession but spends much of his time involved in media and writing projects. He says growing up in Guyana when there was no television inspired him to preserve stories through the medium of video.

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Fri 23 Sept 10.00am, Institute of Critical Thinking, UWI

Director: Andrew Lang
2009, Cuba / UK
Spanish, with English subtitles
Documentary feature / 88 minutes

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The story of three students at the world-renowned Havana Boxing Academy, as they prepare for Cuba’s national championships. More than athletes, these young men are symbols of pride—the standard bearers of the Revolution, according to Fidel Castro. As they train, however, crisis strikes: Castro falls seriously ill, and a number of the country’s Olympic boxing heroes defect to the USA. As Cuba finds itself at a crossroads, the boys contemplate a changing world.

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Andrew Lang, who is British, began his filmmaking career with short courses at the Universidad Católica in Chile, and then the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in Cuba. Sons of Cuba is his first film.

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Thur 22 Sept 12.00pm + Thur 29 Sept 4.30pm, MovieTowne

Director: Stacy Lela
2010, Trinidad+Tobago
English
Narrative short / 24 minutes / PG 13

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A young woman is pregnant and in love but when she finds out she is also HIV-positive, her world comes crashing down. She is stricken with fear about the fate of her unborn child and confused about her choices. This movie is a project of the Walker Lela Foundation for Women’s Empowerment education effort.

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Trinidadian director, Stacy Lela, holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of the West Indies, and teaches drama at a girls’ high school. Her first film was a documentary on Rapso music. Stacy Lela is the co-founder of the Walker Lela Foundation.

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Sat 25 Sept 7.00pm, T&TEC Panyard, Belle Garden, Tobago

Director: Damian Marcano
2011, Trinidad+Tobago / USA
English
Dramatic short / 11 minutes

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Richard, a 10-year-old boy who lives with his grandparents, has an attachment to his football as if it were his best friend. As time progresses, the ball develops blemishes and scratches as a result of their activities together. The lesson learned is simple: a friend is a friend no matter the person—or thing.

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Damian Marcano was born in Trinidad and moved to the US at the age of 12. After enrolling as a pre-med student at Ohio State University, he moved to New York and became a web design programmer. He then entered film, and made his first short, The Little Boy and the Ball. He is in pre-production for his first feature, God Loves the Fighter.

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Wed 21 Sept 7.00pm + Wed Sept 28 4.30pm,* MovieTowne
Thurs 22 Sept 7.00pm, NALIS, Point Fortin
Fri 23 Sept 7.00pm, Charlotteville Community Centre, Tobago
Wed 28 Sept 7.00pm, Mayaro Resource Centre
Sat 01 Oct 4.30pm, The Little Carib Theatre

Director: Howard Allen
2011, Antigua and Barbuda
English
Narrative feature / 100 minutes

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A young married couple, Michael and Lisa, are about to lose their home, when their luck changes dramatically. While on a photo shoot at an historic site, Michael discovers an ancient vase and sells it to an antique dealer. But strange things begin to happen, and they soon discover from a mystic that the relic was not a blessing, but a curse.

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Howard Allen is an independent film and television producer whose debut feature film The Sweetest Mango (2001) was also the first feature film to be produced in Antigua and Barbuda. His directorial credits include No Seed (2002) and Diablesse (2005). Allen and his wife, Mitzi Allen, started the production house HAMA Productions in 1992.

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Fri 30 Sept 2.00pm, MovieTowne