Acclaimed dancehall film takes centre stage at We Beat

A multiple-award-winning documentary about Jamaica’s vibrant and fascinating dancehall scene is set to enthrall audiences as part of the annual We Beat festival, on Saturday 2 June from 7pm at the St James Amphitheatre.

The screening of Hit Me With Music is part of the trinidad + tobago film festival (ttff) and bpTT Community Cinergy series of film screenings, and is presented in association with the St James Community Improvement Committee. Admission is free of charge and open to all persons 16 years and over.

Released in 2011 and directed by Miquel Galofré, Hit Me With Music is a brilliant exploration of the various facets of dancehall culture, including feuds between rival musicians, skin bleaching, and the “daggering” phenomenon. Dancehall pioneers Yellowman and the late Bogle make appearances in the film, as well as more recent stars Elephant Man, Mavado and Vybz Kartel.

The film—which has been playing to enthusiastic audiences in North America and Europe—won both the jury and audience awards for best documentary at the ttff/11. Following the screening there will be a Q&A session with the director.

Before the film there will be a lime, from 6pm. Food and drinks will be on sale.

Community Cinergy screenings continue with Limbo

Limbo, the acclaimed debut film by Norwegian writer and director Maria Sødahl, will be the next selection of the Community Cinergy series of movie screenings, hosted by the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and bpTT, in association with the Callaloo Company.

The screening, which is free, takes place on Saturday 26th May at the Callaloo mas camp in Chaguaramas from 8pm. There will be a lime beforehand, from 6pm, with food and drinks on sale.

Released in 2010, Limbo is the emotionally charged story of Sonia, a young Norwegian woman who moves to Trinidad with her family in the 1970s. When she discovers her husband—who works in the oil industry—is having an affair with a colleague, Sonia’s already fragile world shatters, and she must find a way to put the pieces back together.

Shot on location in T&T with an international cast that included a number of local actors, Limbo won the prize for best director at the Montreal Film Festival. It was a selection of the ttff/11, and opened the European Film Festival in Port of Spain last October.

T&T Film Nights rolls into Sangre Grande

The recently opened Sangre Grande North-Eastern Settlement Community Centre will be the venue for an exciting evening of local movies as the next installment of T&T Film Nights, hosted by the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and sponsored by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company (TTFC), takes place.

The event is carded for Sunday 6 May and begins at 5pm. Admission is free and the films are for all ages.

This edition of T&T Film Nights is presented in association with Citizen Security Programme (CSP), an initiative of the Ministry of National Security, whose objective is that of contributing to the reduction in crime and violence in a number of “high-needs” pilot communities in Trinidad and Tobago.

CSP also focuses on such issues as teenage pregnancy, HIV/Aids awareness and drug and alcohol abuse. Some of the films that will be shown explore a number of these issues.

The films being screened are Positive & Pregnant, directed by Stacy Lela; SHHushed, directed by Mandisa Pantin; Pashan of the Froot, directed by Nadissa Haynes; and Dirty Clothes, directed by Dawn Pritheesingh. All four films, a mixture of drama, comedy and animation, were selections of the ttff/11.

Before the screenings there will be a short talk given by a representative of the Community Police.

“Citizen Security Programme is pleased to collaborate with the ttff in addressing social issues,” said Rachael Joseph, CSP’s Community Action Officer. “We see this collaboration as a meaningful way to help effect social change. We know that change is a process, not an event, and so we look forward to further collaborations with the film festival.”

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.

Image: A still from Positive and Pregnant

Mystic Masseur comes to Couva for T&T Film Nights

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.

Academy Award nominee Chico & Rita to screen in Tobago

A brilliant piano player and a beautiful singer from Cuba chase their dreams—and each other—across the globe in the majestic Chico & Rita, the next installment of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and bpTT’s Community Cinergy series of film screenings.

The screening takes place at the Magdalena Grand Beach Resort, Tobago Plantations Estate, Lowlands, Tobago on April 9 (Easter Monday), from 7pm. The film, which is in Spanish with English subtitles, is for persons 14 years and over. Admission is free of charge, and dinner, snacks and drinks will be available.

Chico & Rita follows the fortunes of its title characters as they travel from Havana in the 1940s to the bright lights of New York and beyond. Love and passion unite them, but success and the social and political upheavals of the time threaten to tear them apart.

Described by the New York Times as “Sexy, sweet and laced with a sadness at once specific to its place and time” and “an animated valentine to Cuba and its music”, Chico & Rita was nominated as the best animated feature at this year’s Academy Awards.

The film—which has a ravishing score by nonagenarian Cuban music legend Bebo Valdés—was also the opening night selection of the ttff/11.

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 Trinidad & Tobago Film Company, 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.

UWI to host next ttff, bpTT Community Cinergy screening

Jean Gentil, the top prize-winning film at last year’s trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) will be screened on Saturday 31 March from 7pm at UWI, as the ttff bpTT Community Cinergy series of film screenings continues.

Written and directed by Laura Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, Jean Gentil tells the poignant, fictional tale of a Haitian immigrant in the Dominican Republic and his attempts to find a job, a place to live and, ultimately, a sense of purpose. The film, which is in Spanish and Haitian Creole with English subtitles, has been critically acclaimed worldwide, and won the jury prize for best narrative feature at the ttff/11.

Preceding Jean Gentil will be a short film, Directions, by Trinidad and Tobago filmmaker Renée Pollonais. Winner of the audience award for best short film at the ttff/08, this is a humorous look at the local predilection for giving bad directions.

The screening of Jean Gentil and Directions is free of charge and will take place outside UWI’s Student Activity Centre. There will be food and drinks on sale, and you are asked to bring blankets, beach chairs or other seating.

Image: A still from Jean Gentil

Transforming young lives through the power of cinema

An uplifting film about the power of faith and perseverence will be screened at the Youth Training Centre (YTC) in Arouca on March 17, as the T&T Film Nights series continues.

T&T Film Nights is an initiative of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff), sponsored by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company (TTFC). This screening is taking place as part of an ongoing partnership with Nalis, which in 2008 opened the library facilities at YTC.

The film, called To Be King, a ttff/11 selection, was written and directed by Steve Rahaman, a Trinidadian-American filmmaker. It tells the story of a young man, Tyrone King, the son of a famous professional boxer who himself was a boxer but quit when he lost his family.

When he crosses paths with the man whose actions led to his father’s death, Tyrone decides to make a comeback. He must now find the inner strength he needs to defeat the odds and become a champion.

The movie will be preceded by an entertaining short, Sweet Fries, also a ttff/11 selection, by local filmmaker Renée Pollonais, who will be on hand to introduce her film and speak to the young lads of YTC about the possibilities of a career in filmmaking.

YTC has as its main aim the rehabilitation and training of the lads committed to its custody, which would allow them to return to and function beneficially in the society from which, by due process of law, they have been temporarily set apart.

To this end the centre has an active and varied programme of activities, including academic study, arts, sports and technical-vocational training. The screening of To Be King and Sweet Fries forms an extension of this programme, and seeks to harness the potent power of cinema for the purposes of social transformation.

Please note that this is a closed screening, for the young lads of YTC only.

Community Cinergy kicks off in Mayaro

An outrageous romantic comedy from the Bahamas will be the first offering of a new cinema-screening venture being hosted by the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and sponsored by bpTT.

Entitled Community Cinergy, the initiative is a series of free public screenings of local and Caribbean films from the ttff. The screenings will take place throughout the year at venues across Trinidad and Tobago.

The first film to be shown will be Crazy Love (2010), a romantic comedy written and directed by Clarence Rolle of the Bahamas. A ttff/11 selection, Crazy Love is the story of Charlene and Lionel, who have been happily married for several years. When Lionel loses interest in her, however, Charlene decides to rekindle their passion by seeking the advice of her friends—with hilarious results.

The screening takes place on Saturday 25 February, from 4pm, at the Mayaro Resource Centre in Mayaro. Admission is free, and there will be food and drinks on sale.

“BP Trinidad and Tobago is pleased to support the trinidad+tobago film festival to bring film to communities across the country,” said Danielle Jones, Manager, Corporate Communications, bpTT.

T+T Film Nights: Calypso Dreams, the Directors’ Cut

A new version of the classic documentary Calypso Dreams, directed by Geoffrey Dunn and Michael Horne, will be screened at the National Library in Port of Spain as part of the ongoing T+T Film Nights, an initiative of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) and sponsored by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company.

The screening, which is being held in association with NALIS, takes place on Sunday 12 February from 6.30pm. Admission is free.

First released in 2004 to great popular and critical acclaim both in T&T and abroad, Calypso Dreams is the story of calypso as told through interviews with and the music of some of its greatest exponents, including Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose, Black Stalin, Crazy and Sugar Aloes.

The film—which novelist Earl Lovelace called “a cinematic monument to calypso”—also pays posthumous tribute to many legendary calypsonians, such as Lord Kitchener, Lord Pretender, Mighty Terror, Lord Blakie and Mighty Duke.

The version of the film to be screened at the National Library is a recent directors’ cut, never seen in T&T and featuring significant new footage.

Before the screening there will be a live performance by an artiste who appears in the film, courtesy of TUCO. There will also be food and drinks on sale.

“NALIS is once again pleased to collaborate with the ttff to showcase our culture via the medium of the film,” said Debbie Goodman, Public Relations and Marketing Officer of NALIS. “We view our role in preserving and promoting our national heritage as critical to the development of a sense of self and national identity.”

UPDATE: Lord Superior, one of the stars of Calypso Dreams, will perform before the screening.

Black Power documentary to kick off T&T Film Nights 2012

The film ’70: Remembering a Revolution, a documentary about the 1970 Black Power uprising, will be the first screening of this year’s T&T Film Nights, presented by the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff), and sponsored by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company (TTFC) in association with Reel Trini.

The screening takes place on Sunday 29 January, 7pm, at Trevor’s Edge, St John’s Road, St Augustine (opposite Scotiabank). Admission is free, and there will be food and drinks on sale.

Directed by Alex de Verteuil and Elizabeth Topp, ’70 is a comprehensive and incisive look back at the heady events of 1970. The film features revealing interviews with many of the personalities who were part of the uprising, and is interspersed with compelling file footage from the era.

A soundtrack comprising many of the calypsoes of the era—including songs written about the Black Power movement itself—rounds out the film.

Acclaimed by critics, ’70 won the jury prize for best local feature film at the ttff/11, and has screened at various other film festivals abroad.

The trinidad + tobago film festival is held annually in September and is presented by Flow, given leading sponsorship by RBC Royal Bank and bpTT, and supported by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company, the National Gas Company, the Tourism Development Company and the Tobago House of Assembly. For more information visit www.ttfilmfestival.com.