A new documentary out of Jamaica on the subject of reparations for African chattel slavery will screen at the 2014 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff), which runs from 16–30 September.

Entitled The Price of Memory and directed by Karen Marks Mafundikwa, the film takes as its starting point the visit by Queen Elizabeth to Jamaica in 2002. On that trip, she was petitioned by a small group of Rastafari for slavery reparations.

The Price of Memory film traces the Rastafarian petition and a reparations lawsuit against the Queen over a decade into both the British and Jamaican parliaments, while interweaving stories of earlier Rastas who pursued reparations in the 1960s.

This timely, important film will have two screenings at ttff/14, on Sunday 21 September at 12.30 pm and Sunday 28 September at 3.30pm. The first screening takes place at The Little Carib Theatre; the second at MovieTowne, POS.

Immediately following the first screening on Sunday 21 September, a panel discussion on reparations will be held, sponsored by The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago. The panelists are: Aiyegoro Ome, Chairman, T&T National Committee on Reparations; Bridget Brereton, Professor Emerita of History at UWI, St Augustine; Kevin Baldeosingh, newspaper columnist and public intellectual; and Clyde Noel, a member of All Mansions of Rastafari.

Then at the screening on Sunday 28 September, director Karen Marks Mafundikwa will be in attendance, and will engage in a Q&A session with the audience after the film.

Tickets for the either screening of the film cost $30 ($15 for students with student ID at MovieTowne) and may be purchased at the Little Carib and MovieTowne, respectively, in advance or at the time of the screenings.

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In addition to screening films, the ttff seeks to facilitate the growth of the Caribbean film industry by hosting workshops, panel discussions, seminars and networking opportunities. Here is a list of industry initiatives taking place at the ttff/14.

FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

Hyatt Regency Trinidad
9.00am–12noon
Distribution for Film and Television
Sponsored and presented by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company
This workshop on distribution will be especially focused on film and television outlets. Lorène Gaudet, founder and president of Cap Programmes, will lead the workshop. She will review French-language markets and platforms suitable for Trinidad and Tobago film and television content, and discuss the kinds of programmes suitable for different channels and platforms, the range of fees available, and the possibility for co-productions, among other topics.

Facilitator
Lorène Gaudet has 30 years’ experience in the global television industry. Her company, Cap Programmes, advises media corporations on production, acquisition and distribution of television shows. She was formerly Editorial Director of Canal+ France.
$300.00 per session. Pre-registration required. Call the TTFC office at 625.3456 to register.

Drink Lounge & Bistro
5.00pm–6.00pm
FILMMAKERS’ PANEL 1
Every year, the Festival provides a public platform for local and visiting filmmakers to discuss their craft, from the creative idea to production to the business of financing, marketing and, ultimately, distribution of films. The Filmmakers’ Panels provide an opportunity for local, regional and international filmmakers to come together to discuss the shared experience of making films within an independent industry context.
Free and open to the public.

 

SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

Hyatt Regency Trinidad
9.00am–12noon
Directing Workshop
Sponsored and presented by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company
In this workshop, Jérôme Guiot—director of the opening night film Pan! Our Music Odyssey—will cover the technical basics of filmmaking, the international production process, the main tasks of the director, and the importance of a good team in making a good film. He will also talk about his experience on various projects, including Pan! Our Music Odyssey.

Facilitator
Born in Belgium, Director Jérôme Guiot studied editing and directing at the National Institute of Radio Engineering and Cinematography (INRACI). He has directed several music videos for the Belgian pop artist Stromae, including “Alors on danse”, “Allez vous faire” and “Tous les mêmes”. He also directed the short film Retour simple (2009), and has directed web documentaries and commercials.

$300.00 per session. Pre-registration required. Call the TTFC office at 625.3456 to register.

9.00am–12noon
Film appreciation workshop
It takes a variety of talents and interests to foster a healthy and thriving film industry. This workshop targets film enthusiasts—people who may not be interested in making films, but are fascinated by questions of cinema, and image-making and meaning in general. The workshop will encourage a culture of appreciating film by equipping participants to think and talk about themes, motifs, styles, psychological and historical references, and more.

Facilitator
Kaleem Aftab is the author of Spike Lee’s authorised biography, Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It. He is a film writer for the Independent and National newspapers and Filmmaker magazine; Film Editor of VS magazine; Contributing Editor of Interview magazine; and Editor-at-Large of www.thetalks.com.
Free and open to the public. Pre-registration recommended. Call the ttff office at 621.0709 to register.

1.00pm–4.00pm
Producing workshop
Sponsored and presented by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company
This workshop will be led by Barthélémy Fougea, producer of Pan! Our Music Odyssey. Some of the topics he will cover include the job of the producer, the different kinds of documentary films, budgeting and distribution.

Facilitator
Barthélémy Fougea is a French documentary film producer with over 25 years’ experience. He has produced some 30 documentaries for cinema and television, which have screened and been broadcast all over the world. He is the producer of On the Way to School, which received the César, the French equivalent of the Oscar, for best documentary in 2014.
$300.00 per session. Pre-registration required. Call the TTFC office at 625.3456 to register.

4.00pm–5.00pm
The National Registry of Artists and Cultural Workers: Let’s talk taxes

Hosted by the Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism, this workshop will address certification of film and how this can benefit business owners within the film community. The focus will be film production companies and clarifying how claims can be made for their own productions by accessing the Art and Culture Allowance of the Corporation Tax Act. Be sure to attend this session for information on how your registry certificate can work for you.
Free and open to the public.

 

SATURDAY 20 + SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER

University of the West Indies, Film Programme building
10.00am–4.00pm
Documentary masterclass
The documentary masterclass will address topics such as how to develop a documentary treatment, the differences between creative, traditional and reportage documentaries and deciding what form the project should take, how documentary sales differ from narrative film distribution, the subjective nature of the documentary form, using archive footage, research and scripting.

Facilitator
Filmmaker Stevan Riley studied modern history at Oxford University, which was also the setting for his first documentary feature, Blue Blood (2006), on the Varsity boxing rivalry. Fire in Babylon (ttff/11), about the all-conquering West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and 80s, collected a prestigious Grierson award, among others. Stevan then directed Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 (2012; ttff/14), to mark the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise. He is currently helming a film on Marlon Brando for NBC Universal and Showtime.
Prerequisite: Participants must have made at least one short or feature-length documentary. Pre-registration required. Call the ttff office at 621.0709 to register. $300 for both days; includes lunch.

University of Trinidad and Tobago, APA building
10.00am–4.00pm
Acting workshop
In this workshop, actors will gain a strong understanding of how valuable a tool writing can be when looking to reveal a character’s truth with clarity and conviction, and directors will have an opportunity to work with their talent to collaboratively tell a story. Participants will have their work heard, developed and brought to life in a safe, collaborative environment, and will gain a better grasp on how to communicate in order to work effectively.

Facilitator
Kirk Baltz has been a working actor in film, theatre and television for 25 years and has worked with such noted directors as Warren Beatty, Oliver Stone, John Woo, Kevin Costner and Quentin Tarantino.
Prerequisite: Participants must have made or acted in at least one short or feature-length film. Pre-registration required. Call the ttff office at 621.0709 to register. $600 for both days; includes lunch.

 

MONDAY 22 SEPTEMBER

Hyatt Regency Trinidad
9.30am–1.00pm
EAVE script session
Clare Downs (Script Consultant, UK) will introduce the main script development tools to strengthen the participants’ understanding of narrative principles, in order to enable them to assist their writers in the process from the “white-hot first draft” to the final version of the script. In the workshop, principles of the script analysis will also be applied through the study of a selected film.
Free and open to the public. Pre-registration recommended. Call the ttff office at 621.0709 to register.

 

TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

University of the West Indies, Film Programme building
6.00pm
Raoul Peck’s cinema from below
As an internationally renowned filmmaker of Haitian origin, Raoul Peck has spoken about how his consciousness of being from the “third world” while coming of age in a largely first world environment gave him insight into the nature of power. It was during his formative years that he made the decision to align himself with those who are disenfranchised by historical and contemporary systems of power in various “third world” contexts, including the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Haiti.

Presenter
Toni Pressley-Sanon is a graduate of Hamilton College (BA), The New School for Social Research (MA) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she earned her MA and PhD in African Languages and Literature with a minor in Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies. She has conducted extensive research in Benin Republic, West Africa and Haiti. Her work focuses on memory, history and cultural production in Africa and its diaspora.
Free and open to the public.

 

FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER

Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Pre-registration required. Call the ttff at 621.0709 to register.
Prerequisite: Participants must have made at least one short or feature-length film.

9.00am–10.30am
How the global film industry works
This presentation will address the evolution of film festivals, the diversification of the market, the role of sales agents, the variety of distribution models, crowdfunding, new patterns of content consumption and emerging opportunities in digital distribution.

Facilitator
Lucius Barre focuses his expertise on strategic planning and management of promotional campaigns for new films, filmmakers and companies. He was the first crossover international publicist for Pedro Almódovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Shinji Aoyama (Eureka), Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne (La Promesse), Atom Egoyan (Exotica), Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). In recent years, he has served on the organising teams of the Locarno and Rotterdam film festivals, and has represented films from 19 countries at key festivals and markets and promotional screenings in New York.

10.45am–12.15pm
EAVE pitch training
This presentation will address the tools of script development and pitching, presented by EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), the continent’s leading training, development and networking organisation for producers. Founded in 1988, their objectives are to provide professional training opportunities and to bring producers from different regions of the world together with the aim of facilitating co-production relationships. EAVE’s unique international network comprises over 1,300 producers and key decision makers (funders, sales agents, distributors and commissioning editors).

Facilitators
Diana Elbaum has produced a wide range of award-winning films since becoming a producer in 1989. Her films span all genres and cultures and have received worldwide critical acclaim. In 2009 she received the Eurimages Award, a prize given to producers playing an active role in European co-productions.

Clare Downs has been a member of the EAVE script analysis team since 1989. She is a script consultant and scriptwriter, and visiting lecturer at the National Film and Television School (UK) and the MA Screenwriting Department at De Montfort University.

Tobias Pausinger is co-founder of ART:FILM, an initiative designed to enhance and nurture artistic cinema and visual arts. He is also the co-founder of ChakaPro, a B2B social network and cloud office for international film production and co-financing.

1.15pm–2.45pm
World Cinema Fund
The World Cinema Fund (WCF) is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, and the Goethe Institute. The WCF supports films that could not be made without additional funding: films that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, that tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots. This presentation will give an overview of the WCF as well as address co-productions, and how they have impacted the global filmmaking landscape.

Facilitator
Marjorie Bendeck Regalado is a consultant for the Creative Europe Film Development Fund (European Union) and on the Project Evaluation Committee for the World Cinema Fund. She worked on the Selection Committee and as the Participants Coordinator for the Berlinale Talent Campus (Berlin International Film Festival) from 2003 to 2012. Marjorie is also a film producer and attended a graduate course in film production at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cuba.

3.00pm–4.30pm
Group speed dating
Lucius Barre, International Publicist
Sydney Levine, Indiewire
John Lee, Tribeca Film Institute
Marjorie Bendeck Regalado, World
Cinema Fund
Paula Madison, Television Executive / Journalist

Drink Lounge & Bistro
5.00pm–6.00pm
Filmmakers’ Panel 2
Free and open to the public.

SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
Hyatt Regency Trinidad
Free and open to the public. Registration recommended.
Call the ttff office at 621.0709 to register.

9.00am–10.00am
ACP Cultures + Projects: Caribbean Film Mart + Regional Film Database
The Caribbean Film Mart + Regional Film Database will be launched in 2015 and are intended to strengthen the production and distribution of Caribbean films through two main actions: the implementation of a film market through the framework of the annual ttff, and the development of an online database of regional films and filmmakers. This presentation will give an overview of the projects and provide filmmakers with information on how to apply for the Caribbean Film Mart.
Facilitators: ttff Creative Director, Emilie Upczak / Art Director, Melanie Archer / External Relations Director, Nneka Luke

10.15am–11.15am
Tribeca Film Institute
To cultivate exceptional and under-the-radar talent, Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) has established a strong presence in film festivals and industry markets throughout Latin America, hosting workshops in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The TFI champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world. Through over US$2.2 million in annual grants and professional development programmes, TFI supports a diverse, exceptional group of filmmakers and media artists, providing them with resources to fully realise their stories and connect with audiences.

Facilitator
John Lee, Manager, Feature Programming at TFI, is a graduate of New York Institute of Technology with a BA in Communication Arts. John manages TFI programmes, Tribeca All Access® and Sloan Filmmaker Fund, among other things. He has held positions at Paramount Pictures in distribution, Rogers & Cowan in publicity, and Nickelodeon in marketing. Prior to joining TFI, he worked in the film festival world with seasonal positions at Sundance Film Festival, Independent Filmmaker Project, Hamptons Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.

11.30am–12.30pm
Film collectives
Filmmaker Keith Miller, a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers’ Collective, will discuss participating in an association of filmmakers and the various forms this might take. Topics will include forming a collective, keeping it together, workshopping scripts, rough cuts and fine cuts, as well as how best to think about outreach and sharing information and production resources.

Facilitator
Keith Miller is a filmmaker and painter who made his first short film in 2004. His first feature was Welcome to Pine Hill (2012; ttff/13). Five Star (2014), his most recent film, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is a ttff/14 selection.

1.30pm–4.00pm
Web series, music videos and short-form content
This presentation will explore creative approaches to the writing, directing, producing and positioning of short-form web content. Facilitator Terence Nance will address viable options for monetising web content and how to parlay the web space into television and feature films.

Facilitators
Terence Nance was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He studied visual art, and in addition to being an artist and filmmaker, he makes music under the name Terence Etc. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, his first film, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. He is at work on his second feature, The Lobbyist.

Chanelle Aponte Pearson is a visual artist, filmmaker, and photographer. Most recently, Chanelle produced the critically acclaimed feature An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. Chanelle is making her directorial debut on a narrative web series called 195 Lewis, about four queer women living in Brooklyn, and is also producing a feature-length documentary on the global practice of skin bleaching.

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is presenting a series of film screenings to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the country’s independence, sponsored by The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited.

The screenings take place over three days in San Fernando, Port of Spain and Tobago, respectively. All screenings are free and open to the public.

The first screening takes place on Thursday 28 August, in the observatory at the San Fernando Hill Recreational Centre, from 7.00pm. The films to be screened are the documentaries Julia & Joyce (Sonja Dumas/2010/60’), the story of two pioneers of dance in T&T, Julia Edwards and Joyce Kirton; and The Strange Luck of VS Naipaul (Adam Low/2008/78’), a portrait of the Nobel Prize-winning author.

Then on Friday 29 August from 7.00pm, at the audiovisual room at NALIS in Port of Spain, there will be a screening of Fire in Babylon (Stevan Riley/2011/87’), the inspiring story of the all-conquering West Indies cricket team of the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

Finally, on Sunday 31 August at 3.00pm at MovieTowne, Tobago, two films will be screened: The Audacity of the Creole Imagination (Kim Johnson/2010/13’) and
‘70: Remembering a Revolution (Alex de Verteuil, Elizabeth Cadiz-Topp/2011/120’). The first film looks at milestones in the history of the creation of the steelpan, while ’70 is a thoroughgoing account of the black power uprising of 1970.

Doors for the first two screenings open at 6.00pm. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Technical services will be provided by North Eleven, the ttff’s official screening partner.

Image: A still from Fire in Babylon

Nigeria’s Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938–1997) is arguably the greatest musician to come out of Africa in the twentieth century, the inventor of the groundbreaking sound known as Afrobeat.

On Wednesday 30 July, the trinidad+tobago film festival, in collaboration with the Emancipation Support Committee and with technical services from North Eleven, will present Finding Fela (2014), a documentary on the life of this towering figure of music and resistance.

The screening takes place ahead of a live performance by Fela’s son, Seun Kuti, and his band Egypt 80, at the Queen’s Park Savannah the following evening, 31 July.

Venue for the screening of the film—which is 119 minutes long—is the VIP Room of the Grand Stand at the Queen’s Park Savannah. (The VIP Room is upstairs at the back of the Grand Stand. There will be ushers to guide audience members, and ttff branding.)

The film begins at 7pm. Seun Kuti will be present at the end to engage in a Q&A session with the audience.

Admission is free and open to everyone.

Directed by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, Finding Fela is a sweeping portrait of the artist as guerrilla warrior. Set to the insistent groove of Fela’s revolutionary Afrobeat sound, the remarkable story of one man’s courageous stand against a corrupt and dictatorial government gives testament to the transformative power of music as a force for social and political change.

Fela’s influence spanned the globe as his soaring music and unstoppable spirit transported audiences in the Americas, Europe and, most importantly, throughout Africa. His defiantly vocal opposition to the military regimes destroying his people made him the voice of the oppressed masses—and a target of brutal government retaliation.

Finding Fela features recently rediscovered archival footage of the legendary musician in performance, in interviews and in unguarded private moments, as well as new interviews with family, colleagues and friends for a glimpse of the audacious and dangerous life of a contradictory iconoclast who defined African political thought for more than two decades.

Simultaneously, the film goes behind the scenes to observe the evolution of Fela!—the hit Broadway musical based on Fela’s life and work. As the two parallel tales intertwine and merge, they form a nuanced commentary on the crucial role of art in our global society.

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As a boy growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, Richard Fung loved dhalpuri roti. As a filmmaker now living in Toronto, he decided to discover the origins of this justly celebrated dish.

Richard’s journey took him first from Canada to his native land. He then headed to the Bhojpur region of India, where the ancestors of the majority of people of Indian descent in T&T came from. Finally he made his way back to the snowy streets of Toronto, where a sizeable Caribbean community lives.

All the while Richard filmed his epic quest. The end result was the documentary Dal Puri Diaspora, an eye-opening and richly enjoyable 80-minute tribute to a unique culinary invention that has travelled the world.

Dal Puri Diaspora had its world premiere at the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) in 2012, and was rapturously received by audiences. Now the Festival presents it again, free of charge, on Saturday 7 June from 7pm at the St James Amphitheatre, as part of the annual We Beat festival.

The screening is sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC) and presented in association with the St James Community Improvement/We Beat Committee. This is the fourth year that the ttff will present a film during the We Beat celebrations.

According to Melvina Hazard, ttff Director of Community Development, “This screening is a perfect mix of occasion, venue and subject, since We Beat celebrates our culture and St James has a longstanding tradition of street roti sales.”

As if to emphasise this point, one of the most popular roti sellers in St James is featured in Dal Puri Diaspora.

In an interview with Xfinity TV blog Richard recounted some of his discoveries in making the film. “What’s intriguing is that the West Indian roti is something that is intensely regional in India, only eaten at certain times and not commonly sold on the street,” he said.

“In Kolkata dhalpuris are more commonly available than in Bihar,” he continued. “Yet in the southern Caribbean it became the most widely eaten ‘Indian’ food, and in the Caribbean diaspora it has become the most commonly consumed dish. So not only has the dish changed, but its very identity.”

As a result, the documentary tracks dhalpuri’s remarkable passage across space and time, linking colonialism, migration and the globalisation of tastes.

Dal Puri Diaspora also features interviews with leading scholars and food writers, including Brinsley Samaroo and Patricia Mohammed of Trinidad and Tobago, and Pushpesh Pant and Radhika Mongia of India.

Admission to the St James Amphitheatre to see Dal Puri Diaspora is free. There will be refreshments on sale.

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There’s nothing quite like watching a wonderful movie under the stars, and that’s just what the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is bringing to audiences across the country in its third annual Community Cinergy series, starting Friday 21 March.

Sponsored by bpTT, Community Cinergy consists of four free open-air screenings of great movies, all past ttff selections, from T&T and around the world, plus one special screening for the lads of the Youth Training Centre.

Refreshments and crafts will be on sale. There will be full seating at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association. You may wish to bring cushions to the St James Amphitheatre. There will be limited seating at San Fernando Hill, so you may wish to bring your own chairs or blankets. Please bring chairs or blankets to the UWI screening.

The full Community Cinergy lineup is as follows. Doors open at 6pm for screenings starting at 7pm.

Friday 21 March, 7pm
Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association, Chaguaramas

The Wind That Blows
Director: Tom Weston
2013/St Vincent and the Grenadines, USA/Documentary/60mins/All ages
This is a revealing portrait of a group of men from the island of Bequia, who engage in a dangerous and controversial activity: the hunting of humpback whales.

Alamar (To the Sea)
Director: Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio
2009/Mexico/Drama/73mins/All ages
Poetically told and breathtakingly shot, this film tenderly observes the relationship between an Amerindian fisherman and his young son.

Saturday 22 March, 7pm
UWI, St Augustine (opposite the Learning Resource Centre)

Doubles with Slight Pepper
Director: Ian Harnarine
2011/T&T, Canada/Drama/16mins/PG
A young doubles vendor faces a difficult decision when his estranged father returns home after years abroad.

Papilio Buddha
Director: Jayan Cherian
2013/India/Drama/108mins/16+
Set against the lush backdrop of Kerala in south India, this is a provocative film about the Dalits, a group of landless, indigenous people fighting against caste oppression.

Friday 28 March, 7pm
San Fernando Hill

The Suspect
Director: Leroy Smart
2010/TT/Drama/7mins/All ages
A bus passenger suspects that a crime is about to happen.

Lucky
Director: Avie Luthra
2010/South Africa/Drama/100mins/PG
After his mother dies, young Lucky, who is black, travels from the countryside to the city, where he forms an unlikely relationship with an elderly Indian widow.

Saturday 29 March, 6:30pm (closed screening)
The Youth Training Centre, Golden Grove

Maxi-Taxi Madness
Director: Dane John
2011/TT/Drama/12mins/All ages
A hilarious film about a rag-tag group of maxi-taxi passengers stuck in traffic.

Chance
Director: Evan Kaufman
2012/USA, US Virgin Islands
Drama/86mins/16+
A powerful story about the lengths a young man would go for his loved ones.

Sunday 30 March, 7pm
St. James Amphitheatre

Drink
Director: Juliette McCawley
2013/TT, UK/Drama/9mins/PG
An illegal immigrant in London is forced into an act of quiet desperation.

Twa timoun (Three Kids)
Director: Jonas D’Adesky
2012/Haiti, Belgium/Drama/81mins/PG
Inspired by true events, this is a moving portrait of three orphaned boys’ attempts at survival in the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

Image: A shot from Alamar

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

For the second year in a row the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is pleased to feature Carnival historian and researcher Ray Funk presenting rare historic film clips on calypso, pan and Carnival, at two events.

These free presentations, part of the film festival’s annual Carnival Film Series (CFS), take place at San Fernando Hill and the NALIS Amphitheatre at the National Library in Port of Spain, on Friday 21 and Sunday 23 February, respectively. Both events begin at 7pm.

Ray Funk is a retired Alaskan judge and has been coming to Trinidad and Tobago Carnival for almost 20 years. He writes regularly for the local newspapers, and is passionate in researching a range of traditional Carnival arts. His collection of early film clips is an important part of that research, and he has been doing free educational events showcasing these clips for years, as a way of giving back this heritage.

Over two hundred people came to Funk’s presentation at the NALIS Amphitheatre during last year’s Carnival Film Series.

“I had a great time last year and was thrilled to be able to show cuts that it took me years to find,” he said. “But the highlight of the evening was to have Bill Trotman show up—on his birthday, no less—and see an Italian film clip of a comedy limbo dance that he had performed back in 1961.

“He had told me about it a decade ago and I have been searching ever since to find it. It was special to present it on the big screen with Bill present and give him a copy of the footage.”

Another clip was of the Mighty Sparrow’s first feature-film performance from the same Italian film.

“He couldn’t be there the night of the screening but I was able on Carnival Sunday to see him and show him and his wife Margaret and give them a copy.”

With the success of last year’s presentation, the film festival is pleased this year to have presentations from Funk both in Port of Spain and San Fernando.

When asked about what he is bringing this year to show, Ray is hesitant to reveal too much. “I am still determining which pieces to present, but I guarantee there will be many things that almost no one has seen before,” he said.

“Here are a couple things. Steve and Amanda Zeitlin—the parents of filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, who attended the film festival last year and presented his film Beasts of the Southern Wild—came to Trinidad and shot a short film on extempo several years ago. That will get its T&T premiere.

“For an Association of British Calypsonians tribute to Lord Kitchener, I commissioned a music video on one of his first recordings, on a boxing match. That will also get its local premiere.”

Funk has been working for several years on a project on Harry Belafonte and the American “calypso craze” of the 1950s, which will result in a major coffee table book with a set of six CDs and a DVD. It will be out hopefully towards the end of 2014.

“I have a couple of calypso craze film and TV performances that I want to show in my presentations, including popular American performers doing material by Roaring Lion.”

For Funk, bringing these performances to a local audience is all about returning T&T’s culture to its home.

“My ongoing search to find these clips, present them in Trinidad and Tobago and give them back to the performers has been very rewarding. At all times I am in search of more missing bits of the country’s rich cultural heritage.”

Image: Ray Funk (in orange T-shirt at left) speaks at his presentation at last year’s Carnival Film Series. (Photograph by Marlon James for the trinidad+tobago film festival.)

As a tribute to the celebrated Jamaican intellectual and cultural theorist Stuart Hall—who has died at the age of 82—the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is hosting a screening of The Stuart Hall Project, this coming Tuesday 18 February at the Festival’s offices at 199 Belmont Circular Road, Belmont.

Hall, who was born and raised in Jamaica, went to the United Kingdom in 1951 to study at Oxford University. He settled in Britain, where he helped evolve the concept of multiculturalism, and became a key architect of the academic discipline known as cultural studies.

A major figure of the New Left movement, Hall was a founding editor of the seminal New Left Review. His theories on the concepts of identity and hybridity, class and colonialism, politics, gender, culture and art have influenced the thinking of many people over the decades; for a time he was arguably the greatest public intellectual in Britain.

Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker John Akomfrah, The Stuart Hall Project is a portrait composed entirely of photographic and film footage from Hall’s archive, from his childhood in Jamaica to his time as a TV and radio presenter with the BBC and beyond.

The film—which is 100 minutes long—is complemented by a sublime score comprised of the music of Miles Davis who, as Hall once put it, “put his finger on my soul” when Hall was a young man.

As a number of critics have noted, the film serves not only as an illuminating biography of Hall, but also as a potent alternative history of the world in the latter half of the 20th century.

The Stuart Hall Project had its premiere in 2013 at the Sundance Film Festival. It went on to screen at many film festivals, including the ttff/13, where it had its Caribbean premiere, to great acclaim. The film was also released in cinemas in the UK.

The screening of The Stuart Hall Project begins at 7.30pm, and doors open at 6.45pm. Space is limited, so please arrive early to ensure seating. Refreshments will be available.

UPDATE: There will be parking available at Belmont Secondary School for tomorrow night’s screening, from 6.45pm. Parking space is limited, so please arrive early to ensure a spot. Carpooling recommended!

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Coming off an extremely successful 2013, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) kicks off its programme of events for the new year with its Carnival Film Series (CFS).

Now a firm fixture on the annual Carnival calendar of events, the CFS, in its fourth year, is a showcase of films about Carnival and its related artforms.

The series is sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC) and the National Carnival Commission (NCC). Technical support is provided by North Eleven, the ttff’s media and projection partner.

This year the CFS takes place over six nights in February. Two of these nights will be given over to presentations by renowned calypso, pan and mas researcher and historian Ray Funk.

These presentations follow on from Funk’s extremely popular presentation at last year’s CFS at NALIS in Port of Spain, and will again feature vintage Carnival footage, much of it never before seen in T&T.

As ever admission to all screenings is free of charge. There will be refreshments on sale, and giveaways. All events begin at 7pm.

Saturday 08 February
Paramin Recreational Grounds and Cool Breeze Bar, Paramin

Shorts film package comprising the following:

Between the Lines
Director: Abigail Hadeed
2012/T+T/Experimental/3mins
An exploration of the frenzied, chaotic, moving shadows cast on the roads by moko jumbie Carnival characters.

And They Say, Don’t Play with Poison
Director: Natalie Wei
2006/T+T, Canada/Experimental/3mins
An examination of notions of gender, identity and belonging in the contemporary Carnival.

Beneath the Mas
Director: Dinesh Maharaj
2014/T+T/Documentary/10mins
A look at some traditional mas-making techniques and Carnival characters, particularly the art of wire-bending, the fancy Indian, the jab jab, the midnight robber and the bull mas. (Production sponsored by NCC.)

Kings of the Gayelle
Director: Christopher Laird
2014/T+T/Documentary/11mins
A portrait of two stickfighters, King Kali and King Tony, who have distinguished themselves in the discipline of Kalinda. (Production sponsored by NCC.)

Dance de Calypso
Director: John Barry
1996/T+T/Documentary/46mins
An exploration of the history and evolution of the different ways people dance to calypso music.

y-ning?
Director: Emilie Upczak
2010/T+T, USA/Documentary/13mins
An “academic music video” that explores wining as a dance language with a history and identity born out of the Caribbean experience.

After Mas
Director: Karen Martinez
2013/T+T, UK/Narrative/20mins
A story of love that flourishes under the cover of darkness during J’Ouvert on the streets of Port of Spain. In the cold light of day, will these young lovers from very different backgrounds stay true to their desires?

Sunday 9 February
Trevor’s Edge, St Augustine

Shorts package
Between the Lines/And They Say, Don’t Play with Poison/Beneath the Mas/Kings of the Gayelle/Dance de Calypso/y-ning?/After Mas

Thursday 13 February
MovieTowne, Tobago

Beneath the Mas

No Bois Man No Fraid
Director: Christopher Laird
2013/T+T/Documentary/72mins
Keegan Taylor and Rondel Benjamin are young martial arts experts from Trinidad and Tobago. In this uplifting and eye-opening documentary, they embark on a discovery of their roots by setting out to learn the local martial art of stickfighting. In the process, they receive guidance from living legends such as Congo Bara, King Stokely and King Kali, and set out to compete in the annual national stickfighting championships.

Friday 21 February
San Fernando Hill Recreational Grounds

Kings of the Gayelle

Beneath the Mas

A presentation by Ray Funk

Saturday 22 February
Saith Park, Chaguanas

Shorts package
Between the Lines/And They Say, Don’t Play with Poison/Beneath the Mas/Kings of the Gayelle/Dance de Calypso/y-ning?/After Mas

Sunday 23 February
NALIS Amphitheatre, National Library, Port of Spain

Kings of the Gayelle

Beneath the Mas

A presentation by Ray Funk

Image: a still from Between the Lines