PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, 29 September 2021 – Congratulations are in order for Trinidadian filmmaker Ayana Harper, who has won the 2021 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff/21) People’s Choice Award. The results for the award were announced after voting and the last day of festival screenings on 28 September 2021.
Harper’s film The Interview, which depicts the challenges of a budding filmmaker struggling to find the right interviewee for a project, received the highest number of votes by ttff/21 audiences out of twenty-five screenings directed by Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) filmmakers.
The first runner-up for this year’s award was The Forgotten Boys – a documentary by director Alexandra Warner. The second runner-up was the student film, Going Knowhere, by Darielle Allard – both Trinidad and Tobago filmmakers.
The ttff reprised the People’s Choice Award category to help audiences positively impact the trajectories of T&T films and filmmakers. The 2021 People’s Choice Award winner, will receive a trophy and lots of kudos!
and the ttff/21 winners are…
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, 28 September 2021 – On Monday 27 September 2021, winning films from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) and the region, were announced at a virtual awards ceremony livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Awards were given in 8 film categories, and all the award-winning films are available for viewing today (28 September) at ttfilmfestival.com.
“Best T&T Film” was awarded to the director Nicola Cross, for her short doc,Becky, which is an unexpectedly uplifting story about a Kenyan woman’s resilience on her journey to feeling complete.
Trinidad-based director, Andreas Antonopoulos won “Best New Media Film” – for his work, Rhythms of Trinidad, which he created, using found archive, in collaboration with the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago; the film looks at history through movement and production of space.
Out of 13 student films screened at ttff/21, Juana, by Dominican directorJosé Antonio Martínez, emerged as the winner of “Best Student Film”. Young and aspiring filmmakers and industry professionals also played a key role in judging films in competition at this year’s ttff. The award for “Best Film as selected by the Youth Jury” was juried by young film jurors under the mentorship of seasoned film critic BC Pires, and was presented to Olivier Sagne for his filmLovena.
“Best Narrative Film Short”went to Brazilian directors Mariah Teixeira and Nanda Félix, for their film Rafameia (Riff-Raff).
Perfume de Gardenias, by Puerto Rican director Macha Colón, won “Best Narrative Feature”. Perfume de Gardenias is a dark comedy that tells the story of an elderly woman in Puerto Rico, who is widowed and crafts a beautiful, custom-made funeral for her husband. This leads her into a profession of designing custom, idiosyncratic funerals for her ailing neighbors.
The award for “Best Documentary Short” went to Audrey Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Jean-Baptiste from French Guiana, for Écoutez le battement de nos images (Listen to the Beat of Our Images), while Cuban filmmaker, Marcel Beltran, won “Best Documentary Feature” with his film, Option Zero.
Remarks were delivered at the ttff/21 virtual awards ceremony by Derwin Howell, Chairman of FILMCO, and awards were presented by Myles Lewis, head of corporate social responsibility and NGC, Kelli-Marie Patel from Shell Trinidad and Tobago Ltd. and Republic Bank Ltd.
The 2021 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff/21) is given signature sponsorship by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC), leading sponsorship by Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited and Republic Bank Limited (RBL), with National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts as contributing sponsors. Programming partners are FilmTT, the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain, FIFAC and Cinemartinique.
new media is online + in person!
The ttff/21 New Media programme comprises avant garde and experimental film and video works from artists and filmmakers in the Caribbean and its diaspora. New Media works are available to view online, free of charge, on a scheduled basis (click the individual titles below for screening dates) from 24-28 September.
We’re also planning two nights of outdoor projections, on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 September. Take a drive or wander by Granderson Lab on Erthig Road in Belmont, to view the projections in real life. Live projections will run for approximately 90 minutes from 6-8.30pm, both nights. Please make sure to follow all government Covid guidelines. Make sure to wear your mask and to social distance.
We’re excited to announce that there’ll be a people’s choice award winner for best Trinidad and Tobago film at ttff/21!
Voting is simple! Watch your chosen T&T film at ttfilmfestival.com. At the end of the film, a notification will appear on screen, letting you know if the film is eligible for audience awards. If it’s eligible, click either ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ to register your vote! The winner will be announced at the end of the festival, and will receive a trophy.
Please take a minute to vote on the T&T films – people’s choice/ audience awards can make a big, positive difference to the trajectory of a film or filmmaker!
infosession: introducing locarno film festival’s ‘open doors’ programme
We’re delighted to be facilitating an InfoSession with the renowned Locarno Film Festival on their upcoming ‘Open Doors’ programme, a development initiative that shines a light on emerging filmmaking countries and contributes to their sustainable growth. For the next cycle of the ‘Open Doors’ programme, the focus will be on Latin America and the Caribbean. With 22 countries ready to be part of the section, Locarno’s Sophie Bourdon notes: “20 years after the launch of Open Doors and its first focus on Cuba, we are excited to explore today’s vibrant cinematographic scene of such a diverse region.”
Please note, this is a closed Zoom session, so pre-registration is required.
The 2022-2024 cycle will focus on the LAC region, championing film projects, talents and producers from Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), the Caribbean Islands (Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) and South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela).
365 days
Alongside Open Doors coproduction Hub, producers Lab and screenings taking place during the Locarno Film Festival in August, the initiative offers a year-long online program, with its Hotline and Consultancy services, as well as its knowledge-sharing and networking web platform ToolBox.
One global community
Thanks to its two successive cycles in Asia, Open Doors has developed a strongly collaborative and like-minded community of more than 1’000 talents that is now curious to connect with their peers from the LAC region. “Despite different local specificities, filmmakers from all over the world have much more in common than what they think. With the support of digital tools such as the ToolBox, they can now easily connect with each other, share experiences, and explore collaboration opportunities beyond their borders. With our community going global, we think Open Doors can bring hope to professionals for a better future despite the very challenging times they are all going through”.
One Vision
The new Open Doors focus allows Locarno Pro to join forces and to fully embrace Latin America and the Caribbean. By exchanging views, discoveries and programs that will enhance international visibility and strengthen collaborations at the heart of the Locarno Film Festival, doors will be also open to more structured film industries such as Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
A unique initiative
Organized from the outset jointly with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Open Doors sidebar section is designed to assist and spotlight directors and their films from independent cinemas in the Global South and East. Open Doors also contributes to the diversity of the international filmmaking scene, offering space and visibility to diversified perspectives and debates. Open Doors is organized by Locarno Pro as part of the Locarno Film Festival and enjoys support from and collaborations with numerous European and international organizations.
about Locarno Film Festival
Throughout its 73-year history, the Locarno Film Festival has occupied a unique position in the landscape of the major film festivals. Every August, for eleven days the Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, right in the heart of Europe, becomes the world capital of auteur cinema. Thousands of film fans and industry professionals meet here every summer to share their thirst for new discoveries and a passion for cinema in all its diversity. In Locarno they find a quality program, rich, eclectic, surprising, and where emerging talent rubs shoulders with prestigious guests.
ttff/21 retrospective: Horace Ové
Presented with the support of the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC), this year’s retrospective seeks to honour and celebrate the work of vanguard director and photographer, Horace Ové, with online screenings of some of his most recognised and important films: “Baldwin’s Nigger”, “King Carnival”, “Pressure”, “Playing Away”, “The Ghost of Hing King Estate” and “Black Safari” (which he didn’t direct but in which he had a starring on-screen role).
With an impressive, groundbreaking body of work, Horace Ové is the most important filmmaker from Trinidad and Tobago and one of the Caribbean’s masters. Ové was born in Belmont, a cosmopolitan suburb of Port of Spain, where he proudly proclaimed, “every colour, class, creed and race lived side by side”. His early love of film was nurtured by frequenting the local Olympic cinema where he and his friends used to sit in the cheapest pit seats, providing commentary and interacting with the Hollywood stars on the screen, often having seen the films a number of times. The films used to break down and the members of pit made sure to roundly heckle the projectionist.
Belmont was a centre for Carnival, and other cultural activities, and Horace’s family was right in the middle of it. In fact, Ové’s brother, Valmond, played Nero in the Carnival band, “Imperial Rome”. Ové carried this rich culture with him when, in 1960, as did many other West Indians, he left Trinidad to live in England, the “mother country”. He went to study painting, photography and interior design but soon became involved with film. He was an extra on the Hollywood epic, “Cleopatra” (1963), but the film ran into major problems forcing it to move location from London to Rome. Ové travelled to Italy where he now played a soldier rather than a slave. When the film wrapped production, Ové stayed on in Italy, where he was especially influenced by Fellini, but also by De Sica, Rossellini and other members of the Italian Neorealist movement.
Returning to England, Ové went on to study film at the London School of Film Technique. He made his first film, “The Art of the Needle”(1969), a short documentary about acupuncture in Britain that was sponsored by the Acupuncture Association. This proved to be the beginning of a long and eclectic career in film and television, mainly in Britain, but also in many other countries, including the Caribbean. That same year he directed “Baldwin’s Nigger”, featuring an exchange between the American activist Dick Gregory, the celebrated African American writer James Baldwin, and a mainly black audience. They discussed and compared the experiences of black people in America and Britain during the Civil Rights Movement and the turbulent 1960s. In 1970, he directed another pioneering film, “Reggae”, an exploration of the beginnings of the reggae movement. This was the first film on the subject directed by a black person from the Caribbean. The centrepiece of the film is a concert at Wembley stadium featuring Toots and the Maytals, Desmong Dekker and others, while the film also questioned the paradoxical involvement of white skinheads with reggae music.
“The Black Safari” (1972) saw Ové in a different role, that of presenter, in this parody of an African safari where Ové, and his black colleagues, go on an expedition in a canal boat looking for the “real” England. The locals looked on in amazement. “Playing Away” (1986), directed by Ové, explored similar themes in an amusing look at culture shock as a West Indian cricket team from Brixton is invited to play a cricket match against a white village team, to mark the conclusion of “Third World Week”.
With“King Carnival”(1973), Ové returned to his roots, to film in Trinidad during Carnival celebrations. The film explores the role of Carnival in the society, and the influence of African cultural traditions. It is by far the best of the number of films made on the subject. However, his tour de force was “Pressure” (1976). With a screenplay by famed Trinidadian writer, Samuel Selvon, “Pressure” was Ové’s first narrative feature film, and has the distinction of being the first independent feature film made in Britain by a Black director. The film was controversial as it explored the racism and xenophobia faced by West Indian immigrants and their children (now first and second generation British) in England – it was shelved for nearly three years by its funders, the British Film Institute (BFI). The timing and focus of the film were prescient: within a few years of its release, the streets of Brixton, Birmingham and Bristol exploded into riots, as angry and disenfranchised members of the Black British community took to the streets in protest against police harassment and the contentions ‘sus’ laws related to stop and search.
Other films shot in the Caribbean included a mini series for television, “The Orchid House” (1991) produced by Ové and Annabelle Alcazar. Based on a novel of the same name by Phyllis Shand Allfrey, it was shot on location in Dominica and featured a white plantation family witnessing the decline of the British colonial order and the beginnings of the independence movement. Back home in Trinidad, Ové directed his last dramatic feature film “The Ghost of Hing King Estate” (2009), produced by Francis Escayg, and starring Wendell Manwarren and Teri-Leigh Bovell. The film was based on a true story about the mysterious deaths on a local cocoa estate. It had limited exposure, but was enthusiastically received at a screening at the British Film Institute.
Horace Ové was awarded the Hummingbird Medal by the government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1992, and was made Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the British government in 2007. These tributes represent over fifty years of creative film and television production, while his photographs have been displayed at the National Portrait Gallery and form part of the Arts Council’s permanent collection.
“I am a filmmaker and a black filmmaker, but that doesn’t mean I am only going to make black films. I’ve tried not to do that in my career as that limits me as an artist. I’ve always wanted to film about anything, anywhere, and anybody”.
Horace Ové
Ové continued, “I’ve always wanted to produce quality films [and] I made up my mind that I’m going to make films as good as anybody else in any country – England, France or wherever.”
And this is what he has done.
~ Dr Bruce Paddington
*Please note, retrospective films are made available to viewers in the Caribbean only. Please check our schedule for show dates.
announcing the ttff/21 juries
We are honoured to introduce the jury members who will be judging the competition films at ttff/21. Each jury is given a list of criteria on which they must score each film. Marks for each film are collated, and the film with the highest overall score in any given category wins the jury prize for that category.
narrative jury
Vashti Anderson Vashti Anderson is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her background includes an MFA in Film from New York University, independent film and television crewing experience in New York City, and an award-winning filmmaking and writing career. Her recent narrative feature film, “Moko Jumbie”, had its world premiere at LA Film Festival and ended its festival run at Edinburgh International Film Festival, also screening at Bentonville, Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam, Caribbean Film Series at BAMcinematek, ttff and others. It won the Chris Columbus/Richard Vague Film Production Award, the Canon Filmmaker Award from Film Independent, Best Screenplay at the Bahamas IFF Filmmaker Residency Program and Best Screenplay at Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival. It is currently being distributed by Indiepix, playing on Amazon Prime and other platforms.
Diana Cadavid Diana Cadavid is a Colombian/Canadian curator of film and new media, with wide experience in international film festivals. She’s currently the artistic director of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) and the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cali (FICCALI) and Ibero–American programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Cadavid has also worked as associate director of program and industry for the Miami Film Festival (MFF) and director of programming for the International Film Festival of Panama (IFF Panamá). Diana produced and edited the short films “Breathe the Night”, “Bleiben”, “Still Life with Echo” and “Define Solidarity”, directed by Álvaro Girón. She was the production manager for the feature film, “Mañana a esta hora” (“This Time Tomorrow”) by Lina Rodriguez.
Kareem Mortimer Kareem Mortimer is a Bahamian director of narrative films, documentaries, music videos, commercials and experimental films. He believes in creating unique, powerful and beautiful images that resonate with audiences long after being seen. His films have been distributed in 40 countries with airings on PBS, Aspire, Showtime, NBC, Logo and Canal 22. His feature films include “Cargo” and “Children of God”; television shows include “Hip-Hop Nation: Notes from the Underground”, “The Electronic Lounge”, “This Is Paradise” and “Extraordinary Cuisine”. Over the course of his career, Kareem has won over 35 awards for his work, including two Icon Awards and an African Movie Academy Award. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab. He served as curator of the film programme at The Island House Cinema for five years and creative director of The Island House Film Festival for three years.
documentary jury
Jonathan Ali Jonathan Ali is a film curator and programmer. Based in London, he is director of programming for Third Horizon Film Festival in Miami, Florida. He is a programme consultant for Sheffield DocFest and London’s Open City Documentary Festival; a programmer for the experimental Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival in Scotland; and a programmer for the international features section of Tribeca Film Festival. He is a member of Criterion’s Curatorial Advisory Board and the UK’s Independent Cinema Office’s Screening Days Advisory Group. Previously, he had programming roles at London’s East End Film Festival, trinidad+tobago film festival and TIFF. He is co-founder of The Twelve30 Collective, which screens Caribbean cinema in the UK, and is a 2021 Flaherty Seminar Fellow.
Selwyn Jacob Selwyn Jacob joined the National Film Board’s BC & Yukon Studio in 1997 and went on to produce over 50 NFB films. His many credits include “Crazywater”, directed by Inuvialuit filmmaker Dennis Allen; “Hue: A Matter of Colour”, directed by Vic Sarin and “Mighty Jerome”, written and directed by Charles Officer. Jacob’s most recent feature documentary credits include Mina Shum’s “Ninth Floor” about the infamous Sir George Williams Riot of 1969, which was selected for TIFF’s 2015 annual top ten list of Best Canadian Films, and Baljit Sangra’s “Because We Are Girls”, exploring the impact of sexual abuse on a conservative Indo-Canadian family living in small-town British Columbia. Selwyn retired from the NFB in June, 2019. Selwyn has since returned to the private sector as an independent producer/director.
Karen McMullen Karen McMullen is a features programmer at Tribeca Film Festival and DOC NYC Film Festival, director of programming at the TIDE Film Festival, and screens for Sundance Film Festival. She’s a juror at the Pan African and Bentonville Film Festivals, Black Public Media and the Cinema Eye Honors. She moderates live and virtual filmmaker Q+As and panels for the African Film Festival, Pure Nonfiction, Netflix, NYWIFT, Women Make Movies and HBO screenings. She’s a frequent guest speaker on television, radio and at filmmaking organisations. A Brown University graduate, McMullen is a post-production professor at Long Island University. She has picture and sound editing credits on features, documentaries, and short films.
new media jury
Dr. Daniela Fifi Dr. Daniela Fifi is an art educator and curator who has worked in museums and galleries in the Caribbean and US. She is the former chief curator at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and former curatorial specialist at The National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a doctoral graduate in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, New York and a Master of Arts in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester, UK. Her doctoral research focuses on Caribbean art and intercultural programming in museums. Daniela has been awarded several fellowships and awards during her career including the New York State Assembly, Caribbean Life Impact Award; the Museum Education Research Fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Samuel H. Kress Interpretive Fellowship. She is currently the managing editor of Small Axe Visualities: A Caribbean Platform for Criticism, a project of the Small Axe Journal and also serves on the peer-review board for Viewfinder and The Art Education Journal, journals of the National Art Education Association (USA).
Zak Ové Zak Ové is a British/Caribbean artist with a multidisciplinary practice across sculpture, film and photography. His work is informed, in part, by the history and lore carried through the African diaspora to the Caribbean, Britain and beyond, with particular focus on traditions of masking and masquerade as tools of self emancipation. Ové’s solo presentation “The Invisible Man and The Masque of Blackness” – 40 sculptures exhibited alongside works by Rodin – was on view in the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden at LACMA, Los Angeles, CA from (2019). Ové has presented solo sculpture installations in the Great Hall at the British Museum, London, UK; San Francisco Civic Centre, San Francisco, CA; Forecourt of Somerset House, London; The Ford Foundation, NY; The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; and The Slavery Museum, Liverpool among others. Ové’s work features in a number of museum collections, as well as in private foundations, including the British Museum, London; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida and many others. He curated the seminal and widely-acclaimed exhibition, “Get up, Stand up now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers” at Somerset House, London in 2019.
Oneika Russell Oneika Russell is a Jamaican artist whose current art practice focuses on investigating the trope of the othered native within the paradigm of “paradise” and tourism industries. Her current work borrows imagery, techniques, and formats from the culture of craft and souvenir-making in the Caribbean, such as wall hangings, postcards and gift items. The objects and videos made explore how Afro-based figurative imagery is used as a tool in presenting culture and people as consumable products. The imagery created also investigates the role of trade, migration and unofficial economies as direct influencers of how representation occurs. Russell’s major presentations include “At the Crossroads: Critical Film and Video from the Caribbean” at Perez Museum of Art Miami in 2016 and the 2018 Dakar Biennial.
student films jury
Carver Bacchus Carver Bacchus has worked as a communications consultant since 2008 and has created documentaries, animations, corporate videos and communications programmes for a wide range of clients, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme, The German Embassy, Port of Spain, The University of the West Indies and the Institute of Marine Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the founder and managing director of Sustain T&T, a not-for-profit focused on environmental and economic sustainability education. He is also the founder and festival director of Green Screen, the Environmental Film Festival, the only environmental and sustainability-themed film festival in the English-speaking Caribbean. Carver holds a BSc in Communications and has other specialist training including a Diploma in Motion Picture Directing, a Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communication for Behavioral Impact in Health and Social Development (COMBI) and the Scrum Master I designation.
Asha Lovelace Asha Lovelace made her directing debut with the short film, “George and the Bicycle Pump”,then produced and directed the feature film, “Joebell and America”, based on a short story by her father, renowned writer Earl Lovelace. A former lecturer at the University of the West Indies, part of Lovelace’s focus has been on developing a more distinct Caribbean vision and aesthetic in film. Founder/festival director of Africa Film Trinidad and Tobago (AFTT), Asha is also the regional secretary for the Caribbean diaspora of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI).
Annette Nias Annette Niasis film commissioner with the National Cultural Foundation in Barbados. For the past five decades she has played roles which include performer, director, producer and stage manager at many concerts, plays, musicals, festivals, fashion shows, film and television productions, etc., in Barbados and abroad. Nias functioned in several arts development and technical/production capacities with the National Cultural Foundation from its inception in 1983 until 2015, when she was appointed Film Commissioner with the Cultural Industries Development Authority.
in competition: documentary features and shorts
We are pleased to announce the short and feature length documentary films in competition at ttff/21. Films in juried competitions are rigorously discussed and dissected before being selected by the programming team, and must be unanimously agreed by the five programmers.
ttff/21 punches above its weight in second year online
For immediate release
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, 3 September 2021 – On Wednesday 1 September 2021, trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) held a virtual press conference for its 16th edition, which officially starts on September 22, 2021. The festival, which has played an essential role in providing a platform for Caribbean filmmakers to screen their projects, joined with established corporate partners to announce the highly anticipated online activities – film screenings, workshops, and masterclasses hosted by industry veterans.
At the press conference, Lisa Burkett, Manager of Corporate Communications – National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC), highlighted the thirteen-year sponsorship of ttff by the energy company as one that is appreciated and necessary to support the film industry. “Our films tell our stories; they support livelihoods and add value to our economy; they package our culture into a commodity we can share. We are extremely proud of the groundbreaking work the ttff has done since its inception to promote and preserve our local culture, and to give our storytellers and creative visionaries a platform to be seen and heard,” Burkett said. Other notable sponsors and partners on board with ttff/21, include Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited, Republic Bank Limited (RBL), the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) FilmTT and the US Embassy in Port of Spain.
With a packed schedule of 120 films and 22 industry events to be held online, ttff/21 plans to exceed expectations for the annual event, even during these challenging Covid-19 times. Creative online solutions have been designed for audiences to be safe and comfortable while watching films that might not be seen anywhere else.
The Opening Night of the festival will consist of premieres of ‘Candela’ by accomplished filmmaker and video artist, Andrés Farías, from the Dominican Republic, and ‘Mano Santa’by multi-winning awardee Stephanie Camacho Casillas from Puerto Rico. Audiences can also expect a retrospective of 6 films in tribute to vanguard Trinidad and Tobago director and photographer, Horace Ové, with screenings of some of his most recognised and groundbreaking work, such as King Carnival and Pressure. ‘Limin Live’ – one-on-one talk sessions with industry personalities from across the region, will also be a one-of-a-kind activity for film enthusiasts. Additionally, two prize categories – Jury Prizes and Special Awards, will be included in this year’s competition.
be on our youth jury!
The trinidad+tobago film festival is giving six young people an opportunity of a lifetime! If you’re between the ages of 16 and 21 (inclusive), here’s your chance to apply to be a member of the ttff/21 Youth Jury and help select the winning film for the 2021 Youth Jury Award, which will be presented during the Festival in September.
Applications are open to young people who are interested in, and wish to develop, a critical appreciation of independent film. Applicants must be either TT citizens, residents, or based in Trinidad and Tobago for at least one year prior to application. Prospective jury members must apply by writing an essay of no more than 450 words, saying what their favourite movie is and why. Applicants must also provide their name, date of birth, gender, citizenship, residence and school or occupation.
Applications should be sent to: hello@ttfilmfestival.com (subject line: Youth Jury Application). Successful applicants under the age of 18 years will be required to have written consent from a parent or guardian in order to participate in this programme.
The deadline for application submission had been extended to 4pm on 04 September.
Five selected jury members and one alternate will meet online during the ttff/21, under the guidance of experienced film critic B.C. Pires, to view a selection of films dealing with themes and issues affecting young people.
After viewing all the films in competition, the ttff/21 Youth Jury will choose the winning film and the director of this film will receive an award.
