TT Film Festival 2021: View online in comfort

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“Audiences are now more comfortable than ever accessing their visual entertainment through online platforms. Our task now is to create a taste for local and regional programming in an easily accessible form, ultimately with the aim of having viewers comfortable with using a paywall for access to allow for income streams for our hard-working local and regional filmmakers.” Derwin Howell, Chairman of FILMCO, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) welcomes viewers to the annual TT Film Festival 2021 #watchmeh which was opened on Tuesday, September 21, 2021.

This year, screenings and programme of industry events are held online. Online schedule comprise daily premieres of films which are available only on the premiere date and for 24 hours from the time you start watching. You can start watching the film at any time (at your convenience) on the premiere date. All online films are available through the website, ttfilmfestival.com. Screenings are subject to change, so check the website before attending.

Caribbean neighbours and TT Film Festival

Howell states, “Our 2021 Industry programme rosters 20+ events, beneficial to filmmakers at all stages of their careers, and we will be livestreaming many panels and presentations on Facebook and YouTube to facilitate as wide an audience as possible. Being online again this year allows us to extend another invitation to our Caribbean neighbours to join us to watch films and to participate in our industry events.”

Thanks to sponsors of TT Film Festival

The chairman pays thanks: “It is a stark truth that the film festival business could not exist without the financial assistance of sponsors and partners. This year we are fortunate to have the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) as our Signature sponsor.

“We are grateful for the continuing support of Republic Bank Limited and Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited who return as Leading sponsors. Our Contributing sponsors are National Lotteries Control Board, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, with the Sport and Culture Fund (OPM) as our Supporting sponsor. We also thank our programming partners, FilmTT, the US Embassy, FIFAC, CinéMartinique and the Mexican Embassy.

“We’ve worked hard to put together an engaging catalogue of films and a world-class industry programme of panels, presentations, workshops and masterclasses! Join us at www.ttfilmfestival.com for ttff/21 to watch lots of movies and to get to know some of the movers and shakers in local, regional and global visual storytelling!”

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

Caribbean

The Caribbean section comprises feature-length films from the Caribbean, the diaspora, and films by international filmmakers made in and about the region.

African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey

Director: Roy T Anderson

2021/ United States of America

Documentary feature/ 86 minutes

World premiere

Known as the ‘Negro Moses’, Marcus Mosiah Garvey arrived on the scene on 17 August, 1887 in the tiny seaside town of St Ann’s Bay on the northern coast of Jamaica, fifty-three years after slavery was abolished in that country. In his short life he would become the world’s foremost Pan-Africanist. In “African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey” award-winning director, Roy T Anderson, peels back all the layers in his presentation of this controversial and often misunderstood figure.

Akilla’s Escape

Director: Charles Officer

2020/ Canada

Narrative feature/ 90 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Akilla’s Escape” weaves the present and past in a crime noir about the urban child soldier. Set in Toronto and New York where over 450,000 Jamaicans reside, the story speaks to the historical criminalisation of black boys that modern society overlooks. Akilla Brown is forty years old and for the first time in his life, the clandestine cannabis growing operation he runs is legit. But only a year into government-approved legalisation, the pendulum of hypocrisy has taken its toll and Akilla decides to cash out.

Between Fire and Water

Director: Viviana Gómez Echeverry

2020/ Columbia

Documentary feature/ 92 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Camilo is the adopted son of an indigenous couple of the Quillasinga tribe in the southwest of Colombia. He is the only black person in his community and has always felt different. For years he has wondered who his biological parents are. During a transcendent experience, Camilo has visions of his biological mother, after which he decides to embark on a journey in search of his origins. For the first time in his life, Camilo discovers his afro heritage and meets the black community.

Dentro da Minha Pele (In My Skin)

Directors: Toni Venturi + Val Gomes 2020/ Brazil

Documentary feature/ 86 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A doctor mistaken for a thief. A cleaning lady treated as a slave. A mother who has lost her son murdered by the police. A trans employee who is never promoted. What do they have in common? The colour of their skin. “Dentro da Minha Pele” (“In My Skin”) is an exploration of Brazil’s deep-rooted racism.

Atardi: The Life of Curaçao’s Musical Genius Rudy Plaate

Director: Selwyn de Wind 2020/ Curaçao

Documentary feature/ 120 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Filmmaker Selwyn de Wind is on a journey to find out all that he can about Rudy Plaate, Curaçao’s most popular singer/ songwriter of all time. But what happens when the subject suffers from dementia and is no longer able to tell his own story? Filmed over a four-year period, the documentary traces the highs and lows of the life and work of music legend Rudy Plaate. “Atardi” is a music-driven documentary that taps into the styles and heritage of Curaçao’s musical evolution.

Bantú Mama

Director: Ivan Herrera 2020/ Dominican Republic

Narrative feature/ 77 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

A French woman of African descent manages to escape after being arrested in the Dominican Republic. She finds shelter in the most dangerous district of Santo Domingo, where she is taken in by a group of children. By becoming their protégée and maternal figure, she will see her destiny change.

El Último Out (The Last Out)

Directors: Sami Khan + Michael Gassert 2020/ United States of America

Documentary feature/ 87 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In a quiet corner of San José, Costa Rica, three Cuban baseball players train: Happy, Carlos, and Victor. Here at the rundown Estadio Antonio Escarré, they have spent the past year training long and hard, thousands of miles away from their families in Cuba. They left with dreams of signing multi-million dollar contracts and becoming famous baseball superstars. Set against the backdrop of the dangerous Central American migrant trail, “The Last Out” offers a rare window into the dark side of professional sports.

Entre Perro y Lobo (Between Dog and Wolf)

Director: Irene Gutiérrez 2021/ Spain

Documentary feature/ 75 minutes

In the climate of change in today’s Cuba, three forgotten veterans of the Angolan War are reluctant to abandon the revolutionary spirit which brought them together as comrades. Marching to the top of the mountains, they continue to train, dressed in their old uniforms, just as they did over thirty years ago. Day after day, they take part in this ritual, as they attempt to return to a time when they felt young, strong and respected. They are the last Samurai of the Cuban Revolution.

Hoy

Director: Ricardo B’atz’ 2020/ El Salvador

Narrative feature/ 68 minutes

In the capital of El Salvador, the drivers of a bus, a taxi, a minibus and a private car confront the ravages of twelve years of civil war that continue to torment the country.

Le Lien Qui Nous Unit (The Tie That Binds Us)

Director: Pélagie Serge Poyotte 2021/ French Guiana

Narrative feature/ 109 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Somewhere on a road in Guyana, Solange and her father Paul are hitch-hiking. They are trying to reconnect after many years of silence, but the road is difficult.

The Mali−Cuba Connection: Africa Mia

Directors: Richard Minier + Edouard Salier 2019/ France

Documentary feature/ 81 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In the midst of the Cold War, ten promising young musicians from Mali were sent to Cuba to study music and strengthen cultural links between the two socialist countries. Combining Malian and Afro-Cuban influences, they developed a revolutionary new sound and became the iconic ensemble, Las Maravillas de Mali. New Year’s Eve 2000: Richard Minier, a French music producer meets a former member of the band in Bamako and decides to bring the band back together.

Monchoachi, La Parole Sovaj (Monchoachi, An Untamed Wor(l)d)

Director: Arlette Pacquit 2020/ Martinique

Documentary feature/ 68 minutes

World premiere

Retired from the world and living in the foothills of the Mount Vauclin in Martinique, Monchoachi writes every afternoon after his morning walk in the forests of the island. Poet (he says that one should pronounce this word while trembling), philosopher and essayist, he tries to build a thought that he claims to be wild. A thought detached from the occident, therefore eminently free. Many have drawn from his work a strength of resistance, creation and survival in the face of the violence of contemporary society.

Liborio

Director: Nino Martínez Sosa 2021/ Dominican Republic

Narrative feature/ 99 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In the early 20th century, Liborio, a peasant, disappears in a hurricane and returns as a prophet. He says he’s been given a mission: to bring the good and take away the evil, curing the sick and teaching by example. People begin to congregate by his side and they move to the mountains to have total freedom and develop the dream of an independent community. Everything changes when invading US Marines want to disarm and disband the community. Liborio wants to avoid a confrontation but knows that they can’t run forever.

Negra

Director: Medhin Tewolde Serrano 2020/ Mexico

Documentary feature/ 71 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

I was about seven years old the first time someone called me “black” on the street. I turned around to see who they were talking to, then I realised it was me. That day I understood I was black, and the laughter it caused among the people nearby made me think being a black person wasn’t that great. Was this only happening to me? Or did it happen to other black women? “Negra” explores what it means to inhabit Mexico as a black woman. It tells the story of five afro-descendant women from southern Mexico, exposing racism, resistance and processes of self-acceptance, and the celebration of their identity.

Option Zero

Director: Marcel Beltrán 2020/ Cuba

Documentary feature/ 80 minutes

Caribbean premiere

The journey of a group of Cuban migrants stalls in Panama City. Stranded in a Caritas camp, the memory of the difficult passage through the jungle of the Darién Gap comes to life on their cell phones.

Perfume de Gardenias (Perfume of Gardenias)

Director: Macha Colón 2021/ Puerto Rico

Narrative feature/ 103 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A dark comedy, “Perfume de Gardenias” (“Perfume of Gardenias”) tells the story of Isabel, an elderly woman living in a middle-class neighbourhood in Puerto Rico. She has just become a widow having cared for her husband until his last breath. But her recent loss becomes a blessing when she crafts a beautiful, custom-made funeral for him that catches the attention of Toña, a pious but domineering woman who involves herself in local funerals. She enlists Isabel to put her unusual talents to good use designing custom, idiosyncratic funerals for her ailing neighbours.

Right Near the Beach

Director: Gibrey Allen 2020/ Jamaica

Narrative feature/ 80 minutes

Caribbean premiere

When prominent Jamaican sprinter Jeffrey Jacobs is brutally murdered, rumours about the secret life he may have lived create public uproar, causing problems for the murder investigation and for Jeffrey’s father, who simply wants justice for his son. Filmed on location with a Jamaican cast, “Right Near the Beach” is an authentic case study of a country that continues to face the consequences of its turbulent past while trying to confront the new realities of sexuality and equality.

SteelPan Now! Notes on Where Pan Gone

Directors: Ryan Saunders + Aaron Astillero 2021/ United States of America

Documentary feature/ 60 minutes

World premiere

“SteelPan Now! Notes on Where Pan Gone” peers into the current world of the steel pan – its players, its innovators and the music that reverberates from this versatile instrument – to find answers to the question that many in Trinidad often ask, “Where pan gone?” The documentary follows several steel pan pioneers, inventors, players, composers, arrangers and pan makers across several cities in the US to present both a musical experience and a historical document that reveals the personal stories of these practitioners, sharing the determination, skill, and virtuosity of the pannist wherever the instrument is found.

WHY SCREEN GLASSES

We live totally surrounded by screens, spending almost nine hours a day, on average, in front of digital devices. All these devices emit blue light, and since our eyes aren’t protected against this overexposure, the light can be detrimental.

Vals de Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Waltz)

Director: Tatiana Fernández Geara 2021/ Dominican Republic

Documentary feature/ 76 minutes

World premiere

Three teen ballet students – Raymundo, Angel and Victor – are the only boys in a class of twenty. In a country where dance is largely considered an activity for women, they are determined to follow their dreams and challenge traditional gender roles. Like a waltz, music played in triple time, the three boys move through Santo Domingo while confronting, and sometimes abiding by, the Dominican machismo culture.

Subjects of Desire

Director: Jennifer Holness 2021/ Canada

Documentary feature/ 102 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Subjects of Desire” explores the cultural shift in North American beauty standards towards embracing Black female aesthetics and features, while exposing the deliberate and often dangerous portrayals of Black women in the media. Told from the point of view of women who aren’t afraid to challenge conventional beauty standards, the film is partially set at the 50th Anniversary of the Miss Black America Pageant, a beauty pageant created as a political protest. “Subjects of Desire” deconstructs what we understand about race and the power behind beauty.

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This Ain’t Normal

Director: Rudy Hypolite 2019/ USA

Documentary feature/ 101 minutes

“This Ain’t Normal” follows the lives of gang-involved youth and young adults in the high impact crime neighborhoods of inner-city Boston, the youth advocacy street and social workers tasked with helping transform their lives, and the organisations attempting to provide the bridges to opportunity. Told primarily through the point of view of gang involved youth/young adults, entangled in the intractable violence of inner-city Boston, the film examines the individual motives behind those perpetrating violence, the culture and circumstances that precipitate these behaviors and the staff of StreetSafe Boston, who are on the frontline, delivering interventions in an effort to prevent violence.

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

Panorama

The Panorama section consists of short and feature-length films from World cinema. The films in this section come from North America, Latin America, Europe, India and Africa.

Ahlan wa Sahlan

Director: Lucas Vernier 2020/ France

Panorama/ 94 minutes

Caribbean Premiere

In 2009, Lucas Vernier left for Syria taking with him his camera and the photographs taken by his grandfather when he was a member of the Camel Corps during the French Mandate. As a diligent young filmmaker, he generously records his journey, reconstructs his grandfather’s route and connects to the descendants of his friends. In 2011 the film changes course, and the quest to find a vanished ancestor becomes a race towards what will soon disappear.

Al-Sit

Director: Suzannah Mirghani 2020/ Sudan

Panorama/ 20 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother, Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future. But can Nafisa choose for herself?

Climate Exodus

Director: David Baute 2020/ Spain

Panorama/ 63 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Having lost everything because of climate change, three women from different countries and continents, Kenya, India and the Caribbean – have to migrate to start new lives.

Deux Options (Two Options)

Director: Gon Caride 2020/ France

Narrative short/ 9 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In France, the country of “freedom, equality and fraternity”; in this new Europe without borders, besieged by fear and intolerance, a Polish immigrant will have to face the reality of racism. “Two Options” was written, shot and edited in just five days at an International Filmmakers Laboratory in France.

Dibujos Contra Las Balas (Drawings Against Bullets)

Director: Alicia Calderón 2020/ Mexico

Panorama/ 90 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Women who live in Ciudad Juárez organise safe havens for children in some of the most violent neighborhoods in Mexico. There, Diana, Joseph and Gael seek out the freedom that they once had on the streets, and try to heal the wounds that the violence of organised crime has inflicted on them. “Drawings Against Bullets” is a loving depiction of the search for peace in Mexico.

La Revolucion y los Artistas

Director: Gabriel Retes 2018/ Mexico

Panorama/ 110 minutes

Presented in partnership with the Mexican Embassy In the 1920s, the golden age of Mexican art, romance brews between the painters and writers Dr Atl and Nahui Olin. Meanwhile Jose Vasconcelos founds the Ministry of Education and calls on every intellectual in the country to support his project, and President Alvaro Obregon, who feels devotion for intellectuals, allows one of the most important cultural crusades of our history. During this transition stage, in which a liberal atmosphere starts to accept homosexuality, divorce and women’s vote, several of our protagonists fall in love within a whirl of ideas, passions, political and ideological propositions.

Sapelo

Director: Nick Brandestini 2020/ Switzerland

Documentary feature/ 91 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

“Sapelo” journeys within a unique American island to tell the story of Cornelia Walker Bailey, its matriarchal griot, and her adopted sons who are coming of age in the last remaining enclave of the Saltwater Geechee people.

Elder’s Corner

Director: Siji Awoyinka 2020/ Nigeria

Panorama/ 96 minutes

Caribbean premiere

From the colorful, celebratory sounds of Juju to the politicised urgency of Afrobeat, Nigerian musicians have spearheaded some of Africa’s most prominent musical movements. Oftentimes, their work formed the backdrop against which the nation blossomed. So what happened to these pioneering artists who rose to prominence during the country’s halcyon years and continued to endure when it faltered?

¡La Macha!

Director: Claudia Chabot 2021/ Costa Rica

Panorama/ 55 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“¡La Macha!” introduces Nadia on a stretch of her journey, cycling with her partner Sébastien around the world, using their art as their livelihood.

The Soul of a Cyclist

Director: Nuno Tavares 2020/ Portugal

Documentary feature/ 73 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Through a group of “classic” cyclists and their common interest in the classic bicycle, “The Soul of a Cyclist” discovers values that are being lost in our modern society, such as the importance of friendship, ecology, valuing the old, minimalism and other important ways to achieve a happier, simpler and more fulfilled life with the things that matter. As in life, in this documentary, bicycles transport us in our discovery, in our reflection.

Variety

Director: Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi 2021/ Canada

Documentary medium/ 45 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Variety” is a documentary about choice, or more accurately, the lack of choice when faced with the reality of having too much choice. The over-abundance of variety in any given consumer product has negative effects on both the consumer and the world at large. Motivated by frustration, filmmaker Ramin Eshraghi[1]Yazdi attempts to understand variety and find a way to navigate the pitfalls of excessive choice.

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

Short and medium length

This section comprises films under 30 minutes in length (shorts) and films between 30 and 59 minutes in length (medium-length films) from the Caribbean and its diaspora.

The 1938 Unrest

Director: Justin-Paul Williams 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short/ 6 minutes

World premiere

“The 1938 Unrest” is based on the labour disturbances which took place in Jamaica in May 1938. These spontaneous labour riots and strikes spread islandwide. The film captures the emotions of the protagonist, determined to create significant change by advocating on behalf of other workers for the improvement of working conditions.

1979, Hmong from Javouhey

Director: François Gruson 2020/ French Guiana

Documentary medium/ 52 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Having hastily left their Laotian mountains to take refuge in camps in Thailand and flee the communist regime, the Hmong were welcomed into French Guiana. Now, 40 years later, how have the Hmong fared in their small village in western French Guiana? And how do they see the future?

407 jou (407 days)

Director: Éléonore Coyette 2020/ Haiti

Documentary short/ 7 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Lintho’s life merges with that of his puppets. The puppet of a story he did not write, but of which he is the toy. With grace, he makes his paper characters move to tell of the inhumanity of Haitian jails.

Becky

Director: Nicola Cross 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short/ 13 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Becky” is an unexpectedly uplifting story about a Kenyan woman’s resilience on her journey to feeling complete.

Beguiling Visions

Director: Emile A. Mena 2021/ Belize

Narrative short/ 6 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

William is writing a novel, but he is having trouble figuring out how to end it. He looks up and notices a good-looking girl walking by. William gazes at her and this introduces a dream sequence. The girl’s name is Elaine. William tells her about the writing problem he is having and she is interested and tells him to follow her. But where?

Blue Hour

Director: Zoe Miranda 2020/ Cuba

Narrative short /15 minutes Mariano visits the hospital for a prostate exam. China is waiting for the body of her dead husband. They have seen each other in the neighbourhood before. She craves a shot of rum to forget, and he has been waiting for an opportunity to get closer to her. They spend the afternoon together and, as night falls, Mariano makes a proposal that lets them imagine a different life.

A Pasi Fu Romeo (Romeo’s Road)

Director: Keoni K. Wright 2021/ Suriname

Documentary short/ 22 minutes

World premiere

From the local Surinamese tongue, “A Pasi Fu Romeo” can be translated as either “Romeo’s Road” or “Romeo’s Passion”. The double meaning is appropriate when describing the passionate road the film’s main subject, Romeo Koffymaga, has taken to become an emerging Maroon voice in the fight against logging practices.

Alma

Director: Lorraine Jones Molina 2021/ Puerto Rico

Narrative short/ 15 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Inspired by true events, “Alma” is the story of a single mother who works as a cock fight trainer and is caught in the throes of an abusive relationship. One morning she goes out for a run, never to return. As someone prays for her, life and death converge through memories.

Batchack Man: The Power Of The Herbalist

Director: Keyon Byron 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative medium/ 54 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

The action film “Batchack Man” is Trinidad’s unique answer to Batman. The un-caped (but often masked) crusader from the Land of Calypso fights crime and injustice using super powers derived from some form of super-powered bachac, the large ferocious ant found in Trinidad.

Born To Be Great

Director: Oliver Hill 2021/ Jamaica

Documentary medium/ 37 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

“Born To Be Great” reveals how the lives of 12 young men and women from underserved communities across Jamaica were transformed under the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), a social intervention project carried out between 2000 and 2020.

Buscando Ana Veldford (Searching for AnaVeldford)

Director: Ronald Baez 2021/ USA

Documentary short/ 5 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A middle-aged mother of two reflects on her emotional decision to emigrate to the United States some 30 years earlier, in this reflective documentary short that borrows its title from a uniquely powerful poem by the legendary exiled Cuban writer, Lourdes Casal.

Cheesecake

Director: Jabari Daniel 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 10 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Brian Francis, a well-dressed man with stylish dreadlocks, tries to charm his way into an exclusive yet mysterious brotherhood called ‘The Alpha Society’. He seems to have a foot in the door. That is, until he’s faced with two major obstacles – the admission fee and the next-day deadline.

Custódia (Custody)

Director: Vinicius Sassine 2021/ Brazil

Documentary short/ 25 minutes

World premiere

Icaro and Valesca are arrested after being caught selling chocolate bonbons. After being imprisoned for months, they try to get some control over their fates.

Disruptor Conductor

Director: Sharon Lewis 2019/ Canada

Documentary medium/ 42 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Unlikely hero Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser is on a mission to create live orchestral shows that aren’t just for the rich and fancy. One of the first openly gay black conductors in Canada, Bartholomew-Poyser wants to break down institutional walls and bring live orchestral music to anyone who identifies as ‘other’.

Dominica: Three Years After Hurricane Maria

Director: Derek Galon 2020/ Dominica

Documentary short/ 7 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Three years after the devastating hurricane, Dominica looks refreshed and, in some places, better than before, surprising many with the speed of nature’s recovery and the resilience of its people.

Dorlis

Director: Enricka Moutou 2021/ Martinique

Narrative short/ 25 minutes

Caribbean premiere

15-year-old Nora from Martinique, follows her mother Laure and sister Melissa to live for a while with her grandfather Henri, who is paralysed from a stroke. They move in to help him. But very quickly, the atmosphere of the house and the presence of Henri awaken in Nora memories that will be embodied in fear of the attack of an evil spirit …

The Forgotten Boys

Director: Alexandra Warner 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary medium/ 43 minutes

Caribbean premiere

The stories of three strangers, Darrem, Cornelius and Jahmai, collectively depict the realities and struggles of the various stages of incarceration. An exploration of the intergenerational impacts of mass incarceration, the thread linking the young men is a prison-based English class and debate team taught and developed by Trinidadian journalist, Debbie Jacob.

Galavant

Director: Alexander Johnson 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 2 minutes

World premiere

While self-quarantined at home, a young man is sent a link to a glitchy supernatural app. He tries to use it as a way to escape lockdown.

Écoutez le Battement de Nos Images (Listen to the Beat of Our Images)

Directors: Maxime Jean-Baptiste + Audrey Jean-Baptiste 2021/ French Guiana

Documentary short/15 minutes

Sixty years ago, France decided to establish its space center in Kourou, French Guiana, expropriating 600 Guianese people to allow France to realise its dream of space conquest. Combining field investigation and archival video-editing this film gives voice to a population made silent and invisible.

Elena

Director: Michèle Stephenson 2021/ Dominican Republic/ Haiti

Documentary short / 29 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Because of their Haitian ancestry, Elena and her family have lost their Dominican citizenship. She must negotiate an opaque bureaucracy in a racist, hostile society, or else remain stateless in a country intent on deporting its darker-skinned citizens.

Firelei Báez: An Open Horizon (or) the Stillness of a Wound

Director: Souki Mehdaoui 2021/ United States of America

Documentary short/ 8 minutes

Born in the Dominican Republic and working in New York City, artist Firelei Báez’s paintings of dramatically shapeshifting figures assert the power of the female form, challenging fundamental ideas around beauty and Caribbean history. the film follows the Báez as she creates new paintings in her Bronx studio.

Hang Jack

Director: Shane Lee Kit 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 12 minutes

World premiere

Lucia, a Venezuelan immigrant, works at Jack’s Guest House, a private brothel in Trinidad. Sam, a frequent client, finds out that Lucia has become pregnant by him. When Sam learns that Jack the pimp will not allow them to keep the baby, he begins to plan their escape – which revolves around a make-or-break game of all fours.

Ikarus

Director: Shaun Escayg 2020/ United States

Narrative short/ 17 minutes

Teenage scavengers Queen and her older brother Birdie are on their usual hustle of hunting down cargo drones. Unbeknownst to Birdie, Queen has navigated the pair onto new paths, in the hope of landing the ultimate payload, nanobiotics. Queen’s plans go awry when her brother is shot and she must hunt these very nanobiotics on her own, if she’s to save her brother’s life.

IntranQu’îllités

Director: Ed Owles 2019/ United Kingdom

Documentary short/ 20 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Lyrically narrated by award-winning Haitian poet, James Noël, the film interweaves the work of several Haitian artists who want to redefine how their nation is perceived. It portrays the polyphony and energy of the contemporary Haitian art scene, presenting a more nuanced, complex and local perspective than is often heard or seen in mainstream media.

It’s Just a Lil’ Wine?

Director: Ryan Lee 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary medium/ 55 minutes

When dance is life, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep moving. You see dancers on stage, but what goes on when the lights go down and the crowds are gone? Hear their stories, in their own words. Witness an unfiltered look into the dance world in Trinidad and Tobago.

Junior

Director: AJ Wilhelm 2020/ Haiti

Documentary short/ 11 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Gifted as a teenager, Jérôme “Junior” Simeon was recruited by top Haitian roots music group Racine Mapou de Azor and spent 20 years touring the world. When the lead singer of his band dies unexpectedly, Junior’s high-profile career comes to a shocking halt and he suddenly faces an uncertain future.

Killing Columbus

Directors: Yasha Hanoomansingh + David Parris 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative medium/ 30 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Donny, a middle-aged, struggling and defeated painter returns to Trinidad sponsored by Anya, a former protégé, after failing to find success abroad. He is offered work by an anonymous client to paint a portrait of Christopher Columbus. Out of a need for financial independence from Anya but against his values, he accepts the job, but is paid more than money as Christopher Columbus is reborn from the painting in human form.

Lovena

Director: Olivier Sagne 2020/ French Guiana

Narrative short/ 28 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Lovena has become French Guiana’s chess champion – a double-edged sword for a Haitian teenaged illegal immigrant.

Love in Seven Movements

Director: Juliette McCawley 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 14 minutes

World premiere

Boy meets girl. They fall in love. But will what has brought them together, tear them apart? One love story told by two couples.

Madame Pipi

Director: Rachelle Salnave 2021/ United States of America

Documentary short/ 25 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Haitian female bathroom attendants working in the nightclubs of Miami are relatively invisible, underpaid and underappreciated. Their stories are a journey of triumph as they navigate their patrons’ personalities for tips. Despite the rising cost of living and the uncertainty of Covid-19 shutting down nightlife in Miami, their remittances – coupled with larger contributions from the wider Haitian diaspora, fuel more than one third of the GDP of Haiti.

La Dama Blanca (The White Lady)

Director: Guus de Sain 2021/ Curaçao

Narrative medium/ 30 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

La Dama’s longing for her lost love is what keeps this once famous and grand actress going. What is life worth without these memories? They are the only place where she can find him every day. But her butler Sancho, who cares deeply for her, is troubled by this daily ritual and thinks it’s time for change. Will he be able to chase this ghost of the past out of La Dama’s mansion?

L’enfant Orange (The Orange Child)

Director: Alexandre Desane 2020/ France

Narrative short/ 12 minutes

Caribbean premiere

An actor seeks answers when he finds his childhood computer and discovers a video game he started creating when he was 11. In the game, he portrays himself as orange instead of Black.

Little Moko

Director: Miquel Galofré 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short/ 15 minutes

World premiere

Due to the global pandemic, Trinidad and Tobago had to cancel “the greatest show on Earth”. In 2021 we had no Carnival, but culture can’t be canceled. Featuring music by Freetown Collective, “Little Moko” follows Adianka’s journey to learn the art of stilt-walking.

Mal Nonm (Tuff Guy)

Director: Yannis Sainte-Rose 2021/ Martinique

Narrative short/ 23 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Following an inappropriate remark towards a woman, a young man finds himself plunged into a parallel world where he faces a series of catcalls and micro-attacks – the kind usually reserved for women!

Maybe One Day

Director: Riyadh Rahaman 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative Short/ 2 minutes

Caribbean premiere

For some, this past year has been the hardest of their lives. Stuck indoors, no contact with friends, constant sanitising with the fear of the virus always present. So many things we take for granted that we normally forget, but we must always remember to ask ourselves the question: What are we thankful for?

Murphy’s Law

Director: Vonley Smith 2019/ Barbados

Narrative short/ 11 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Two filmmakers, one actor, 48 hours to make a film. What could possibly go wrong? Follow the journey of two quick-witted filmmakers defying the odds while trying to overcome each new challenging situation.

Near-Death Experience

Director: Jil Servant 2020/ Martinique

Documentary medium/ 45 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Twenty years of making documentary films: the opportunity to have a party, to celebrate a huge career – mine. Years of sweating in the Caribbean is the summary of my life as a director. What was it for? Really, in hindsight, what was the point? 20 years of questions, 20 years of strange answers, 20 years to come up with a new film.

Nieuw Licht: Het Rijksmuseum en de Slavernij (New Light: the Rijksmuseum and Slavery)

Director: Ida Does 2021/ Netherlands

Documentary medium/ 57 minutes

Caribbean premiere

What happens when the leading national museum focuses its gaze on the history of slavery and the Netherlands? This is a highly topical documentary about the genesis of the Rijksmuseum’s slavery exhibition. This film shows – up close and personal – how painful and bitter, but at the same time healing and liberating, compiling the exhibition was. We see what it means when a museum reinvents itself.

Over-Flow

Director: Elizabeth Ramjit 2019/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short / 18 minutes

World premiere

In 2018 a succession of floods hit Trinidad and Tobago. “Over-Flow” is a firsthand account, by filmmaker Elizabeth Ramjit, of the devastation caused by these overbank and flash floods. The film explores accountability in T&T, where a lack of environmental regulations and a culture of littering exacerbates natural disasters.

Port of Spain, A Writer’s Heaven

Director: Dion Boucaud 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short / 27 minutes

Trinidadian actor and performer, Wendell Manwarren, leads a literary walking tour of Port of Spain. The city comes alive in new and unexpected ways when viewed through the lens of both classic and new works of Caribbean literature. This film was made as part of the 2021 NGC Bocas Lit Fest.

Projet H (Project H)

Director: Maharaki 2021/ Martinique

Narrative short/ 5 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

To rebuild Haiti, three soldiers put together a plan of crazy audacity.

Rafameia (Riff-Raff)

Directors: Mariah Teixeira + Nanda Félix 2020/ Brazil

Narrative short/ 24 minutes

Caribbean premiere

After feeling threatened by an appliance company delivery man, Carmen’s daily life becomes overrun by conflict and violence when she notices the other beings that inhabit her surroundings.

Party Done

Director: Ian Harnarine 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary medium/ 47 minutes

Caribbean premiere

The incidence of murders, robberies and other violent crimes has soared in Trinidad, leading to a massive change in the way that ordinary citizens live their lives. When a shocking daytime shooting happens, television personality Ian Alleyne uses anonymous tips from his audience to track down the suspect. Alleyne’s TV show, “Crime Watch”, is the most watched crime programme in T&T and the Caribbean. With unprecedented access to Alleyne, his crew and studio, “Party Done” is a portrait of a complicated man and a troubled nation.

The Passenger

Directors: Kirk Budhooram + Kavita Ganness 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 3 minutes

World premiere

What happens when a passenger refuses to wear a mask in a taxi during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Pavement Poets

Director: Elechi Todd 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 11 minutes

What is home to you? In “Pavement Poets”, some of Trinidad and Tobago’s top performance poets share their thoughts on what home and family mean to them. From our virtual pavements to you!

Scolopendres et Papillons (Centipedes and Butterflies)

Directors: Laurie Martin Hernandez + Vianney Sotes 2019/ France-Martinique

Documentary medium/ 52 minutes

Presented in partnership with FIFAC In Martinique, three women survivors of incest are trying to rebuild their lives. They speak out to break the silence around these crimes and explore their deep wounds. “Scolopendres et papillons” is an intimate look at the womens’ resilience. Like butterflies, bruised by ferocious centipede bites, each tries to spread her wings again…

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Sweet Rind

Director: Andre Wynter 2020/ Jamaica

Narrative short/ 26 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

Elsie holds Algie captive in the basement of her father’s unfinished church. Elsie administers heavy-handed punishment, juxtaposed with a lesson in Jamaican history, while she sews a quilt. She struggles with the notion of forgiveness. Ending his life seems easier. Furthermore, justice may not be served to her satisfaction by the penal system.

Uncontrol

Director: Manon de Reeper 2020/ United States of America

Narrative short/ 5 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A woman deep in the throes of psychosis has to face her inner demons.

UNT LES ORIGINES (UNT the origins)

Director: Christophe Yanuwana Pierre 2018/ French Guiana

Documentary medium/ 56 minutes

Presented in partnership with FIFAC Filmmaker Christophe Yanuwana Pierre’s journey to Talwakem (“the one who reflects” in the Wayana language) is a search for his identity. One of the Kali’na people, he grew up on the banks of the Maroni river in French Guiana. From Yalimapo beach, the place of the first meeting between his people and Europeans, to Tumuc Humac, his journey highlights his people’s connection to these lands.

UXO

Director: Margaret Mair 2020/ Puerto Rico

Documentary short/ 3 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

For over 60 years, the island of Vieques, part of Puerto Rico, was used as a bombing range and testing ground by the United States Navy. People have always lived on the island and years of mass protest and acts of civil disobedience led to the navy’s departure in 2003. Vieques was constantly in the news and part of the conversation. Now its inhabitants are left to cope with the aftermath of war – the years of cleanup by routinely detonating unexploded munitions in the open air.

Wendy Nanan

Director: Andil Gosine 2019/ Trinidad and Tobago

Documentary short/ 24 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Wendy Nanan” is a rare glimpse into the life and work of the groundbreaking Trinidadian artist, told in her own words. Sensitive to the artist’s reticence, the film follows Nanan’s creation of the sculptural work, “Breath”, as she recounts key moments in the development of her life and four-decades-plus practice in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Wrecked

Director: Marc Beepath 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative short/ 9 minutes

“Wrecked” explores the various stages of grief through a young man’s eyes. Trying to save his car after it’s damaged in an accident, he dives into dealing with a much deeper loss.

You Can’t Stop Spirit

Director: Vashni Korin

2021/ USA

Documentary short/ 15 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“You Can’t Stop Spirit” centres on the Baby Doll Mardi Gras masking tradition. Mardi Gras is the only day where social rank is abolished and everyone is equal. Against this backdrop, Black women experience a new freedom; one in which they are able to participate in nontraditional behaviors and practices without fear of critique. The Baby Dolls fearlessly pull a thread through time to reclaim culture, tradition and freedom, while challenging society’s perception of how Black women should act and exist in the world.

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

New media

The New Media section comprises avant garde and experimental film and video works from artists and filmmakers in the Caribbean and diaspora.

an affirmation

Artist: Ada M Patterson 2021/ Barbados

New media/ 2 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

“an affirmation” shares an experience of receiving gender-affirming care, by way of HRT (hormone replacement therapy). In a world that can be hostile to trans* bodies, life can feel like survival below the surface. Offering a slower, softer and subtler way of feeling closer to the vision of oneself, the experience of this care is likened to the ability of breathing underwater, where bodies shift and bend in the refraction of light and liquid.

Back in the Island

Artist: Amanda Valle 2021/ Dominican Republic

New media/ 4 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

“Back in the Island” explores the creative journey of artist, Amanda Valle, as she returns to her home in the Dominican Republic. Following an emotionally draining period, Amanda seeks comfort in the local culture by immersing herself in the colours and textures that were once so familiar. A journey of self-discovery, the film becomes the main source of inspiration for the artist’s new series of paintings.

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Berlin Loops: Savignyplatz

Artist: Jeffrey Moser 2021/ United States of America

New media/ 3 minutes

World premiere

“Berlin Loops” explores the visual architecture of the moving image. Using the continuous lateral movement created from filming from a moving train, the film trails and loops across the screen, revealing the passing landscape. The musical accompaniment is constructed from the original audio and created through the manipulation of delay-effect frequencies.

// Current state = true;

Artist: Laura Iancu 2021/ United States of America

New media/ 3 minutes

World premiere

Some memories are password[1]protected. Others always run without asking. Phantom sound bytes loop around the kitchen table, inside a house, in space.

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digital love (remix)

Artist: Raphaël Languillat 2020/ Germany

New media/ 5 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“digital love (remix)” is a neonwave audiovisual poem about love, desire and death bringing together an ambient remix of Daft Punk’s, “Digital Love”, with fragments of William Shakespeare’s erotic poem, “Venus and Adonis”.

Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved

Artist: Alicia Díaz 2020/ United States of America

New media/ 17 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond” is a dance film that combines biography, poetry, and ritual with the energy of live performance to bridge stories of resistance and liberation between Puerto Rico and Richmond, VA, USA. The film honours Black women tobacco workers in Richmond and Puerto Rican tobacco factory, readers and activists, Dominga de La Cruz Becerril (1909-1981) and Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922).

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Errantry

Artist: Simon Benjamin 2021/ Jamaica

New media/ 11 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

“Errantry” is a multi-channel video installation that centres the polyphonic rhythms of the coastal space, the surrounding Caribbean Sea, and the life sustained by them. Shot on location on the south coast of Jamaica with Fisherman and Painter, Tommy Wong.

Flight Path

Artist: Lisa-Marie Harris 2020/ Trinidad and Tobago

New media/ 4 minutes

World premiere

A video narrative made in the isolated months of the first London Lockdown, “Flight Path” is a work that interrogates the notion of ‘reaching’ – of attainment and accomplishment – in regards to both the physical act of movement and attempting to advance oneself, and in examination of the concessions and negotiations involved in making advancements towards one’s final destination.

Fouyé Zétwal (Plowing the Stars)

Artist: Wally Fall 2021/ Guadeloupe

New media/ 14 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

On her way to meet her dad, a woman reflects on her life. Along the way, the country looks empty to her and, slowly, memories of past lives are coming back to her. Is it real? Or is it only a dream?

Rhythms of Trinidad

Artist: Andreas Antonopoulos 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

New media/ 10 minutes

World premiere

“Rhythms of Trinidad” is made of a found archive in collaboration with the National Archive of Trinidad and Tobago. It is a study of history through movement and production of space.

Suriname Veteran

Director: Keoni K. Wright 2021/ Suriname

New media/ 3 minutes

World premiere

Although Suriname’s Civil War (1986- 1992) was a modern conflict, it has largely evaded the grasp of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide. And of the Civil War stories that permeate South America’s smallest country, few focus on the everyday Maroon foot-soldiers who fought, tooth-and-nail, against Suriname’s Marxist regime. “Suriname Veteran” captures the transformation that occurred when Romeo donned his red beret and became a Corporal once again.

FreeFormed

Artist: Kim Friez 2020/ Jamaica

New media / 1 minute

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

The idea for this project came to me when I was criticised for my hair and my overall image – the CFO of the company I used to work for asked: “Aren’t you afraid opportunities will pass you because of the way you look?” At the time my head was wrapped in a turban. I’ve always wondered what the true meaning of freedom is.

Moscow

Artist: Leonela GardeMont 2021/ Dominican Republic

New media/ 6 minutes

Caribbean premiere

Moscow, cold as her gaze. A girl recounts her life and how she grew up around the ideal of being beautiful to be perfect.

Reconquête de Tintin

Artist: Richard Rawlins 2018/ UK

New media/ 7 minutes

Trinidad and Tobago premiere

The Dadaists embodied absurdity. Absurdity in the context of art exploration has the close ‘pumpkin vine’ cousins humour, ritual, repetition, play, endurance, failure, irony, sarcasm and of course, rebellion and resistance. How long will I be able to brush this patch of hair with its natural curl? How long will it take for me to get its point straight or rather get straight to the point that it (my little Tintin coiff) has a mind of its own and won’t become straight?

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

Student

Programmed as a separate category for the first time in 2020, Student films are narrative and documentary films made by student filmmakers (whether secondary or tertiary) from the Caribbean and the diaspora.

Caught in the Net

Director: Kaaria Quash 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago Documentary medium/ 28 minutes

World premiere

Illegal poaching was once a major threat to the survival of turtles. Today incidental bycatch by fishermen has taken over as the largest threat to sea turtles globally. Yet the two are more related than we might think. “Caught in the Net” jumps into the heart of Trinidad and Tobago, following the people who protect the endangered turtles – and those who kill them.

Clash

Directors: Kwame E Boatswain + Xavier Kistow-Davis 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Student film/ 4 minutes

World premiere

Ever wondered what it might feel like for a bipolar patient who is going through a manic episode? “Clash” combines several creative elements in order to explore that reality. The idea was born out of the understanding that there is still much stigma around mental health conditions in the Caribbean and there ought to be ways in which conversations can be sparked.

Going Knowhere

Director: Darielle Allard 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Student film/ 20 minutes

World premiere

In March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic made its way to Trinidad and Tobago, causing panic and forcing us into isolation. “Going Knowhere” is an experimental record of this time, which references the diary I kept and footage collected from my home. It is a study of the effects of isolation on the mind and soul.

Grief

Director: Corinna Sequea 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Student film/ 4 minutes

World premiere

“Grief”, loosely based on real-life experiences, explores a character’s journey to closure.

The Interview

Director: Ayana Harper 2020/ United States of America

Student film/ 4 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A budding documentary filmmaker struggles to find the right interviewee for her film school project.

Juana

Director: José Antonio Martínez 2021/ Dominican Republic Student film/ 19 minutes

World premiere

A young domestic worker has to raise money to improve her father’s health, while she is forced to endure all kinds of sexual harassment from her boss’s son.

Musgo (Moss)

Directors: Alexandra Guimarães + Gonçalo L Almeida 2021/ Portugal

Student film/ 15 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A little girl is drawn to the inside of a chestnut tree where she embarks on a mystical voyage through the imaginarium of Trás-os-Montes. Her curiosity guides the viewer between rituals, geographies and customs specific to each of Trás-os-Montes’ phases of life, like the baptism in Mizarela or the disquieting rite of passage of the “caretos”. Out of fantasy and ethnography emerges an affecting portrait of a people and their land.

Recoger el Viento (Pick Up The Wind)

Director: Amir Aether Valen 2019/ Cuba

Student film/ 13 minutes

Caribbean premiere

“Pick Up The Wind” follows Anthony, a young child from the small, rural town of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. We experience the quotidian rituals of his daily life as he displays contradictory traits of creativity, destruction, rigidity and tenderness. Out of Anthony’s multidimensional, layered personality, a story emerges.

Sisters

Director: Lee-San Gayle 2021/ Jamaica

Student film/ 2 minutes

World premiere

“Sisters” is a short film that shows the inner workings of a frustrated and grieving young music composer. When she tries to finish composing a specific song from her past, she is flooded with memories of a day she’d rather forget – the day she lost her sister.

To Shake and Disturb and Bring Us Back to Ourselves

Director: Rhiana Bonterre 2021/ United Kingdom

Student film/ 8 minutes

Caribbean premiere

A hybrid blend of documentary and experimental film, “To Shake and Disturb and Bring Us Back To Ourselves” is a spiritual exploration of connection to one’s ancestors, environment and by extension one another. Guided by voices, Black liberation activism becomes increasingly intertwined with aspects of the spirit.

Once More With Feeling

Director: Rachel Chin 2021/ USA

Student film/ 6 minutes

World premiere

An actress and her director make a scene.

O Último Gás (The Last Stand)

Director: Duda Gambogi 2020/ Brazil Student film/ 6 minutes

Caribbean premiere

In Brazil during the pandemic, a filmmaker tries to get support from an emergency artist relief fund.

Plant Speech

Directors: Lee Anna Maharaj + Jovan Lalla 2021/ Trinidad and Tobago

Student film/ 3 minutes

World premiere

They’re part of our everyday lives and even though we can talk to them, they can’t directly converse with us. However, if we could understand them, what stories would they have to tell? We went to the fields to find out what they had to say.

TT Film Festival 2021 film line-up

Horace Ové Retrospective

The 2021 edition of the film festival includes a retrospective look at Trinidad and Tobago filmmaker Horace Ové’s most important and popular films.

Baldwin’s Nigger

Director: Horace Ové 1969/ UK

Documentary/ 48 minutes

In his first film, Horace Ové directs a striking, verité snapshot of writer, James Baldwin, at his sharp-witted best: conversing with civil rights activist, Dick Gregory, as they address a group of radical Caribbean students in 1960s London. The two discuss the Civil Rights Movement and black experience and identity in both Britain and the USA.

Black Safari

Director: Colin Luke 1972/ UK

Mocumentary/ 60 minutes

A spoof documentary, made as part of the BBC2 “World About” series, ‘Black Safari’ tells the story of an expedition to deepest, darkest Lancashire (UK), “the black man’s grave”, by a group of black African explorers and anthropologists in an attempt to locate the centre of Britain “whose whereabouts are still to be determined”. Ové narrates the film and appears onscreen as a member of the expedition.

Ghost of Hing King Estate

Director: Horace Ové 2009/ Trinidad and Tobago

Narrative feature/ 120 minutes

After six people mysteriously die over a five-month period on the Hing King Estate in Las Cuevas, Trinidad, all fingers point to the plantation owner’s wife, Carmelle Dauphin. This supernatural thriller is based on actual events.

King Carnival

Director: Horace Ové 1973/ Trinidad and Tobago + UK

Documentary feature: 60 minutes

“King Carnival”, stands after all this time, as a love letter to T&T. Made for the BBC in 1973, the film is still acclaimed as one of the best ever made about the history of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. The UK’s Times newspaper had this to say at the time: “…beneath the fantastic spectacle there lies a history of cultural struggle. The influences of Europe, of India, and above all Africa are reflected in customs and ceremonies still alive in Trinidad today. The insistent, joyful music, stunning costumes and immense crowds make it a perfect TV spectacle.

Playing Away

Director: Horace Ové 1987/ UK

Narrative feature/ 100 minutes

The Caribbean Brixton Conquistadores are a cricket team from London made up of West Indian immigrants. When the Conquistadores are invited to play a charity game against a rural Suffolk village side to cap off celebrations of “Third World Week”, members of both teams have their reservations. What is meant to be a genial weekend in the country produces unexpected results, both on and off the field of play.

Pressure

Director: Horace Ové 1976/ UK

Narrative feature/ 120 minutes

With a screenplay written by Trinidadian writer, Samuel Selvon, “Pressure” follows three generations of a Trinidadian family living in West London’s Ladbroke Grove. Herbert Norville stars as the family’s youngest son, British born Tony, who grows more and more disillusioned as he faces unemployment. Alienated from his white friends, he follows his older brother into the Black Power Movement.

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