The New Yorker Festival will once again be a largely virtual affair this year, though a number of in-person events will also be held outdoors, at Brooklyn’s Skyline Drive-In.
The 22nd annual edition of the festival will take place October 4 to 10.
Amy Schumer, Stanley Tucci, Aimee Mann and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl are among the confirmed participants, with more to be announced over the coming days. There will also be a preview screening of Stephen Karam’s The Humans, a film adaptation of his Tony Award-winning play, as well as an event focused on HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage.
The festival has attained a notable profile on the fall cultural calendar over the past two decades, offering the Condé Nast-owned magazine new revenue opportunities. Prior to the pandemic, dozens of festival events would typically unfold simultaneously at multiple indoor venues across the city, among them Town Hall,...
The 22nd annual edition of the festival will take place October 4 to 10.
Amy Schumer, Stanley Tucci, Aimee Mann and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl are among the confirmed participants, with more to be announced over the coming days. There will also be a preview screening of Stephen Karam’s The Humans, a film adaptation of his Tony Award-winning play, as well as an event focused on HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage.
The festival has attained a notable profile on the fall cultural calendar over the past two decades, offering the Condé Nast-owned magazine new revenue opportunities. Prior to the pandemic, dozens of festival events would typically unfold simultaneously at multiple indoor venues across the city, among them Town Hall,...
- 9/13/2021
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Black Artists for Freedom, a new coalition of more than 1,000 actors, musicians, filmmakers, writers, painters, poets and others, launched Friday with a powerful statement on the occasion of Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates the official end of slavery in the U.S. 155 years ago.
Signees include Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Dee Rees, Trevor Noah, Roxane Gay, Sterling K. Brown, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton, Jelani Cobb, Niecy Nash, Lena Waithe, Tessa Thompson, Thandie Newton, Debbie Allen, Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Cynthia Erivo and many others. The list includes Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Pulitzer winners along with emerging and elder artists.
“As Black artists and thinkers, we are energized by the current protest movement led by Black activists. They are working in the spirit of the Black Radical Tradition to reclaim our freedoms,” the group said in the statement, titled “Our Juneteenth.” It added: “Through this statement, we hope to...
Signees include Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Dee Rees, Trevor Noah, Roxane Gay, Sterling K. Brown, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton, Jelani Cobb, Niecy Nash, Lena Waithe, Tessa Thompson, Thandie Newton, Debbie Allen, Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Cynthia Erivo and many others. The list includes Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Pulitzer winners along with emerging and elder artists.
“As Black artists and thinkers, we are energized by the current protest movement led by Black activists. They are working in the spirit of the Black Radical Tradition to reclaim our freedoms,” the group said in the statement, titled “Our Juneteenth.” It added: “Through this statement, we hope to...
- 6/19/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
“I cried,” said Helado Negro about the process of working on his latest full-length release, This Is How You Smile. “It was hard… and I never want to make a record like that again. Not because it was hard, but because I felt the way that I needed to feel [to make] that record.”
An amalgamation of unhurried sounds and buried sentiments, the new album by Ecuadorian-American artist Roberto (“Not Ricardo”) Lange was brought to life after weeks of near isolation in two Brooklyn studios. Accentuated by lush, lo-fi textures, his art is deeply introspective,...
An amalgamation of unhurried sounds and buried sentiments, the new album by Ecuadorian-American artist Roberto (“Not Ricardo”) Lange was brought to life after weeks of near isolation in two Brooklyn studios. Accentuated by lush, lo-fi textures, his art is deeply introspective,...
- 3/8/2019
- by Ecleen Luzmila Caraballo
- Rollingstone.com
Ecuadorian-American artist Helado Negro has announced the release of his new album, This Is How You Smile, set for release on March 8th, 2019. Inspired by a line from “Girl,” the short story by Jamaica Kincaid, Helado Negro’s sixth full-length album follows his 2016 breakthrough LP, Private Energy.
Under the moniker Helado Negro, the experimental singer, songwriter and producer Roberto Carlos Lange has deftly infused his textural electronic stylings with elements of Latin American folk and dream pop. On Tuesday Lange teased his upcoming album with the delicately woven lead single,...
Under the moniker Helado Negro, the experimental singer, songwriter and producer Roberto Carlos Lange has deftly infused his textural electronic stylings with elements of Latin American folk and dream pop. On Tuesday Lange teased his upcoming album with the delicately woven lead single,...
- 11/13/2018
- by Suzy Exposito
- Rollingstone.com
A version of this article originally appeared on ew.com.
Emma Watson loves to read.
The actress has that in common with her brainy Harry Potter character Hermione as well as bookish Belle, who she plays in the much-anticipated film Beauty and the Beast, out March 17. In addition to being a bookworm, Watson is also an outspoken feminist and as well as a Un Women Goodwill Ambassador and promoter of the organization’s HeForShe movement, which is dedicated to recruiting men into the movement for gender equality. As a response to her work with the Un, she launched the feminist...
Emma Watson loves to read.
The actress has that in common with her brainy Harry Potter character Hermione as well as bookish Belle, who she plays in the much-anticipated film Beauty and the Beast, out March 17. In addition to being a bookworm, Watson is also an outspoken feminist and as well as a Un Women Goodwill Ambassador and promoter of the organization’s HeForShe movement, which is dedicated to recruiting men into the movement for gender equality. As a response to her work with the Un, she launched the feminist...
- 2/21/2017
- by Madeline Raynor
- PEOPLE.com
Trinidad & Tobago, a small island nation is filled with every race. As if a microcosm of the world today at its best, as if without the daily problems of life, violence or the political problems the people must cope with in their lives, the privileged participants in trinidad + tobago film festival, now approaching its 10th year, spent a glorious week together sharing cinema, one of the seven new industries this oil rich republic has designated for development.
This country is one of 28 Caribbean islands which share a tropical paradise of beaches and forests, and yet each is unique with its own mix of music and people living on islands surrounded by the warm waters of the Caribbean. The collective intelligence of indigenous, African, Indian, Chinese, Syrian, Spanish, French and British traditions is being redefined by a new generation, developing its métier of cinema, new and social media here.
The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America along the western Caribbean coastline and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires everyone who attends this festival. The staff, including creative director Emilie Upczak, and the entire staff and the volunteers have improved the festival programming and the business activities of the filmmakers.
"When you talk about Caribbean films, you have to be aware of the history of its diversity," said festival founder Bruce Paddington. "When people ask me about the Caribbean aesthetic, I have to, in many ways start talking about history and colonialism, and neo-colonialism and issues of slavery and pirates and languages. You have the French, Spanish, English and the Dutch. The Caribbean still is not completely independent place. So a lot of the films reflect issues of race and ethnicity."
For more read “ How the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Could Save the Caribbean Film Industry ”
Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today. Relabel the "immigration problem" and call it "diaspora". Numerous diasporas have allowed the people of the Caribbean to settle in and to send out new waves of diaspora which can, in the guise of art, unite the world. T + T is the micro model of this vision which is taking tangible shape throughout the world today. Looking at The Caribbean, immediately apparent and a topic of discussion in the society itself, in the music, art and in the film languages, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora.
Even the country's genius- created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra unless you experience it first hand. Even listening to Cuban salsa, one can frequently hear the sound of steel drums.
Attempting to explain this phenom, opening night of the festival screened “Pan! Our Music Odyssey” exec produced by French transplant, Jean Michel Gibert, this multi-tiered film, music, live entertainment event is another exportable product of the region, one to be shared worldwide.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, indigenous American, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working to unite film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
T+Tff has formed alliances with TribeCa Film Institute, Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), Acp (EU's African Caribbean Pacific Fund for Arts and Culture), the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages), World Cinema Fund, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival. The industry has come to t+tff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Acp has a fund of €13 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave an award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity. On presenting the prize, he reiterated their motto, "no future without culture" and on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people, he gave the prize to the feature Stone Street, and encouraged filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 36% return on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
Because Martinique and Guadaloupe are French, they can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart ( Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys 'Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made twice since 1993 but still has not had enough impact. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Jamaica Kincaid or Alejo Carpentier?
In addition to the productive work at T+Tff, sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, opened their arms and invited the international film world to join them for a few days celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise.
And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people.
The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, (though 40% is Bp), a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band.
"Behavior," (Isa: Latido) an incisive portrait of the life of an at-risk boy in Havana, claimed the top prize at the trinidad+tobago film festival. Directed by Cuba’s Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Behavior beat out four other films competing for the Best Narrative Feature prize at the Festival. Behavior was also a favorite with the Festival’s youth jury, who awarded the film a special mention.
The youth jury gave its top prize to a Brazilian film, the charming Lgbt-themed coming-of-age drama "The Way He Looks," directed by Daniel Ribeiro. Its Isa, Films Boutique has, since its debut in Berlin 2014, licensed it to U.S. -Strand Releasing, France -Pyramide Distribution, Germany -Salzgeber & Co. Medien Gmbh, Hong Kong (China) -Cinehub, Benelux -ABC - Cinemien,Norway -Filmhuset Gruppen As & Europafilm As, Poland -Tongariro Releasing, Spain -Surtsey Films, Switzerland -Agora Films, Taiwan -Maison Motion, Inc., U.K. - Peccadillo Pictures
Best Documentary Feature was awarded to a film from the Dominican Republic, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada’s "You and Me (Tu y yo)," an intimate look at the complex relationship between an elderly woman and her domestic servant.
A documentary was also the winner of the Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature Film—Miquel Galofré’s "Art Connect,"an uplifting crowd-pleaser featuring young people from the urban community of Laventille in east Port of Spain, whose lives are transformed when they undertake an art project.
The inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize went to "The Abominable Crime," Micah Fink’s touching, troubling reflection of the struggle gays and lesbians in Jamaica face to achieve their rights.
*Note: "Behavior" is Cuba's Official Submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award and "The Way He Looks" is Brazil's Official Submission in the same category.
Here is a full list of the awards:
Best Narrative Feature: Behavior, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba Best Narrative Feature, Special Mention: Sensei Redemption, German Gruber, Curaçao Best Documentary Feature: You and Me, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada, Dominican Republic Best Documentary Feature, Special Mention: Hotel Nueva Isla, Irene Gutiérrez and Javier Labrador, Cuba Best Short Film, Narrative: Bullock, Carlos Machado Quintela, Cuba Best Short Film, Documentary: ABCs, Diana Montero, Cuba Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative: Dubois, Kaz Ové Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative, Special Mention: Noka: Keeper of Worlds, Shaun Escayg Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Documentary: Field Notes, Vashti Harrison Best New Media Film: They Say You Can Dream a Thing More Than Once: Versia Harris, Barbados Amnesty International Human Rights Prize: The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink, Jamaica/USA Bptt Youth Jury Prize for Best Film: The Way He Looks, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil Bptt Youth Jury Prize for Best Film, Special Mention: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba People’s Choice Award, Best Narrative Feature: A Story About Wendy 2, Sean Hodgkinson, T&T People’s Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré, T&T People’s Choice Award, Best Short Film: Flying the Coup, Ryan Lee, T&T Rbc: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize: Raisa Bonnet, Puerto Rico Rbc: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize, Special Mention: Davina Lee, St Lucia Best Student at the Film Programme of the University of the West Indies: Romarlo Anderson Edghill Best Trinidad and Tobago Film in Development: Rajah: The Story of Boysie Singh, Christian James...
This country is one of 28 Caribbean islands which share a tropical paradise of beaches and forests, and yet each is unique with its own mix of music and people living on islands surrounded by the warm waters of the Caribbean. The collective intelligence of indigenous, African, Indian, Chinese, Syrian, Spanish, French and British traditions is being redefined by a new generation, developing its métier of cinema, new and social media here.
The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America along the western Caribbean coastline and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires everyone who attends this festival. The staff, including creative director Emilie Upczak, and the entire staff and the volunteers have improved the festival programming and the business activities of the filmmakers.
"When you talk about Caribbean films, you have to be aware of the history of its diversity," said festival founder Bruce Paddington. "When people ask me about the Caribbean aesthetic, I have to, in many ways start talking about history and colonialism, and neo-colonialism and issues of slavery and pirates and languages. You have the French, Spanish, English and the Dutch. The Caribbean still is not completely independent place. So a lot of the films reflect issues of race and ethnicity."
For more read “ How the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Could Save the Caribbean Film Industry ”
Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today. Relabel the "immigration problem" and call it "diaspora". Numerous diasporas have allowed the people of the Caribbean to settle in and to send out new waves of diaspora which can, in the guise of art, unite the world. T + T is the micro model of this vision which is taking tangible shape throughout the world today. Looking at The Caribbean, immediately apparent and a topic of discussion in the society itself, in the music, art and in the film languages, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora.
Even the country's genius- created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra unless you experience it first hand. Even listening to Cuban salsa, one can frequently hear the sound of steel drums.
Attempting to explain this phenom, opening night of the festival screened “Pan! Our Music Odyssey” exec produced by French transplant, Jean Michel Gibert, this multi-tiered film, music, live entertainment event is another exportable product of the region, one to be shared worldwide.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, indigenous American, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working to unite film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
T+Tff has formed alliances with TribeCa Film Institute, Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), Acp (EU's African Caribbean Pacific Fund for Arts and Culture), the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages), World Cinema Fund, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival. The industry has come to t+tff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Acp has a fund of €13 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave an award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity. On presenting the prize, he reiterated their motto, "no future without culture" and on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people, he gave the prize to the feature Stone Street, and encouraged filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 36% return on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
Because Martinique and Guadaloupe are French, they can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart ( Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys 'Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made twice since 1993 but still has not had enough impact. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Jamaica Kincaid or Alejo Carpentier?
In addition to the productive work at T+Tff, sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, opened their arms and invited the international film world to join them for a few days celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise.
And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people.
The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, (though 40% is Bp), a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band.
"Behavior," (Isa: Latido) an incisive portrait of the life of an at-risk boy in Havana, claimed the top prize at the trinidad+tobago film festival. Directed by Cuba’s Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Behavior beat out four other films competing for the Best Narrative Feature prize at the Festival. Behavior was also a favorite with the Festival’s youth jury, who awarded the film a special mention.
The youth jury gave its top prize to a Brazilian film, the charming Lgbt-themed coming-of-age drama "The Way He Looks," directed by Daniel Ribeiro. Its Isa, Films Boutique has, since its debut in Berlin 2014, licensed it to U.S. -Strand Releasing, France -Pyramide Distribution, Germany -Salzgeber & Co. Medien Gmbh, Hong Kong (China) -Cinehub, Benelux -ABC - Cinemien,Norway -Filmhuset Gruppen As & Europafilm As, Poland -Tongariro Releasing, Spain -Surtsey Films, Switzerland -Agora Films, Taiwan -Maison Motion, Inc., U.K. - Peccadillo Pictures
Best Documentary Feature was awarded to a film from the Dominican Republic, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada’s "You and Me (Tu y yo)," an intimate look at the complex relationship between an elderly woman and her domestic servant.
A documentary was also the winner of the Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature Film—Miquel Galofré’s "Art Connect,"an uplifting crowd-pleaser featuring young people from the urban community of Laventille in east Port of Spain, whose lives are transformed when they undertake an art project.
The inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize went to "The Abominable Crime," Micah Fink’s touching, troubling reflection of the struggle gays and lesbians in Jamaica face to achieve their rights.
*Note: "Behavior" is Cuba's Official Submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award and "The Way He Looks" is Brazil's Official Submission in the same category.
Here is a full list of the awards:
Best Narrative Feature: Behavior, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba Best Narrative Feature, Special Mention: Sensei Redemption, German Gruber, Curaçao Best Documentary Feature: You and Me, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada, Dominican Republic Best Documentary Feature, Special Mention: Hotel Nueva Isla, Irene Gutiérrez and Javier Labrador, Cuba Best Short Film, Narrative: Bullock, Carlos Machado Quintela, Cuba Best Short Film, Documentary: ABCs, Diana Montero, Cuba Best Trinidad and Tobago Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative: Dubois, Kaz Ové Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Narrative, Special Mention: Noka: Keeper of Worlds, Shaun Escayg Best Trinidad and Tobago Short Film, Documentary: Field Notes, Vashti Harrison Best New Media Film: They Say You Can Dream a Thing More Than Once: Versia Harris, Barbados Amnesty International Human Rights Prize: The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink, Jamaica/USA Bptt Youth Jury Prize for Best Film: The Way He Looks, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil Bptt Youth Jury Prize for Best Film, Special Mention: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba People’s Choice Award, Best Narrative Feature: A Story About Wendy 2, Sean Hodgkinson, T&T People’s Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofré, T&T People’s Choice Award, Best Short Film: Flying the Coup, Ryan Lee, T&T Rbc: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize: Raisa Bonnet, Puerto Rico Rbc: Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Prize, Special Mention: Davina Lee, St Lucia Best Student at the Film Programme of the University of the West Indies: Romarlo Anderson Edghill Best Trinidad and Tobago Film in Development: Rajah: The Story of Boysie Singh, Christian James...
- 10/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
What made film-maker Judd Apatow want to be be funny? Or inspired novelist Stephenie Meyer to create a world of vampires? In My Ideal Bookshelf, more than 100 writers and other cultural figures were asked to share the literary journeys that helped them realise their ambitions and find success. Here are four
• What would your 'ideal bookshelf' be, and why?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, novelist: 'All my characters drank ginger beer'
I grew up in a university town in Nigeria. I was an early reader and, what I read as a young child, were mostly British and American books. I was also an early writer. And when I began to write, at about the age of seven – stories in pencil with crayon illustrations, which my poor mother was obligated to read – I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading.
All my characters were white and drank ginger beer, because the...
• What would your 'ideal bookshelf' be, and why?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, novelist: 'All my characters drank ginger beer'
I grew up in a university town in Nigeria. I was an early reader and, what I read as a young child, were mostly British and American books. I was also an early writer. And when I began to write, at about the age of seven – stories in pencil with crayon illustrations, which my poor mother was obligated to read – I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading.
All my characters were white and drank ginger beer, because the...
- 11/26/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Trinidad & Tobago is a very small country filled with every race, as varied as the innumerable species of rice. "One quality we all share as humans is we are all different from each other," to quote Dylan Kerrigan. T&T seems like a microcosm of the world today at its best. I know I am not seeing the daily or the political problems the people must cope with in their lives, but I do have the privilege not to be a tourist but a participant in trinidad + tobago film festival, a seven year old event. Film, one of the seven new industries this oil-rich republic has designated for development, is vibrant and alive here. This country is not only a tropical paradise with its beaches and its forests, its music and its people of indescribable beauty, but its intelligence -- made of Amerindian, African, East Indian, Asian, Arabic, Spanish, French, British and American traditions as translated by the new generation -- is unique. The new and well-educated generation, as we all know, has a special edge over the old and the mainstream. What do I mean with these flaunting words?
I am astounded by what I have discovered here. The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires me and everyone who attends this festival.
To wax a little bit more poetic: the solution to the "immigration problem" can be solved simply by relabeling the state of the world today as one of Diaspora. When I grew up I thought the word Diaspora pertained exclusively to the Jews. We went through numerous diasporas, from the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem to the expulsion from Spain, then from all Europe. I think that if the greatest thinkers of the western world had not perished in the Shoah, we would have found words and formulations to deal with the issues of immigration and integration we are facing today. The words immigration and integration are antipodes. Looking at Trinidad & Tobago, immediately apparent and a constant topic of discussion in the society itself, in music, art and film, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora. And the Diaspora of Trinidadians in the world today mainly to Canada, New York, U.K. and Miami sees more Trinidadians outside than in the country itself. Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today.
Speaking of Diaspora, the country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
A grand transmedia project called Pan is now being planned for 2013 by the film and music producer, Jean Michel Giber (his recently completed Calypso Rose is a doc about a 70 year old Calypso singer) and written by Dr. Kim Johnson a noted authority on the pan in collaboration with story consultant Fernanda Rossi who has doctored films that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®.
And yet another aspect of Diaspora: Canada whose citizens are also spread throughout the world in diaspora and who has the most coproduction treaties in the world is also here lending strong sponsorship support through its Rbc Royal Bank which has banks throughout the Caribbean and Flow which offers internet, telephone and tv throughout the region. This year's focus is on Canada which is celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations and cultural and creative links between the two countries. Aside from the number of Canadian films screening and the number of Canadian filmmakers attending, Christian Sida-Valenzuela, Director of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival is on the jury.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, Amerindian, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working in film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
The industry has come to ttff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Ttff has formed alliances with Tribeca Film Institute, Cba Worldview -- Commonwealth Broadcasting Association aims to improve U.K. public understanding and awareness of the developing world via the mainstream broadcast and digital media. WorldView supports producers bringing the richness and diversity of the wider-world to U.K. audiences. Cba Worldview provides seed funding to producers to enable them to spend time in the developing world researching stories, identifying characters and locations and shooting taster tapes. Cba Worldview itself has alliances with Tribeca, Sundance and Idfa. Other ttff alliances are with Cuba's Icaic and the Havana Film Festival, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival, U.S.'s National Black Programming Consortium, a part of the Public Broadcasting System and Acp which is the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages).
Acp has a fund of €12 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave their award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity to the feature Stone Street. On presenting the prize, he reiterated Acp's motto, "No future without culture" and presented the prize on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people while encouraging filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Because Guadaloupe is French, it can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this. The BBC seriesDeath in Paradise has been such a hit that the BBC is renewing the series to the benefit of Guadaloupe's coffers.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 35% rebate on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart (Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys' Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made in 1993 and in 2006 and yet remains mostly forgotten. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Antiguan Jamaica Kincaid, Cuban Alejo Carpentier or Martiniquese Edward Glissant?
The winner of the Jury Prize for Best Caribbean Film by a non-Caribbean went to Canadian filmmaker Christy Garland for her documentary The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, a documentary that had the strongest buzz here. The trailer alone moved the audience at the awards ceremony to a collective and spontaneous sigh of sympathy. What a fiction adaptation could be made from the stories these people have to tell.
Some filmmakers are already embedding themselves here. Trinidadian native Ian Harnarin comes from Canada and lives in New York. We met at Tiff this year in a mentoring program where he was one of four most promising new filmmakers. His short was executive produced by Spike Lee. He is now working on the feature length film of the short. "I'm extremely happy to be taking my film Doubles With Slight Pepper to the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. The film was shot on location throughout Trinidad with a local cast and a lot of local crew. The film has garnered some amazing awards and screened at other festivals around the world, so Ttff will mark a homecoming for it. It's coming to be very special for the local audience to finally see it with the cast and filmmakers." This film is available on iTunes.
Alrick Brown, the director of Kinyarwanda, a hit of last year 's Sundance Ff, led the immersion workshops in documentaries with Fernanda Rossi, a New York based doc scriptwriter. Alrick also teaches at Rutgers and Nyu. Andrew Donsunmu, the director of Restless City which Ronna Wallace has been actively repping since Sundance (she just made a good digital deal for the film) and which will be released stateside by Affrm (as will Kinyarwanda) was part of a very interesting informal discussion which took place on the bus returning from our day at the beach about movement and the almost genetic styles of dance and choices of sports of the African diaspora...like why so many islanders can't swim, why they don't eat fish in Cuba, how Samba, Calypso, and a certain Jamaican dance use the same steps though to different beats. Such animated discussions of intercultural topics are frequent here and always fascinate and animate the participants and residents.
The filmmakers also participated in panels for the industry, sharing their motivation and modi operandi. Christy Garland, director of Bastards Sing the Sweetest Song, filmed in French Guyana spoke of how she enters an unknown culture with a vague idea for a subject and proceeds to draw people out until the story unveils itself to her. Patricia Benoit, director of Stones in the Sun which participated in Wroclaw's American Film Festival for films in post-production competition spoke of her dislike of people always talking of Haiti's "resilence" in the face of all its troubles and wanted to show the hidden wounds of Haitians with their own history while living in New York. The films title comes from the proverb, “Stones in the water don't know the suffering of stones in the sun.” You can read Indiewire's interview with her from Tribeca Film Festival here. Matias Meyer spoke of The Last Christeros, which showed in Toronto and is being sold by FiGa Films, wanting to show not the battles but the spaces between battles when a segment of the 90% Catholic population of Mexico waged war against the state in the 1920s when the government banned religion. American filmmaker Chris Metzler spoke of his film Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone as a wonderful tribute to failure. Another Trinidadian in Canada, Richard Fung talked of how when he grew up he loved dhalpuri roti and so set out to discover where this spicy flatbread was born in the film Dal Puri Diaspora. Next month Richard will present his film at Nyu. One entire panel discussion was given to The Jamaican Collective's New Caribbean Cinema collection of shorts all made Guerilla style in one day, Ring di Alarm. Shadow and Act covered this last month.
In addition to this productive work of sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, have opened their arms and invited us to join them these past few days in celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people. The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, though 40% is Bp, a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
In Moscow this past June, the event Doors held similar discussions among 25 American distributors and Russian filmmakers about exporting their films and creating viable co- productions. After those three days in Moscow, we were rewarded with the most spectacular trip any of us had ever experienced, driving to St. Petersburg and Petershof, attending the Mariansky Ballet to see Sleeping Beauty and the star ballet dancer of Russia from the best seats in the house, taking a long cruise through St. Petersburg's canals during the White Nights, when the sun never sets. That trip which we were privileged to participate in (thanks to L.A.'s Russian Film Commissioner Eleonora Granata and her boss Catherine Mtsitouridze who hired us to organize) did not surpass the bonus tour ttff gave us industry-ites to Las Maracas beach where we rode the waves in warm water until a tropical rain storm and hurricane type wind, lightning and thunder drove us out of the water to huddle under a shelter until if passed, and the evening Leslie Fields-Cruz of the National Programming Consortium of PBS and I spent with Trinidadian film and music producer, Jean Michel Gibert of Caribbean Music Group, music scholar extraordinaire Tim Johnson and Nestor Sullivan, music legend, steel drum virtuoso and manager of the prize-winning 120 piece steel band orchestra Pamberi at a steel drum orchestra rehearsal for Carnaval. I can say with authority, this experience was on an equal par with the best Russia has to offer.
Validation of the genius of this country can be found in the story of one man, Anthony Williams, who invented the tuned steelpan, and in a discussion I had with another Trinidad filmmaker, Janine Fung, who won the People's Choice for Best Documentary La Gaita. Janine, as you can guess from her name, is of Chinese descent, though thoroughly international and Trinidadian to boot. Her grandmother's extended family lived in Trinidad. Recently the Chinese embassy called her to see if she might research and make a documentary about a Trinidad woman who brought western ballet to China. When they named her she realized it as her grandmother's first cousin who had left Trinidad to study ballet in London and when she toured to China, she captivated the audience and remained to establish western ballet in China. No one in Trinidad is aware of this and Janine now must make the documentary. I love stories like this. Nestor Sullivan whose father played in the same steel drum orchestra which is 70 years old, told me that his grandmother told him he was the spitting image of her father who came to Trinidad somewhere between 1840 to 60 after slavery had been abolished (1833). His father was a Yoruban prince who was never enslaved except when kidnapped and carried to the New World. Looking at Nestor, you know this to be true. His grandmother was born in 1888. When we did the math, I calculated this was around the same time that my own grandmother was born after her mother had come to USA as a bride in 1881.
Filmmaker, Faisal Lutchmedial (Mr. Crab, a delightful short film of a shy 10 year old boy who idolizes and fears his imposing father and hides and escapes into a dream world, where the frightening Mr Crab with his deadly sharp claws awaits him until he hears the real fear in his father's voice when he cannot find him) resides in Montreal, and tells of his family's home in a section of Trinidad which has, to this day, remained almost exactly as it was when his father was a boy in 1945. In fact, he took a photograph of himself standing in the same spot where his father stood as a child and the surroundings are identical. He was looking forward to going there to "lime" for a few days after the festival.
When the two part France TV feature Toussaint Ouveture won two prizes, one for Audience Award for Best Narrative and the other to Jimmy Jean-Louis for Best Actor in a Caribbean film, Jimmy,whose stunning presence is as sweet as his beautiful face, and who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Creole, spoke sponteously of Haiti's continued plight and of the fact that this historical epic deserves to be seen as widely as possible to remind the world that Haiti was the first nation to liberate itself and its slaves from its colonial masters 200 years before most other Caribbean nations declared or were granted their independence.
One other discovery I made was of Dana Verde of 3Ck Media (meaning 3rd culture kids, a term coined in the 50s by cultural anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem). Dana Verde is a Cuban-Jamaican filmmaker who enjoys telling stories from the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. After receiving her Ma in Filmmaking from the London Film School in 2008, the Brooklyn filmmaker returned to New York to work as an independent filmmaker – writing and directing spec commercials, music videos and short films. Currently she divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and is venturing into directing feature films that encapsulate a crosscultural perspective. Check out her short Lock and Key on Facebook.
In summation of this whirlwind 4 day trip, it was well worth the 8 hour flight. So immersed was I that I find I must return, and much as I hate to reveal this new untrammeled festival and country, I must tell about it. I was the only press there, but I'm sure it will catch the eye of then rest of the world soon as it is a growth area for film invention and innovation on all fronts, from education (Bruce Paddington who teaches film at the University of The West Indies along with Christopher Meir, a native of Buffalo, New York).to production to marketing and distribution under the aegis of T&T Film Company. Although in the 50s Robert Mitchum filmed The Fire Down Below and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in T&T and you can be sure he had a blast there, still I feel like I have discovered it anew!
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band. The gala awards ceremony of the ttff/12 took place at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain. Here is a full list of the winners which can also be found here.
Jury Awards: Best Films
Best Narrative Feature: Distancia, directed by Sergio Ramirez from Guatemala
Best Documentary Feature: The Story of Lover’s Rock, directed by Menelik Shabazz
Best Short: Peace: Memories of Anton de Kom, directed by Ida Does
Best Caribbean Film by an International Filmmaker: The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, directed by Christy Garland
Special mentions in the best film category:
Best Narrative Feature: Choco, directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Best Documentary Feature: Broken Stones, directed by Guetty Felin
Best Short: Awa Brak, directed by Juan Francisco Pardo
Jury Awards: Best Local Films
Best Local Feature: Inward Hunger, directed by Mariel Brown
Best Local Short: Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Jury Awards: Acting
Best Actor in a Caribbean Film: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
Best Actor in a Local Film: Christopher Chin Choy, Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Best Actress in a Local Film: Terri Lyons, No Soca, No Life, directed by Kevin Adams
People’s Choice Awards
People’s Choice Award: Narrative Feature: Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
People’s Choice Award: Documentary Feature: La Gaita, directed by Janine Fung
People’s Choice Award: Best Short: Buck: The Man Spirit, directed by Steven Taylor
Other Awards
Film in Development Award: Cutlass, Deresha Beresford & Teneille Newallo
WorldView/Tribeca Film Film Institute Pitch Awards: Ryan Khan, Joaquin Ruano, Natalie Wei
Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Award: Michelle Serieux
Film that Best Epitomises Cultural Diversity: Stone Street, directed by Elspeth Kydd
Film Criticism Award: Barbara Jenkins, “Three’s a Crowd”, review of Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy
Film Criticism Special Mentions: Dainia Wright, Renelle White
Best Student, University of the West Indies Film Programme: Dinesh Maharaj
AfroPop/National Black Programming Consortium Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: Mandisa Pantin
50-Second Film Competition: M Jay Gonzalez...
I am astounded by what I have discovered here. The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires me and everyone who attends this festival.
To wax a little bit more poetic: the solution to the "immigration problem" can be solved simply by relabeling the state of the world today as one of Diaspora. When I grew up I thought the word Diaspora pertained exclusively to the Jews. We went through numerous diasporas, from the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem to the expulsion from Spain, then from all Europe. I think that if the greatest thinkers of the western world had not perished in the Shoah, we would have found words and formulations to deal with the issues of immigration and integration we are facing today. The words immigration and integration are antipodes. Looking at Trinidad & Tobago, immediately apparent and a constant topic of discussion in the society itself, in music, art and film, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora. And the Diaspora of Trinidadians in the world today mainly to Canada, New York, U.K. and Miami sees more Trinidadians outside than in the country itself. Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today.
Speaking of Diaspora, the country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
A grand transmedia project called Pan is now being planned for 2013 by the film and music producer, Jean Michel Giber (his recently completed Calypso Rose is a doc about a 70 year old Calypso singer) and written by Dr. Kim Johnson a noted authority on the pan in collaboration with story consultant Fernanda Rossi who has doctored films that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®.
And yet another aspect of Diaspora: Canada whose citizens are also spread throughout the world in diaspora and who has the most coproduction treaties in the world is also here lending strong sponsorship support through its Rbc Royal Bank which has banks throughout the Caribbean and Flow which offers internet, telephone and tv throughout the region. This year's focus is on Canada which is celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations and cultural and creative links between the two countries. Aside from the number of Canadian films screening and the number of Canadian filmmakers attending, Christian Sida-Valenzuela, Director of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival is on the jury.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, Amerindian, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working in film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
The industry has come to ttff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Ttff has formed alliances with Tribeca Film Institute, Cba Worldview -- Commonwealth Broadcasting Association aims to improve U.K. public understanding and awareness of the developing world via the mainstream broadcast and digital media. WorldView supports producers bringing the richness and diversity of the wider-world to U.K. audiences. Cba Worldview provides seed funding to producers to enable them to spend time in the developing world researching stories, identifying characters and locations and shooting taster tapes. Cba Worldview itself has alliances with Tribeca, Sundance and Idfa. Other ttff alliances are with Cuba's Icaic and the Havana Film Festival, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival, U.S.'s National Black Programming Consortium, a part of the Public Broadcasting System and Acp which is the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages).
Acp has a fund of €12 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave their award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity to the feature Stone Street. On presenting the prize, he reiterated Acp's motto, "No future without culture" and presented the prize on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people while encouraging filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Because Guadaloupe is French, it can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this. The BBC seriesDeath in Paradise has been such a hit that the BBC is renewing the series to the benefit of Guadaloupe's coffers.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 35% rebate on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart (Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys' Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made in 1993 and in 2006 and yet remains mostly forgotten. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Antiguan Jamaica Kincaid, Cuban Alejo Carpentier or Martiniquese Edward Glissant?
The winner of the Jury Prize for Best Caribbean Film by a non-Caribbean went to Canadian filmmaker Christy Garland for her documentary The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, a documentary that had the strongest buzz here. The trailer alone moved the audience at the awards ceremony to a collective and spontaneous sigh of sympathy. What a fiction adaptation could be made from the stories these people have to tell.
Some filmmakers are already embedding themselves here. Trinidadian native Ian Harnarin comes from Canada and lives in New York. We met at Tiff this year in a mentoring program where he was one of four most promising new filmmakers. His short was executive produced by Spike Lee. He is now working on the feature length film of the short. "I'm extremely happy to be taking my film Doubles With Slight Pepper to the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. The film was shot on location throughout Trinidad with a local cast and a lot of local crew. The film has garnered some amazing awards and screened at other festivals around the world, so Ttff will mark a homecoming for it. It's coming to be very special for the local audience to finally see it with the cast and filmmakers." This film is available on iTunes.
Alrick Brown, the director of Kinyarwanda, a hit of last year 's Sundance Ff, led the immersion workshops in documentaries with Fernanda Rossi, a New York based doc scriptwriter. Alrick also teaches at Rutgers and Nyu. Andrew Donsunmu, the director of Restless City which Ronna Wallace has been actively repping since Sundance (she just made a good digital deal for the film) and which will be released stateside by Affrm (as will Kinyarwanda) was part of a very interesting informal discussion which took place on the bus returning from our day at the beach about movement and the almost genetic styles of dance and choices of sports of the African diaspora...like why so many islanders can't swim, why they don't eat fish in Cuba, how Samba, Calypso, and a certain Jamaican dance use the same steps though to different beats. Such animated discussions of intercultural topics are frequent here and always fascinate and animate the participants and residents.
The filmmakers also participated in panels for the industry, sharing their motivation and modi operandi. Christy Garland, director of Bastards Sing the Sweetest Song, filmed in French Guyana spoke of how she enters an unknown culture with a vague idea for a subject and proceeds to draw people out until the story unveils itself to her. Patricia Benoit, director of Stones in the Sun which participated in Wroclaw's American Film Festival for films in post-production competition spoke of her dislike of people always talking of Haiti's "resilence" in the face of all its troubles and wanted to show the hidden wounds of Haitians with their own history while living in New York. The films title comes from the proverb, “Stones in the water don't know the suffering of stones in the sun.” You can read Indiewire's interview with her from Tribeca Film Festival here. Matias Meyer spoke of The Last Christeros, which showed in Toronto and is being sold by FiGa Films, wanting to show not the battles but the spaces between battles when a segment of the 90% Catholic population of Mexico waged war against the state in the 1920s when the government banned religion. American filmmaker Chris Metzler spoke of his film Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone as a wonderful tribute to failure. Another Trinidadian in Canada, Richard Fung talked of how when he grew up he loved dhalpuri roti and so set out to discover where this spicy flatbread was born in the film Dal Puri Diaspora. Next month Richard will present his film at Nyu. One entire panel discussion was given to The Jamaican Collective's New Caribbean Cinema collection of shorts all made Guerilla style in one day, Ring di Alarm. Shadow and Act covered this last month.
In addition to this productive work of sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, have opened their arms and invited us to join them these past few days in celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people. The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, though 40% is Bp, a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
In Moscow this past June, the event Doors held similar discussions among 25 American distributors and Russian filmmakers about exporting their films and creating viable co- productions. After those three days in Moscow, we were rewarded with the most spectacular trip any of us had ever experienced, driving to St. Petersburg and Petershof, attending the Mariansky Ballet to see Sleeping Beauty and the star ballet dancer of Russia from the best seats in the house, taking a long cruise through St. Petersburg's canals during the White Nights, when the sun never sets. That trip which we were privileged to participate in (thanks to L.A.'s Russian Film Commissioner Eleonora Granata and her boss Catherine Mtsitouridze who hired us to organize) did not surpass the bonus tour ttff gave us industry-ites to Las Maracas beach where we rode the waves in warm water until a tropical rain storm and hurricane type wind, lightning and thunder drove us out of the water to huddle under a shelter until if passed, and the evening Leslie Fields-Cruz of the National Programming Consortium of PBS and I spent with Trinidadian film and music producer, Jean Michel Gibert of Caribbean Music Group, music scholar extraordinaire Tim Johnson and Nestor Sullivan, music legend, steel drum virtuoso and manager of the prize-winning 120 piece steel band orchestra Pamberi at a steel drum orchestra rehearsal for Carnaval. I can say with authority, this experience was on an equal par with the best Russia has to offer.
Validation of the genius of this country can be found in the story of one man, Anthony Williams, who invented the tuned steelpan, and in a discussion I had with another Trinidad filmmaker, Janine Fung, who won the People's Choice for Best Documentary La Gaita. Janine, as you can guess from her name, is of Chinese descent, though thoroughly international and Trinidadian to boot. Her grandmother's extended family lived in Trinidad. Recently the Chinese embassy called her to see if she might research and make a documentary about a Trinidad woman who brought western ballet to China. When they named her she realized it as her grandmother's first cousin who had left Trinidad to study ballet in London and when she toured to China, she captivated the audience and remained to establish western ballet in China. No one in Trinidad is aware of this and Janine now must make the documentary. I love stories like this. Nestor Sullivan whose father played in the same steel drum orchestra which is 70 years old, told me that his grandmother told him he was the spitting image of her father who came to Trinidad somewhere between 1840 to 60 after slavery had been abolished (1833). His father was a Yoruban prince who was never enslaved except when kidnapped and carried to the New World. Looking at Nestor, you know this to be true. His grandmother was born in 1888. When we did the math, I calculated this was around the same time that my own grandmother was born after her mother had come to USA as a bride in 1881.
Filmmaker, Faisal Lutchmedial (Mr. Crab, a delightful short film of a shy 10 year old boy who idolizes and fears his imposing father and hides and escapes into a dream world, where the frightening Mr Crab with his deadly sharp claws awaits him until he hears the real fear in his father's voice when he cannot find him) resides in Montreal, and tells of his family's home in a section of Trinidad which has, to this day, remained almost exactly as it was when his father was a boy in 1945. In fact, he took a photograph of himself standing in the same spot where his father stood as a child and the surroundings are identical. He was looking forward to going there to "lime" for a few days after the festival.
When the two part France TV feature Toussaint Ouveture won two prizes, one for Audience Award for Best Narrative and the other to Jimmy Jean-Louis for Best Actor in a Caribbean film, Jimmy,whose stunning presence is as sweet as his beautiful face, and who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Creole, spoke sponteously of Haiti's continued plight and of the fact that this historical epic deserves to be seen as widely as possible to remind the world that Haiti was the first nation to liberate itself and its slaves from its colonial masters 200 years before most other Caribbean nations declared or were granted their independence.
One other discovery I made was of Dana Verde of 3Ck Media (meaning 3rd culture kids, a term coined in the 50s by cultural anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem). Dana Verde is a Cuban-Jamaican filmmaker who enjoys telling stories from the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. After receiving her Ma in Filmmaking from the London Film School in 2008, the Brooklyn filmmaker returned to New York to work as an independent filmmaker – writing and directing spec commercials, music videos and short films. Currently she divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and is venturing into directing feature films that encapsulate a crosscultural perspective. Check out her short Lock and Key on Facebook.
In summation of this whirlwind 4 day trip, it was well worth the 8 hour flight. So immersed was I that I find I must return, and much as I hate to reveal this new untrammeled festival and country, I must tell about it. I was the only press there, but I'm sure it will catch the eye of then rest of the world soon as it is a growth area for film invention and innovation on all fronts, from education (Bruce Paddington who teaches film at the University of The West Indies along with Christopher Meir, a native of Buffalo, New York).to production to marketing and distribution under the aegis of T&T Film Company. Although in the 50s Robert Mitchum filmed The Fire Down Below and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in T&T and you can be sure he had a blast there, still I feel like I have discovered it anew!
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band. The gala awards ceremony of the ttff/12 took place at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain. Here is a full list of the winners which can also be found here.
Jury Awards: Best Films
Best Narrative Feature: Distancia, directed by Sergio Ramirez from Guatemala
Best Documentary Feature: The Story of Lover’s Rock, directed by Menelik Shabazz
Best Short: Peace: Memories of Anton de Kom, directed by Ida Does
Best Caribbean Film by an International Filmmaker: The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, directed by Christy Garland
Special mentions in the best film category:
Best Narrative Feature: Choco, directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Best Documentary Feature: Broken Stones, directed by Guetty Felin
Best Short: Awa Brak, directed by Juan Francisco Pardo
Jury Awards: Best Local Films
Best Local Feature: Inward Hunger, directed by Mariel Brown
Best Local Short: Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Jury Awards: Acting
Best Actor in a Caribbean Film: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
Best Actor in a Local Film: Christopher Chin Choy, Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Best Actress in a Local Film: Terri Lyons, No Soca, No Life, directed by Kevin Adams
People’s Choice Awards
People’s Choice Award: Narrative Feature: Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
People’s Choice Award: Documentary Feature: La Gaita, directed by Janine Fung
People’s Choice Award: Best Short: Buck: The Man Spirit, directed by Steven Taylor
Other Awards
Film in Development Award: Cutlass, Deresha Beresford & Teneille Newallo
WorldView/Tribeca Film Film Institute Pitch Awards: Ryan Khan, Joaquin Ruano, Natalie Wei
Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Award: Michelle Serieux
Film that Best Epitomises Cultural Diversity: Stone Street, directed by Elspeth Kydd
Film Criticism Award: Barbara Jenkins, “Three’s a Crowd”, review of Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy
Film Criticism Special Mentions: Dainia Wright, Renelle White
Best Student, University of the West Indies Film Programme: Dinesh Maharaj
AfroPop/National Black Programming Consortium Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: Mandisa Pantin
50-Second Film Competition: M Jay Gonzalez...
- 10/3/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
TORONTO -- Plum Pictures, the fledgling New York production shingle headed by the trio of Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray and Daniela Soto-Taplin, has partnered with Madstone Films to search out first-time directors and projects for the company's directors program. As part of the pact, Plum will move into Madstone's offices in Manhattan. Madstone launched the directors program two years ago, and the first film to come out of the program, Aaron Woodley's Rhinoceros Eyes, is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. The directors program is overseen by Madstone co-CEO and co-founder Tom Gruenberg. Plum currently is developing The Michael Pellegrino Project, to be penned by James Manos Jr., and The Angelo Brooks Story, which the company optioned from a 60 Minutes piece about a cop who forms a debate team of inner-city youth. The company recently acquired film rights to Edmund Morris' book The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the novel Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid. Plum also will continue to develop projects outside of Madstone.
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