Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2009

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24130314639212490482010-03-19T14:09:02.246-07:00Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2009Imraan Nasirnoreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-67345280539255354542010-03-19T14:09:00.001-07:002010-03-19T14:09:02.304-07:00This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://blog.trinidadandtobagofilmfestival.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://blog.trinidadandtobagofilmfestival.com/feeds/posts/default.

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-61072049378546246692010-03-19T13:07:00.000-07:002010-03-19T13:15:59.839-07:00Call for entries

Entries are now being accepted for the fifth annual trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff/10), set to take place from September 22 to October 5. The festival accepts films made by Caribbean people, by persons of the Caribbean Diaspora, and by international filmmakers who have made films that reflect Caribbean culture and the way of life in the Caribbean or the Diaspora. Films from Central and South

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-91146278757889091772010-02-21T07:26:00.000-08:002010-02-21T08:12:00.400-08:00The Best of Caribbean Tales

Every year since 2006 the Caribbean Tales Film Festival, founded by the Trinidadian-British-Canadian filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon as a showcase of the best of Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora film, has taken place annually in Toronto, Canada. In a couple days' time, the Best of Caribbean Tales, a spin-off of that festival, will begin in Barbados, and run until March 2nd.The festival will screen

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-55793157277577544812010-02-02T17:37:00.000-08:002010-02-02T18:03:10.973-08:00At the Sundance Film Festival

The recently-concluded Sundance Film Festival, which was founded by Robert Redford in Park City, Utah, is the premiere festival for independent film in the United States and perhaps the world. The trinidad + tobago film festival's creative director, Emilie Upczak, had the privilege of covering the Sundance festival for the Sundance Channel. I spoke with Emilie via Skype and she told me what the

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-40876542404559410002010-01-13T06:51:00.001-08:002010-01-13T06:56:31.654-08:00Call for short dramatic films

Are you an experienced filmmaker interested in making a short film about the youth of Trinidad and Tobago? Then the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company is looking for you. The Company is looking to fund short dramatic productions (25-30 minutes) about the youth (16-25 years old) of T&T. To download the requirements and application form, go here.

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-40843822728935263212009-12-14T18:46:00.000-08:002009-12-14T19:05:25.092-08:00Feature film production grants. Act now!

Are you looking for funds to make your next feature film? Yes? Well, take note of the following grant opportunity courtesy The Global Film Initiative, which is awarding production grants of up to US $10,000 each to select applicants. This is their Winter granting cycle, and the deadline for submitting your application is January 15, 2010. Below is some text from The Global Film Initiative or you

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-67183318191210205172009-12-12T15:26:00.000-08:002009-12-12T15:55:51.806-08:00Children of God premieres at the BIFF

Last night, the Bahamas International Film Festival got underway. Opening the festival was the local feature Children of God, directed by Kareem Mortimer. The film follows the fate of two characters: Jonny, a young white Bahamian artist suffering from depression and who is in danger of losing his scholarship at a local university, and Lena, a middle-aged anti-gay activist. Both head to the island

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-54887925062910243522009-12-05T06:59:00.000-08:002009-12-05T07:19:50.855-08:00The Havana Film Festival, and Johnny Depp at the BIFF

Apologies for being late with this: the Havana Film Festival is currently taking place. The Festival--The International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, to give it its full, proper title--began on December 3rd, and runs until the 10th in Havana, Cuba. It focuses on new feature, documentary and animated films from the Caribbean and Latin America, films "whose significance and artistic values

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-57087983787979526082009-11-17T06:29:00.000-08:002009-11-17T07:15:39.981-08:00Rockstone and Bootheel: the West Indian Film Series

Contemporary Caribbean art is the focus an exhibition currently taking place in Hartford, Connecticut. Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art, which is on at the Real Art Ways gallery, opened on November 14 and runs until March 14 of next year. The show features some 39 artists of the English-speaking Caribbean, including Jamie Lee Loy, whose film Bury Your Mother gained a special

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-33982458574874356012009-11-13T06:24:00.000-08:002009-11-13T10:37:03.161-08:00BIFF! It's the Bahamas International Film Festival

Film festival fervour is currently at a low round these parts--that is, until we start prepping (soon!) for for next year's event--but up at the northern end of the Caribbean, in the Bahamas, buzz is building for the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), which runs from December 10 to 17.Like the trinidad+tobago film festival, the BIFF is celebrating its fourth year of existence this year.

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-16417213308882366392009-10-15T03:52:00.000-07:002009-10-15T04:35:25.488-07:00TTFF + Flow extend partnership

Some good news: as reported in today's Trinidad Guardian, we have extended our partnership with our presenting sponsor, Flow. Flow's initial sponsorship of the trinidad+tobago film festival, which began in 2008 and was set to run for a period of three years, will now be extended for a further three years. This guarantees that Flow will be our presenting sponsor until 2013.Flow's director of

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-38544606790636351482009-10-07T15:30:00.000-07:002009-10-07T15:53:32.171-07:00Lights, Camera . . . Inaction!

Dear readers: as some of you may have noticed, the ttff/09 is now over. We haven't blogged since October 1, so I just wanted to drop a check-in note to explain our inaction over the past week and let you know that we'll be back in the swing of things soon. For now, though, Jonathan and I are taking moment to reclaim our respective pre-festival lives. We're catching up on a few missed deadlines,

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-6560117894033179642009-10-01T13:28:00.000-07:002009-10-01T17:06:19.849-07:00Extra screenings: the winning films

A shot from Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob's Carmen & Geoffrey, which won the jury prize for best film at the trinidad+tobago film festival/09Dear friends of the festival,Due to the overwhelming demand, we shall we screening all of the winning films of the trinidad+tobago film festival/09 one more time. If you didn't catch them before, or would like to see them again, here's your final opportunity

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-44575143008085578082009-09-29T20:35:00.000-07:002009-09-29T20:54:17.729-07:00And the winners are...

First off, apologies. There I was, all set to liveblog the closing ceremony of the trinidad+tobago film festival/09. Then I get to the venue, and what do I find? No WiFi access. (Is there a worse way to break a blogger's heart?) Anyway, there will be a fuller post later, with photos, but for now, here are your winners....Best filmCarmen and Geoffrey, directed by Nick Doob and Linda AtkinsonBest

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-45193635127251511622009-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:002009-09-29T09:12:20.228-07:00Adoor Gopalakrishnan at UWI

Indian filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan speaks at the screening of his film Four Women, which took place yesterday at UWIHow do you know when you're in the presence of a Great Artist? Yesterday afternoon at the School of Education at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, the University's Film Programme, in association with the Indian High Commission and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-72119027699668237792009-09-29T04:52:00.000-07:002009-09-29T07:21:40.089-07:00Liveblogging the TTFF09 awards

Dear Friends of the Festival,After two weeks of films, workshops, Q&A sessions, panel discussions and parties, the trinidad+tobago film festival/09 comes to an end this evening, with the official closing film, awards ceremony and reception at MovieTowne. At 5.45pm the screening of Carmen and Geoffrey takes place, with guest of honour Geoffrey Holder in attendance. After the screening, the awards

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-28891361446250668482009-09-28T15:35:00.000-07:002009-09-28T20:34:57.567-07:00The Cinema of Satyajit Ray and Coolie Pink and Green at MovieTowne

Patricia Mohammed speaks after the screening of her film, Coolie Pink and GreenAdam Low speaks after the screening of his film, The Cinema of Satyajit RayOn September 25 the ttff/09 screened two films as part of our new heritage focus. This year the cinematic spotlight was on India so, of course, we couldn't let the festival pass without taking a look at the work of Satyajit Ray, arguably India's

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-51698876482373400582009-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:002009-09-27T22:51:41.832-07:00The second filmmakers' panel

Filmmakers' panel, from left to right: Marina Salandy Brown (moderator), Ishmahil Blagrove, Adam Lowe, Mariel Brown, Steve McAlpin, Lawrence Coke, and Juan GélasLast Friday, members of the ttff sat with a few of our guest filmmakers at Chaud Restaurant for a panel moderated by festival executive director, Marina Salandy Brown. This was the second and final filmmakers' panel for the 09 season. We

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-36111465397686013632009-09-27T07:41:00.000-07:002009-09-28T04:46:49.725-07:00The use of archival footage in documentary filmmaking

British documentary filmmaker Adam Low at yesterday afternoon's workshopSo yesterday afternoon at the Hotel Normandie, after the team-led morning workshop on the theory and practice of documentary filmmaking, British documentary filmmaker and trinidad+tobago film festival regular Adam Low, who was part of the morning session, did a solo stint on the use and misuse of archive film footage in

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-73860485475194981582009-09-25T22:07:00.000-07:002009-09-25T23:11:27.899-07:00bfm at SFC

ttff/09 bfm guest filmmakers Ishmahil Blagrove (holding mic) and Lawrence CokeThursday night marked the final StudioFilmClub screenings for the trinidad+tobago film festival/09. The three nights of last week's programme were programmed by Hilton Als, who chose as his focus artists' films and issues of identity surrounding womanhood. This week's programme differed as the ttff and SFC welcomed the

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-82721580932893621132009-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:002009-09-25T21:23:45.209-07:00The Solitary Alchemist at MovieTowne

Director Mariel Brown (centre) enjoys a hearty round of applause after The Solitary Alchemist, a portrayal of the life and art of Barbara Jardine. With her from left are: Barbie Jardine, Marina Salandy Brown (ttff director), Sean Edghill (cameraman) and Eniola Adelekan (cinematographer)Yesterday evening, a full house at MovieTowne POS sat enraptured by filmmaker Mariel Brown's documentary, The

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-25997152065434217002009-09-25T17:32:00.000-07:002009-09-25T18:42:29.243-07:00This is Our Country Too at MovieTowne

bfm guest, Ishmahil Blagrove answers a few questions after yesterday's screening of his documentary, This is Our Country Too. Moderating is ttff director, Marina Salandy BrownHello readers, first of all I'd like to apologise for the fact that this post is a day late (hopefully it's not also a dollar short). We've had a busy few days at the festival, so much so that the proliferation of panels and

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-73488607904188343442009-09-25T11:02:00.000-07:002009-09-27T19:55:27.075-07:00The TTFF at UWI

Apologies for the lack of photos with this post, but I've been having good old technical difficulties today. Will add the photos as soon as possible.I'll be the first to admit it: last year's partnership between the trinidad+tobago film festival and the University of the West Indies wasn't exactly a smashing success. Cobbled together at the last minute, the UWI programme for the ttff/08 left much

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-51952314048684657072009-09-24T23:40:00.000-07:002009-09-24T23:56:42.231-07:00**Schedule update: Special Screenings, 25/9 + 26/9**

Dear friends of the festival, we're happy to announce the following special late night screenings, which are not on our website or our printed materials. Screenings will take place at MovieTowne, POSTODAY Friday 25 September11.00 pm SHORTS PACKAGE (Total Running Time: 104 minutes)THE POWER OF THE VAGINA This documentary explores the issue of women’s sexuality and sexual politics, examining

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2413031463921249048.post-69180883974232231162009-09-24T21:38:00.000-07:002009-09-24T23:34:24.924-07:00The future of co-productions (panel notes)

Attendees at the Commonwealth Foundation panel included (front row): Jen Sobol, programme officer of the CF; Tony Hall, filmmaker; Abigail Hadeed, photographer; (second row from right): Marina Salandy Brown, Executive Director of the ttff and Francesca Hawkins, producer of The Siege and director of Sans SouciToday was a busy day for us at the trinidad+tobago film festival so I'm cutting the

Melaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17979130219380115419noreply@blogger.com0