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UWI Film Students Scoop Festival Prizes

For Release Upon Receipt - October 19, 2010

St. Augustine


The Film Programme at UWI, St. Augustine, sends its heartiest congratulations to the makers of Quiet Desperation and The Blood and the Bois, each of which won prestigious prizes from the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (TTFF). Both films were produced by students as part of the third-year Capstone course, which requires that students make long-format narrative films. Quiet Desperation received prizes for Best Actor (Errol Roberts) and Best Actress (Helen Jones), while The Blood and the Bois won the People’s Choice Award for Best Short Film. 

Dr. Bruce Paddington, coordinator of the Film Programme, expressed his delight at hearing of the students’ successes. “I am very proud of the fact that students from the UWI Film Programme won three awards at the 2010 Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. Renee Pollonais must be congratulated for her sensitive direction of the film Quiet Desperation and Sigmond Cromwell must also be congratulated for having scripted and directed Blood and the Bois.”  

Other students who worked on the films include Jimmel Daniel, Chiwale Bartholomew, Solange Plaza, Reshma Mohan and Sara Chow Quan, all of whom were part of the crew for Quiet Desperation, and Naomi Howard, Michael Cherrie, Kavita Rajpath and Michael Ramsingh, who worked on The Blood and the Bois.  

Having now won accolades in Trinidad and Tobago, both films are now looking to make a splash in international waters. Quiet Desperation screened at the Portobello Film Festival 2010 in London and was warmly received there, particularly by members of the West Indian diaspora. Further plans are in the works to submit the film to other leading film festivals around the world. 

The makers of The Blood and the Bois plan to submit the film to the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) in Tanzania as well as a number of other festivals. Naomi Howard, the film’s executive producer, has spoken of her determination to see the film reach the international stage, “We believe in the message of The Blood and the Bois and we want to share it with the world.” Martin Mhando, director of ZIFF and visitor to the TTFF this year, has expressed great enthusiasm for the film and is looking forward to receiving an official submission from the film-makers. 

The UWI Film Programme is heartened by the successes of these hard working students and looks forward to their continued success in film production. It also believes that these awards will be part of a larger groundswell of high quality film production in the nation and region as awhole.

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