Despite its relative youth, the UWI Film Programme has garnered a long list of outstanding alumni. In the past year alone, both current and former students have won awards and participated in high profile, international film festivals and workshops.
According to programme co-ordinator Dr Yao Ramesar, these successes are an indication that film is the future:
“Film is an integral part of the future economy. Someone studying film at our programme is being prepared for the real world, and that real world is increasingly about engagement and employment in the creative industries sector in general, and film in particular.”
In February, three alumni – Jian Hennings, Andrei Pierre, and Sophie Walcott – were selected to attend the Berlinale Talent Campus at the Berlin Film Festival. The Talent Campus is a development programme for emerging filmmakers with only 200 participants chosen globally.
Pierre’s film, My Maxi, won Best Trinidad and Tobago Film People’s Choice at the 2022 trinidad + tobago film festival (TTFF). This year, My Maxi has also screened in Jamaica and St Vincent, and at the UK’s Barbican Centre’s Snapshots festival and the US’s Essence Festival. The film is also scheduled to play at the upcoming Toronto Caribbean Tales International Film Festival.
In March, alumnus Oyetayo Raymond Ojoade won Best Documentary for his film Hidden Crime at the Coal City Film Festival in Nigeria. Meanwhile, in May, final-year student Akkel Charles was selected to participate in France’s Cannes Film Festival’s impACT Lab – an intensive workshop for emerging producers.
Also this year, alumnus Shea Best’s, film, Darkie, was picked up for distribution by US company Studio Anansi. Best’s film was also selected as Best Psychological Drama Short at Italy’s Hollywood on the Tiber Film Festival in 2022. Moreover, alumna Solange Plaza was awarded a grant through FilmTT’s Scripts to Screen Programme.
Pierre credited UWI Film and lecturers such as Dr Ramesar with helping him hone his critical lens.
“My UWI experience really helped me learn how to lean into creating subtext in a film. That academic approach to filmmaking is what will continue to differentiate me because most (in the local market) are self-taught. Studying film really allowed me to exercise my creativity and gave me that ability to look at things through unilateral lenses; to be able to explore layers through art, not just a visual or commercial medium, but to be truly artistic,” he said.
Attending the Talent Campus was monumental for him.
“I created so many new relationships with other Caribbean filmmakers. The group chat we started has evolved into an organisation to lobby for Caribbean film in the region.”
Pierre added, “I’ve always pined for the opportunity to leave here and I think being able to go to Berlin was such an eye-opening moment and consolidated all the whispers that anything is possible. It made me realise how small the industry actually is and how big things can happen with the right project. That trip converted me from a local filmmaker to someone with an international mindset. People want to see Caribbean films. They want to know what’s going on here. It was amazing how many people had an interest in us.”
Charles shared similar sentiments about his time at Cannes. “I can’t put the experience into words. It was life-changing.”
He added that apart from learning more about sustainability in production, Cannes was a great opportunity for networking and opening the conversation about the Caribbean, and T&T in particular, having a more prominent presence at the festival in the future.
Another of the successes of The UWI Film Programme is that alumni are creating a local talent pool. Dr Ramesar’s most recent feature, Fortune for All, boasts a cast and crew that are primarily UWI Film alumni. Both Best and Ojoade were crew members. Alumnus Michael Cherrie was the lead actor. Dr Ramesar noted that he did not plan for the film’s cast and crew to be primarily from UWI, but it was a coincidence that speaks to their levels of competency.
Fortune for All was released internationally in Italy at the Ischia Global Film Festival in July. The film is also an Official Selection at the Cacique Film Awards, Lulea International Film Festival in Sweden, Le Festival International du Film Pan Africain de Cannes in France, and the Florence Biennale in Italy. It was also recently screened in Egypt.
Dr Ramesar sees himself as leading by example for student-filmmakers tapping into the international market.
“UWI people are making their mark at high levels,” he said.
As an educator, Dr Ramesar takes pride in the achievements of his students. “I’m very proud of their efforts and impacts. I’m glad they are picking up the space and my heart is full. Every time I see something they’ve produced, I’m like ‘wow’ and I know the hard work and discipline that it’s taken to do so. I really respect that and I get great pleasure in watching their work.”
Started in 2006, over 100 students have graduated the programme since 2009. Soon, the programme will be expanded to include a Masters of Fine Arts in Screenwriting.
