SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
15
FILM
From Steelpan, the National Instrument
to Steelpan, the Industry
Our very own Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus
Principal Professor Brian Copeland took to the silver
screen in the documentary short,
From Steelpan,
the National Instrument to Steelpan, the Industry
,
directed by Ann-Marie Harry, retired drama andmath
teacher and founding member of the Pan in Schools
Coordinating Council (PSCC). Speaking at the film
premiere on Republic Day, September 24, Ann-
Marie took the festival’s theme, “love film”, to heart,
saying: “The film is intended to be a tool to inspire
the young people and their parents to encourage
them to get involved in the steelpan industry.” In his
role as developer and patenter of the G-pan and P.H.I
(Percussive Harmonic Instrument), Prof Copeland
commended the film’s idea that teaching pan tuning
as an examinable CVQ (Caribbean Vocational
Qualification) subject in schools would be “an
innovative way to diversify the economy and provide
recognition for competencies in pan.”
Reel Human Rights films
At the Reel Human Rights Films Screening and Panel
Discussion, three short films written and directed by
UWI alumni looked at different issues surrounding
LGBTQIA rights:
Please See Attached
by
Andrei
Pierre,
I Choose You
by Siobhan Millette and
Judgment Day
by Francesca Hawkins. The screening
was part of a two-year partnership with the High
Commission of Canadawhere 15 emerging filmmakers
were mentored and competed in a scriptwriting
workshop. Andrei, Siobhan and Francesca were
selected as winners and given CAN$5,000 to go
towards the production of their films.
Andrei saw the motivation behind his film
Please See
Attached
as an opportunity to “Find that concept or
angle that allows you to tell that story in a respectful
manner that dignifies people that are not from your
group, but at the same time is also entertaining.” His
film used some sly, funny instances of T&T picong
and humour to liven up a serious theme of job
discrimination.
Reflecting on her experience, Siobhan felt the
relationships she developed during her time at The
UWI Film Programme enabled her to rely on some
talented fellowfilmmakers tomake her film
I Choose
You
, about a little boy’s hard choices, into a reality.
Meanwhile, the veteran journalist Francesca
Hawkins, who was among the earliest of UWI’s film
studies graduates, applied her sharp eye, narrative
talent and sensitive visual storytelling to create a
powerful short black and white documentary about
a day in the life of Jason Jones in his legal challenge
of the Sexual Offences Act, a relic of colonial era laws
that criminalise sexual relations between consenting
adults of the same sex. Her short film
Judgment
Day
weaves a dramatic tapestry of many different,
often vehemently opposing voices on the issue of
LGBTQIA rights in Trinidad, all converging on the
one day when a landmark historic judgment is made
at the Hall of Justice.
Perhaps Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, UWI History
Lecturer and founder of International Men’s Day,
summed it up best at his own documentary screening
of
International Men’s Day:
“When making a
film, choose a topic that will benefit in some way.
Right now, we need to have movies that are more
conscious that deal with pressing issues. We need
to produce films that offer solutions and show a
different perspective and even have the potential to
develop sequels.”
Sun, Sea and Science: Trinidad after Oil
Another take on economic diversification was offered
in the film
Sun, Sea and Science: Trinidad after Oil,
directed by Raymond Ramcharitar. This film examines
the work of UWI lecturers microbiologist Dr Adesh
Ramsubhag, computer scientist Prof Patrick Hosein,
and medical researcher Prof Paul Teelucksingh, as
alternatives to Trinidad’s economic dependency on
oil. The documentary shows how the work of these
three scientists, and others, as well as the organisation
which brought them together, the Anthony N Sabga
Caribbean Awards for Excellence, could create a path
to economic salvation based on local knowledge and
untapped sustainable resources. Raymond gave thanks
to UWI Today as the first source of all the information
featured in the film, and thanked the film’s production
team, Pixelplay Media, especially Dion Boucaud, for
helping the film come alive after years in the making.
The Deliverer
UWI alumnus and triple-threat writer, director and
actor Paul Pryce saw UWI’s core values as inspiration
for his short film,
The Deliverer:
“My film seeks to
provoke a conversation around the issues of crime and
political corruption and how these ills force ordinary
men tomake morally conflicting choices. One of UWI’s
core values is to bestow critical thinking skills onto the
student and no matter what field you are in, from the
arts to economics, one must always seek to question
what we accept as truth for something greater.”
By
Jeanette G. Awai
Jeanette G. Awai
is a freelance writer, local film lover and marketing and communications assistant at The UWI St. Augustine Marketing and Communications Office.
This year’s
trinidad+tobago film/18
festival (ttff/18)
featured The UWI
staff and alumni tackling social and
economic issues behind and in front of
the camera in nine films, ranging from
shorts to full-length documentaries.
Here we look at a few of them.
Films by UWI-trained filmmakers included three short films on human rights which received sponsorship from the Canadian High Commission.
From left, Francesca Hawkins, Andrei Pierre, Canadian High Commissioner Carla Hogan Rufelds, Dr Bruce Paddington (founder and Film Festival
Director), and Siobhan Millette.
UWI
GETS
REEL
From left,
screenshots
of the
short films
Judgment
Day
,
The
Deliverer
,
and
From
Steelpan,
the National
Instrument
to Steelpan,
the Industry
.
