In this the 11th year of the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff), new collaborations with the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) were added to longer standing ones with the Department of Literary, Communication and Cultural Studies (LCCS) and the Film Programme.
Here are some snapshots of the screenings and presentations:
September 22: LCCS presents Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Works and Impact of C.L.R. James
It was standing room only as audience members packed every aisle in the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) Auditorium for the screening of Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Works and Impact of C.L.R. James. With no preamble, the film plunges into the history of Trinidad starting from James’ birth in 1901 in Tunapuna and uses his literary works to help weave the film together along clips of James himself, most previously unseen. The crowd-funded production was also crowd-featured with amateur volunteers interviewing the people who knew him best and scholars of his work to give a multidimensional portrait of the revolutionary figure. The unique film showcases James’ indefatigable pursuit of justice throughout his life starting from his early days as teacher at Queens Royal College where he would offer classes to the underserved then to his work as a Labour party person. James’ lesser known time spent in Nelson England resonated with audiences as it was here that his dismantling of colonisation started to coalesce with the beginning stages of perhaps his most famous book, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution.
September 23: IGDS and Faculty of Law – Battledream Chronicle and Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (contributed by IGDS)
The Martiniquan animated Battledream Chronicle invited the small but, early afternoon audience to its T&T premiere to imagine humans as slaves to the virtual in a futuristic 2100 world. But it is its decidedly sensual, uncompromising young women, cast as both heroine and villain, that kept audiences glued to the battle for human sovereignty and freedom. The anticipation then built as viewers poured in to the Noor Hassanali Auditorium for the Caribbean premiere of the first ever documentary feature on Maya Angelou. It was more than the imagination that was stirred by this screening of the phenomenal woman’s life. Tears flowed as those both familiar and new to her prose, poetry and powerful voice witnessed her personal and professional truths, minus embellishments. The evening transformed from quiet enjoyment to joyous celebration as the audience left contemplating Dr Angelou’s life and work through a story that, as Director Rita Coburn Whack said she tried to tell the truths Angelou told with dignity.
September 24: FHE in conjunction with the British Council and the Trinidad and Tobago – King Lear The Film
An audience of Shakespeare enthusiasts young and old commemorated the 400th anniversary of his death with the screening of King Lear The Film. From the onset the film’s fourth wall was broken as the audience was immediately plunged into a kingdom of an unstable Lear played by trini-born actor Don Warrington who was at the viewing thanks to the Shakespeare Lives project. Throughout the three hour screening, Warrington provides a new dimension to the larger than life character by infusing his madness with pathos thereby making him humane in the process. During the Q+A session after the film, the audience had effusive praise for the film and Warrington’s amazing performance.
This summary was compiled by Jeanette G. Awai - freelance writer and assistant at the Marketing and Communications office, The UWI St. Augustine.
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