FilmTT GM: Moving Parts shows Potential for TT films

LOCAL feature film Moving Parts joins an archive of more than 70 films and provided another marker of success for the local industry, says FilmTT general manager Nneka Luke.

She was speaking on Tuesday night at the local premiere of the film held at Central Bank Auditorium, Port of Spain.

She congratulated writer/director Emilie Upzack and her team for not only completing her first feature film but “for setting the project on a path for potential international success that can have a positive impact on Trinidad and Tobago’s developing film sector.”

She said Moving Parts was the most recent feature film to receive grant and equity funding from film company’s feature film programme and the premiere follows 2017 films The Cutlass by Darisha Beresford and Play the Devil by Maria Gorvan.

“Equally important is the fact that Moving Parts joins the growing archive of approximately 73 feature narrative and documentary films that have been produced here in Trinidad and Tobago since 1970s, The Right and the Wrong by Harbance Kumar. That’s 73 features in 48 years,” she said to applause.

“It remains undeniable that not only do we have fantastic stories to tell but there continues to be growing interest from local, regional and international audiences in our compelling content.”

She said as State agency responsible for the sustainable development of the film sector and as the country’s film commission FilmTT acknowledged the international screenings of Moving Parts in Denver, San Francisco, Havana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Panama “as further evidence of the potential of Trinidad and Tobago to make a stamp on the world through film.”

Luke said, alongside the film’s run on the international film festival circuit, in May 2018 Moving Parts was also licensed by an LA-based international sales agent and it was now that company’s job to find sales and distribution opportunities for the film. She said the work began this year with the film’s appearance at Cannes Film Market, the third TT film to do so.

“This is important because the cultural value of this film sits right alongside its potential economic value as a saleable product.”

She described the timing of the premiere as fortuitous as FilmTT was working to develop and implement projects designed to have a direct impact on industry development and its locations business. She said these projects were based on recently completed period of planning.

FILMS continues

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