Trinidad and Tobago Film Fest to open with Doubles

THE 18th edition of the TT Film Festival (TTFF) will be launched with the premiere of the film Doubles, and includes several local short films.

Festival organisers the Filmmakers Collaborative of Trinidad and Tobago (FILMCO) announced this on September 4 at the festival launch press conference at the VIP Lounge, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.

The festival will have its opening night on September 20 at Queen's Hall, St Ann’s, with Doubles by writer/director Ian Harnarine, who was born in Canada to parents from TT. It is a feature-length sequel to his award-winning 2011 short film Doubles with Slight Pepper, which told the story of a young doubles vendor dealing with the return of his estranged father from Canada.

The festival will screen over 100 films from the Caribbean, the Caribbean diaspora and about the Caribbean. FILMCO director Danielle Dieffenthaller said there are only 17 local films in the festival, and explained this was due to a lack of investment in films.

"We've seen how lack of investment hurts the festival. And also too, the submissions that we did get, it was basically blood, sweat and tears and nothing else. That's all they had."

She said some of the local films were a minute to five minutes in length because that was all the filmmakers could afford.

Two new additions to the festival are the award category for best film by a woman and a film block titled I Advocate, of films on issues related to domestic violence and women's rights, the latter curated in conjunction with the European Film Festival.

On the new award, Dieffenthaller said there are a lot of women involved in film who are not recognised. She added the block of women’s films will highlight issues normally swept under the carpet, including one called Our Menopause.

She said, however, the organisers managed to "scrape together a really good festival," and FILMCO is proud of what is being showcased this year.

Dieffenthaller also stressed that it was important for people, especially young people, to see themselves on film and be inspired to be directors and actors, rather than only on the news "eating concrete."

The festival's signature sponsor is the National Gas Company (NGC), and senior manager, corporate sustainability, Lisa Burkett said the Caribbean is largely underrepresented in film and television and very often stories are told by outsiders to the region.

"If we are told who we are by outsiders, can we ever be free of colonialism, imperialism? If we don't see our own faces and our own stories reflected and celebrated in all the content we consume, how do we learn that we matter? That there is beauty and value in our culture?"

She said the 2023 TTFF theme, #lookwe, was appropriate, as films are a mirror for everyone to see themselves.

FilmTT chairman Dionne McNicol-Stephenson said capacity development and audience development are two strategic pillars for the company, which is in alignment with TTFF.

"An investment in film is an investment in ourselves."

FILMCO chairman Derwin Howell told the press conference TTFF cannot happen without sponsorship.

"Culture plays a particular role in our development as a society. A lot of it happens organically. But for it to propagate, it needs finance, funding and support."

He called on the rest of corporate TT to join as sponsors and to invest in films as well.

The festival takes place from September 21-27, primarily at MovieTowne and Nalis.

It includes a free night of films for Republic Day, September 24; An Evening of Calypso on Film on September 23; Cinema Under the Stars on September 24 and 25 at Fatima College, Port of Spain, and Naparima Bowl, San Fernando, respectively; screenings at schools and UWI courtesy of Republic Bank; and the return of masterclasses for filmmakers.