FilmTT, James Amuta win at Vyre Film Fest

The Trinidad and Tobago Film Company Ltd (FilmTT) and Nigerian producer, filmmaker, and fixer James Amuta said their short film, When the Monsters Come Out, has been awarded Best International Short at the Vyre Film Festival (VFF).

The festival is an annual event dedicated to displaying quality content and discovering talent from all over the globe, a media release said.

VFF highlights dramatic, documentary features and short films, series, and episodic content in the form of multimedia, performances, and films, with many projects that have historically been either overlooked or don’t have access to distribution. VYRE Network’s plan is to fill this void and the disconnect between quality content and global viewership, the release said.

When the Monsters Come Out is the product of a two-week, capacity-building Script to Screen Program employing a guerrilla-style filmmaking approach, spearheaded by Amuta in 2023.

Through this programme, emerging filmmakers were provided with invaluable hands-on experience and mentorship, resulting in a compelling production that was filmed entirely in Trinidad, the release said. The programme also provided training in visual storytelling, producing, the art of fixing, production design, locations, product placement, as well as practical training in areas of guerrilla cinematography and directing with purpose, the release said.

"We are immensely proud of When the Monsters Come Out and grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with James Amuta and the talented filmmakers involved," said Leslie Ann Wills-Caton, general manager at FilmTT. "This award is a testament to the power of collaboration and the importance of supporting emerging voices in the film industry."

Amuta is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and cinematographer. His critically-acclaimed documentary film Nightfall in Lagos won the Best Documentary by an African award at TINFF, Toronto and was also nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. His screenplay for the AFRIFF 2021 Closing Film, Collision Course (currently streaming on Netflix), earned him an Africa Movie Academy Award for Prize for Achievement in Screenplay, the release said.

The poet-turned-filmmaker is the author of Enigma: Beyond the Poet, a collection of 84 poems published in 2007, which included critically-acclaimed poems which have featured in international poetry anthologies and publications in the USA and the United Kingdom.

More info: When the Monsters Come Out and other film projects will be available for viewing through the upcoming FilmTT @ The Movies project, follow FilmTT’s Facebook and Instagram pages: @discoverfilmtt.