Keyz Studios Film Festival takes Tobago mas to big screen

DAVID SCARLETT

AS the excitement builds for Tobago carnival, the culture of the island takes centre stage through creativity channelled into art and music. From dancing in the streets to detailed costumes, the glory of Tobago transcends to its peak in a celebration of heritage.

Keyz Studios, a Tobago film company, sought to promote the island's carnival through the iniagural Keyz Studios Film Festival, which was held from October 17-19. The festival was held in collaboration with the Scarborough Library to educate the public about Tobago film culture and premiered the feature film, Glory Forbidden Love.

The founder of Keyz Studios, Keylon Whitlock, launched the festival at a media conference on October 14. At the launch, he said the company wanted to create a platform for telling Tobago stories. So the festival was created to serve as a springboard for Tobagonian creatives and to show them that they don’t need to seek permission to create; they can create anything from where they are, with what they have.

He also believes in honouring the people of the people of Tobago, their stories, their traditions, and archiving them to preserve their value. The Scarborough Library supported his vision.

In an interview with Newsday, Whitlock said the film festival was a success.

He believes “seeds were planted” and he aims to continue the work that he started.

Whitlock, a lover of the arts, began his journey as a gospel artiste and church musician. As he delved deeper into his artistic side – designing album covers, producing tracks and filming music videos – he created Keyz Studios to showcase a combination of all art forms in unique ways.

The film festival married film, art, music performance and fashion to produce a product that encapsulated the culture of Tobago and the beauty of its carnival.

On the opening day, Keyz Studios privately launched Glory Forbidden Love at the Scarborough Library. The cast and crew of the film were present as well as Chief Justice Ivor Archie, a former members of the Lydians and supporter of the arts.

Students were also welcomed to have a behind-the-scenes perspective of the art of storytelling, as well as the opportunity to view films specially curated to inspire them to create. This initiative will continue in February 2025.

On the second day, Keyz Studios presented its first public viewing of their feature film at Tobago’s MovieTowne. Students were given preference for viewing in the morning and the general public saw the film in the evening.

Also, during the day at MovieTowne, there was a presentation involving some of the film’s characters that displayed a mashup between mas and fashion.

The final day was titled Fest Talk, at the Scarborough Library, where more local films were featured and the creative process for each film was discussed. Present were directors, artists, musicians, including Lou Lyons for Freetown Collective who led the discussion on art and creativity.

Glory Forbidden Love is a reimagined story of traditional Carnival characters in a Carnival fantasy, and illustrates “playing ah mas on screen.”

The film is based on a character who is on a journey of self-discovery and meets Carnival characters who help him along the way.

It stars Dwayne White-Junior as the main character, Shiniqia Walker, Kymani James, Simone Briggs, Damion Holder and Ruash Celestine, who are all local actors.

The production team is also fully local, with the exception of the wardrobe designer who hails from Barbados.

Whitlock said it combines drama, performance, music and art.

He intends to premiere the film in Trinidad before the national Carnival in March.

He said Tobago’s carnival should not be compared to Trinidad’s or any other carnival, especially as it is a fairly new part of Tobago’s culture.

Whitlock’s goal for the rest of the year is to continue promoting Glory Forbidden Love across TT, as well as to educate citizens about the culture of Tobago carnival and the elements that make the festival unique, by “playing ah mas on screen.”

The closing of the film festival on October 20 brought some unexpected disappointment as all of the director’s camera equipment was stolen during a short visit to Back Bay following the end of the event.

Keyz Studios appealed to the public on social media, "All we want are our items back! We kindly ask that whoever is responsible for this returns the equipment. No questions asked.

"The loss is a huge blow, but returning the gear will allow us to continue the work we’ve dedicated ourselves to.”

Fortunately, on October 21, the items were retrieved after "a good Samaritan" informed Keyz Studios and police that someone was trying to sell camera equipment.

A sting peration was executed and the suspects were held.

Whitlock told Newsday that the incident was “the balance of life happening in the midst of goodness” after the festival.