Federation Studios, the outfit behind the international Emmy award-nominated documentary “Nadia,” is set to co-produce “Patrick Vieira – Off the Bench,” a social-impact documentary shedding light on racism in the world of soccer and beyond.
Federation Studios, whose documentary unit is headed by veteran journalist Myriam Weil, is partnering up with SlugNews, an award-winning production outfit, to develop and produce “Patrick Vieira – Off the Bench.” The documentary feature will soon start shooting in the U.K. and France.
Vieira, the current coach of Crystal Palace, the English Premier League club, has been a pillar for the biggest European clubs, from Arsenal to Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City. He’s also been a member and captain of the French national team which won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.
A well-respected figure within the sports landscape who went from player to coach for one of the world’s most prestigious soccer teams,...
Federation Studios, whose documentary unit is headed by veteran journalist Myriam Weil, is partnering up with SlugNews, an award-winning production outfit, to develop and produce “Patrick Vieira – Off the Bench.” The documentary feature will soon start shooting in the U.K. and France.
Vieira, the current coach of Crystal Palace, the English Premier League club, has been a pillar for the biggest European clubs, from Arsenal to Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City. He’s also been a member and captain of the French national team which won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.
A well-respected figure within the sports landscape who went from player to coach for one of the world’s most prestigious soccer teams,...
- 10/10/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Federation Studios is producing and distributing a documentary about British rockstar Pete Doherty’s addiction problems.
Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin comes from more than 200 hours of footage filmed over a 10-year period by his partner, the director-musician Katia deVidas.
The 90-minute show, which launches at Mipcom, will show the Libertines frontman plunging into the depths of addiction at the height of his popularity. DeVidas is director and writer with Fernanda Rossi and the doc is based on an original idea by Christian Fevret.
Doherty said: “The talent is the man and comes from the man and comes from the artist and doesn’t come from the drugs, and has never come from the drugs. Part of the fun and the challenge of creating is to create in spite of circumstances, so, in spite of being a drug addict, or in spite of being clean. I will create.
Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin comes from more than 200 hours of footage filmed over a 10-year period by his partner, the director-musician Katia deVidas.
The 90-minute show, which launches at Mipcom, will show the Libertines frontman plunging into the depths of addiction at the height of his popularity. DeVidas is director and writer with Fernanda Rossi and the doc is based on an original idea by Christian Fevret.
Doherty said: “The talent is the man and comes from the man and comes from the artist and doesn’t come from the drugs, and has never come from the drugs. Part of the fun and the challenge of creating is to create in spite of circumstances, so, in spite of being a drug addict, or in spite of being clean. I will create.
- 10/4/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Gory Patino debuts with ‘The Goalkeeper’ (‘Muralla’) now screening in Los Angeles.
Did you know that approximately eight children a day disappear from the streets of La Paz in Bolivia as human trafficking becomes a serious international business? This story is not about that but about a man who seeks redemption after his one brush with this as he does the unthinkable to save his desperately ill son. Racked with guilt and haunted by ghosts, Jorge seeks to rescue the young girl he sold, even if it means his own downfall.
This fiction feature is actually a spin-off of a 10 episode TV series called La Entrega that Patino has created about a missing girl sold to the human trafficking network. Muralla, a broken man who was a former soccer star, an incidental character in the series becomes a fully developed character in this movie, Bolivia’s Official Submission for...
Did you know that approximately eight children a day disappear from the streets of La Paz in Bolivia as human trafficking becomes a serious international business? This story is not about that but about a man who seeks redemption after his one brush with this as he does the unthinkable to save his desperately ill son. Racked with guilt and haunted by ghosts, Jorge seeks to rescue the young girl he sold, even if it means his own downfall.
This fiction feature is actually a spin-off of a 10 episode TV series called La Entrega that Patino has created about a missing girl sold to the human trafficking network. Muralla, a broken man who was a former soccer star, an incidental character in the series becomes a fully developed character in this movie, Bolivia’s Official Submission for...
- 11/27/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Love & Bananas Abramorama Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Ashley Bell Screenwriters: Ashley Bell, John Michael McCarthy, Fernanda Rossi Cast: Ashley Bell, Lek Chailert, Noi Na Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/18/18 Opens: April 22, 2018 for Earth Day in select theater. April 27, 2018 Wider. Ninety-nine percent of us use animal products for food. […]
The post Love & Bananas Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Love & Bananas Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 4/19/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Panama City — Mexican documentary filmmaker Everardo Gonzalez is attending Iff Panama for screenings of his multiple award-winning doc “Devil’s Freedom” and as tutor at the fest’s Documentary Workshop, working in conjunction with Campus Latino’s Bettina Walter, Toronto’s documentary programmer, Thom Powers.
“Devil’s Freedom,” a harrowing documentary on Mexico’s drug wars, won top kudos at Los Angeles and Guadalajara.
Gonzalez says that he now wants to change tack in his next project, “El Vientre Yermo” (Sterile womb), that explores hidden life in 10 deserts around the world. He has already explored the universe of the Mexican desert in his 2012 documentary “Drought, but this project focuses on the positive signs of life found in the desert.
He feels that the project is almost a cleansing experience after delving into the psychological and emotional horrors of Mexico’s drug wars in “Devil.”
The shoot includes deserts in Namibia,...
“Devil’s Freedom,” a harrowing documentary on Mexico’s drug wars, won top kudos at Los Angeles and Guadalajara.
Gonzalez says that he now wants to change tack in his next project, “El Vientre Yermo” (Sterile womb), that explores hidden life in 10 deserts around the world. He has already explored the universe of the Mexican desert in his 2012 documentary “Drought, but this project focuses on the positive signs of life found in the desert.
He feels that the project is almost a cleansing experience after delving into the psychological and emotional horrors of Mexico’s drug wars in “Devil.”
The shoot includes deserts in Namibia,...
- 4/10/2018
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Since my first trip to Trinidad + Tobago in 2012 when I attended the festival the first time I have been following the course of the documentary and grand transmedia project, “Pan! Our Music Odyssey”, by the film and music producer, Jean Michel Giber. His recently completed Calypso Rose is a doc about a 70 year old Calypso singer) and written by Dr. Kim Johnson a noted authority on the pan in collaboration with story consultant Fernanda Rossi who has doctored films that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®.
The avant premiere screening of the 80 minute French version by Maturity Productions in Trinidad and Tobago West Indies in association with France Television took place with a live performance of the Odyssey steelband at the party playing the soundtrack of the film where it is creating a buzz at the TV market of Sunny Side of the Docs in La Rochelle, France after finishing its Indiegogo campaign.
Please check the new trailer of the history of Pan (steelband), an extraordinary human adventure Here
The 80 minutes English version will be finalized soon
Find a link to Jean Michel's interview at Sunny Side of the Docs La Rochelle, France Here
When I attended the Festival which is coming up again this September 16th - 30th, I was amazed to find this very small country was filled with every race, as varied as the innumerable species of rice. This country is not only a tropical paradise with its beaches and its forests, its music and its people of indescribable beauty, but its intelligence -- made of Amerindian, African, East Indian, Asian, Arabic, Spanish, French, British and American traditions as translated by the new generation -- is unique. The new and well-educated generation, as we all know, has a special edge over the old and the mainstream.
The country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2013: Overview
trinidad + tobago film festival
Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2012 Has Wrapped!
Pan! Our Music Odyssey - teaser from Jean Michel Gibert on Vimeo.
The avant premiere screening of the 80 minute French version by Maturity Productions in Trinidad and Tobago West Indies in association with France Television took place with a live performance of the Odyssey steelband at the party playing the soundtrack of the film where it is creating a buzz at the TV market of Sunny Side of the Docs in La Rochelle, France after finishing its Indiegogo campaign.
Please check the new trailer of the history of Pan (steelband), an extraordinary human adventure Here
The 80 minutes English version will be finalized soon
Find a link to Jean Michel's interview at Sunny Side of the Docs La Rochelle, France Here
When I attended the Festival which is coming up again this September 16th - 30th, I was amazed to find this very small country was filled with every race, as varied as the innumerable species of rice. This country is not only a tropical paradise with its beaches and its forests, its music and its people of indescribable beauty, but its intelligence -- made of Amerindian, African, East Indian, Asian, Arabic, Spanish, French, British and American traditions as translated by the new generation -- is unique. The new and well-educated generation, as we all know, has a special edge over the old and the mainstream.
The country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2013: Overview
trinidad + tobago film festival
Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2012 Has Wrapped!
Pan! Our Music Odyssey - teaser from Jean Michel Gibert on Vimeo.
- 7/7/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Next week in Miami, hundreds of bloggers, marketers, corporate brand reps, music and film artists will be checking in at the Eden Roc Hotel to attend Hispanicize, a social media platform for today’s Latino innovators. Now in its 4th year, the marketing, interactive, film and music conference was founded by Manny Ruiz, a PR businessman who adopted the term Hispanicize to signify the transformation and growing impact of Latino culture into traditional American mainstream and who created this convergence to amplify the success of diverse voices in social media.
In part modeled after SXSW and Ted Talks, Hispanicize aims to be a digital multi-media launchpad and idea stimulating conference tailored towards Latinos. The event’s core journalistic DNA is confirmed by guest co-chair, Soledad O Brien, who just signed off on her morning CNN show capping off a decade of reporting for the news outlet. For the second year the South Beach setting will host yacht parties, beachside receptions, breakfast and lunch networking, and 100 plus talks, featuring such entrepreneurs in social media like the Latina Mom Bloggers, panels like How Brands and Agencies are Engaging and Collaborating with Latino Bloggers and Getting on Corporate Boards. The heavily sponsored event, (Procter & Gamble is the presenting sponsor) will include a Diversity Tech Leaders Summit presented by Sprint in which the lesser-known business stories of diverse tech and social media entrepreneurs who are making their marks in digital media will be highlighted.
I have to admit I knew nothing of Hispanicize up until a couple months ago. Curious, I went on the website and I found the lingo a tad superfluous and hyperbolic. Words like iconic and mighty are used to describe the young but clearly flourishing event. Then again, this kind of grandiose speak is typical Public Relations so it makes sense given it is a partnership with Hispanic Public Relations Association (Hpra) and the Public Relations Society of America (Prsa).
I reached out to the founder Manny Ruiz to find out more about the mission of the event and found his enthusiasm and excitement for what he considers a pioneering movement infectious. It’s hard to argue that this mass tech and entertainment crossroads gathering makes for an incredible networking opportunity. Ruiz called it a “Uniting of these industries to create a symphony” and went on to note it is much more powerful for bloggers to converge at the same place with journalists, marketers, digital, music and film innovators then if you had them out there individually and remotely. Before I knew it I was put in touch with with Roman Morales, the Film Showcase Organizer and I came onboard as Programmer for the film component. A big reason I stepped in was because I was particularly attracted to presenting Us independent Latino films to an audience heavy with social media influence and bloggers, to see if it would indeed create a higher level of buzz, publicity and exposure from the community.
Along with a special screening of Filly Brown days before its national theatrical release, this year Hispanicize will screen six features including the high profile sneak preview of The Weinstein Company’s Aftershock, the horror comedy produced and starring Eli Roth, directed by Chilean filmmaker Nicolas Lopez (Que Pena tu Vida, Promedio Rojo). Also, straight from SXSW the music industry and character-driven documentary Los Wild Ones about the Wild Records label and family of Mexican rockabilly acts. With the exception of Aftershock, all the films reflect a taste of the diaspora of unique, bi-cultural Us narratives, and notably are all first features. Three of the films, Blaze You Out, Filly Brown and Mission Park are being distributed by Lionsgate labels Pantelion and Grindstone Entertainment. Meanwhile, seeking distribution is Dreamer written and directed by Salvador born Jesse Salmeron, a poignant and timely story starring and produced by Jeremy Ray Valdez about an upwardly mobile American whose paralyzed by the fear of being deported. Los Wild Ones is also seeking distribution and should find considerable traction within and outside hard core music fan circles.
My personal pride and joy however has to be the shorts film showcase. Portraying visionary quests for identity, love, truth and legacy and created by multicultural emergent voices from San Antonio, Miami, La, NYC, Oaxaca and Puerto Rico. This is the medium in which to find provocative, daring and versatile young generation of fresh voices who you can expect will blow up big soon. To name just a few, the filmmakers include Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva of the Borscht corporation, Zoé Salicrup Junco, the filmmaker of Gabi who workshopped her feature script of the short at San Antonio’s CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriters Project, Victor Hugo Duran the Colombia Film grad whose short, Fireworks played at the La Film Festival last year and is currently shooting his first feature in Mexico called La Victoria, and Steve Acevedo, the director of El Cocodrilo which is a powerful and urgent film about a journalist played by Jacob Vargas on the run from narcos, who participated in NBCU Directing Fellowship.
I’ll try not to go all Spring Breaker debauchery when I head to Miami next week. I’m very interested in immersing myself in the Hispanicize program to cover the dialogue and scrutinize the impact so stay tuned for my report.
See below to check out full film list and links. Hispanicize will take place April 9 – 13. For information on how to attend and the schedule click here.
Blaze You Out
(USA, 2013, 90 min)
Writers/Directors: Mateo Frazier, Diego Joaquin Lopez
Cast: Veronica Diaz Carranza, Elizabeth Pena, Q’orianka Kilcher, Mark Adair Rios, Elizabeth Pena
Logline: An unyielding young woman ventures into the ruthless underworld of the town’s heroin trade in order to save her younger sister’s life.
Dreamer
(USA, 2013)
Writer/Director: Jesse Salmeron
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Isabella Hofmann, Cory Knauf
Logline: Joe Rodriguez is an All American young man. He’s amiable, well educated and attractive. He’s graduated from college and is working and excelling in his field. He’s on his way to achieving the American Dream. That is until his employer discovers his undocumented status and the life he’s worked so hard for begins to crumble around him. He must face the possibility of losing his livelihood, his family and even himself.
Los Wild Ones
(USA, 2013, 95 min)
Director: Elise Salomon Writers: Ryan Brown, Elise Salomon
Featuring Luis Arriaga, Gizzelle, the Rhythm Shakers and more
Logline: Wild Records is an La indie music label comprised of young Hispanic musicians, it is run by Irishman, Reb Kennedy. Wild is an unconventional family, reminiscent of the early days of Sun Records, all of its musicians write and perform 50s Rock ‘n Roll. If Wild is going to continue to grow and reach broader audiences, its current business model will cease to work.
Aftershock
(USA, 2012, 90 min)
Director: Nicolás López
Writers: Guillermo Amoedo, Nicolás López and Eli Roth
Cast: Andrea Osvart, Ariel Levy, Eli Roth
Logline: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.
Mission Park
(USA, 2013, 120 min)
Writer/Director: Bryan Ramirez
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Walter Perez, Fenanda Romero, Joseph Julian Soria, William Rothaar, Jesse Borrego
Logline: Four friends from the rough side of town grow apart when two are consumed by a life of crime, and the other two become FBI agents sent deep undercover – to bring down those childhood friends.
Shorts Film Showcase~
#Postmodem
(USA, 2012, 13 mins)
Writers/Directors: Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer
Cast: Jillian Mayer, Kayla Delacerda, Amy Seimetz, Arly Montes, Jesse Miller, Shivers Thedog
Logline: A comedic, satirical, sci-fi pop musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, #PostModem is the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.
@borschtcorp
Fireworks
(USA, 2012, 11 mins)
Director: Victor Hugo Duran
Writer: Kevin James McMuillin
Cast: Roger Cruz, Alberto Castañeda, Irene Sorto, Azucena Benitez, Edgar Vanegas, Julio Duran, Victor Hugo Duran, Kevin James McMullin
Logline: During the Fourth of July in South Los Angeles, a teenage boy and his brother scour the neighborhood for fireworks in order to win the admiration of a girl.
Twitter: @victorhugoduran
Clara Como El Agua
(USA, 2012 10 min)
Writer/Director: Fernanda Rossi
Cast: Kathiria Bonilla León, Sixta Rivera, Rubén Andrés Medina, Alfonso Peña Ossoria, Stephanie Quiles Reyes, Eyra Aguero
Logline: Clara is the only light-skinned and clear-eyed girl in an all-black neighborhood. Teased incessantly, the children claim her unknown father is actually a “gringo” tourist. However, Clara was told a different story, and to find out the truth, she will venture into the magical waters of the bioluminescent bay all on her own.
Echo Bear
(USA, 2012 6min)
Writer/director: Yolanda Cruz
Cast: Joe Nunez, Hugo Medina, Tzina Carmel, Donato López, Lobo Manet
Logline: Bear, a single gay Latino man in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood, looks for love online. Fearing traffic, he searches locally, but soon discovers how geographic convenience can turn to heartache overnight.
Vincent Valdez: Excerpts For John
(2012, USA, 12 min)
Directed by Mark and Angela Walley
Logline: Two years in the making, this beautifully shot and perfectly paced short documentary captures the creative process of painter Vincent Valdez, as the artist works on a series of pieces dedicated to a childhood friend John Holt Jr. an Army combat medic who died in 2009 after serving in Iraq.
El Cocodrilo
(2012, 15 min)
Director: Steve Acevedo
Writer: Alfredo Barrios, Jr.
Cast: Jacob Vargas Hugo Medina Shannon Lucio Manuel Uriza
Logline: A Mexican journalist and a cartel assassin collide in a diner, with tragic consequences for both.
Reinaldo Arenas
(USA, 2012, 3:29min)
Writer/director Lucas Leyva
Shark: Alberto Ibarguen Man: Epifanio Leyva
Logline: Told from the point of view of a dying shark, 'Reinaldo Arenas' metaphorically captures the current state of the aging Cuban-American exile community, many of whom have still not come to terms with the Communist Revolution that changed their lives forever. The film culls from various Cuban films and works of literature to create not a singular voice, but a feeling of a particular moment in time
@borschtcorp
Gabi
(2012, USA 20 min)
Writer/Director: Zoe Junco
Cast: Marisé Alvarez , Dalia Davi , Roy Sanchez Vahamonde , Aris Mejias
Logline: A Puerto Rican saying haunts single women in their 30’s: “If such a woman is not married by this time, she must be a slut, a lesbian, or a prude.” This is the story of that woman...
@gabifilm...
In part modeled after SXSW and Ted Talks, Hispanicize aims to be a digital multi-media launchpad and idea stimulating conference tailored towards Latinos. The event’s core journalistic DNA is confirmed by guest co-chair, Soledad O Brien, who just signed off on her morning CNN show capping off a decade of reporting for the news outlet. For the second year the South Beach setting will host yacht parties, beachside receptions, breakfast and lunch networking, and 100 plus talks, featuring such entrepreneurs in social media like the Latina Mom Bloggers, panels like How Brands and Agencies are Engaging and Collaborating with Latino Bloggers and Getting on Corporate Boards. The heavily sponsored event, (Procter & Gamble is the presenting sponsor) will include a Diversity Tech Leaders Summit presented by Sprint in which the lesser-known business stories of diverse tech and social media entrepreneurs who are making their marks in digital media will be highlighted.
I have to admit I knew nothing of Hispanicize up until a couple months ago. Curious, I went on the website and I found the lingo a tad superfluous and hyperbolic. Words like iconic and mighty are used to describe the young but clearly flourishing event. Then again, this kind of grandiose speak is typical Public Relations so it makes sense given it is a partnership with Hispanic Public Relations Association (Hpra) and the Public Relations Society of America (Prsa).
I reached out to the founder Manny Ruiz to find out more about the mission of the event and found his enthusiasm and excitement for what he considers a pioneering movement infectious. It’s hard to argue that this mass tech and entertainment crossroads gathering makes for an incredible networking opportunity. Ruiz called it a “Uniting of these industries to create a symphony” and went on to note it is much more powerful for bloggers to converge at the same place with journalists, marketers, digital, music and film innovators then if you had them out there individually and remotely. Before I knew it I was put in touch with with Roman Morales, the Film Showcase Organizer and I came onboard as Programmer for the film component. A big reason I stepped in was because I was particularly attracted to presenting Us independent Latino films to an audience heavy with social media influence and bloggers, to see if it would indeed create a higher level of buzz, publicity and exposure from the community.
Along with a special screening of Filly Brown days before its national theatrical release, this year Hispanicize will screen six features including the high profile sneak preview of The Weinstein Company’s Aftershock, the horror comedy produced and starring Eli Roth, directed by Chilean filmmaker Nicolas Lopez (Que Pena tu Vida, Promedio Rojo). Also, straight from SXSW the music industry and character-driven documentary Los Wild Ones about the Wild Records label and family of Mexican rockabilly acts. With the exception of Aftershock, all the films reflect a taste of the diaspora of unique, bi-cultural Us narratives, and notably are all first features. Three of the films, Blaze You Out, Filly Brown and Mission Park are being distributed by Lionsgate labels Pantelion and Grindstone Entertainment. Meanwhile, seeking distribution is Dreamer written and directed by Salvador born Jesse Salmeron, a poignant and timely story starring and produced by Jeremy Ray Valdez about an upwardly mobile American whose paralyzed by the fear of being deported. Los Wild Ones is also seeking distribution and should find considerable traction within and outside hard core music fan circles.
My personal pride and joy however has to be the shorts film showcase. Portraying visionary quests for identity, love, truth and legacy and created by multicultural emergent voices from San Antonio, Miami, La, NYC, Oaxaca and Puerto Rico. This is the medium in which to find provocative, daring and versatile young generation of fresh voices who you can expect will blow up big soon. To name just a few, the filmmakers include Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva of the Borscht corporation, Zoé Salicrup Junco, the filmmaker of Gabi who workshopped her feature script of the short at San Antonio’s CineFestival’s Latino Screenwriters Project, Victor Hugo Duran the Colombia Film grad whose short, Fireworks played at the La Film Festival last year and is currently shooting his first feature in Mexico called La Victoria, and Steve Acevedo, the director of El Cocodrilo which is a powerful and urgent film about a journalist played by Jacob Vargas on the run from narcos, who participated in NBCU Directing Fellowship.
I’ll try not to go all Spring Breaker debauchery when I head to Miami next week. I’m very interested in immersing myself in the Hispanicize program to cover the dialogue and scrutinize the impact so stay tuned for my report.
See below to check out full film list and links. Hispanicize will take place April 9 – 13. For information on how to attend and the schedule click here.
Blaze You Out
(USA, 2013, 90 min)
Writers/Directors: Mateo Frazier, Diego Joaquin Lopez
Cast: Veronica Diaz Carranza, Elizabeth Pena, Q’orianka Kilcher, Mark Adair Rios, Elizabeth Pena
Logline: An unyielding young woman ventures into the ruthless underworld of the town’s heroin trade in order to save her younger sister’s life.
Dreamer
(USA, 2013)
Writer/Director: Jesse Salmeron
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Isabella Hofmann, Cory Knauf
Logline: Joe Rodriguez is an All American young man. He’s amiable, well educated and attractive. He’s graduated from college and is working and excelling in his field. He’s on his way to achieving the American Dream. That is until his employer discovers his undocumented status and the life he’s worked so hard for begins to crumble around him. He must face the possibility of losing his livelihood, his family and even himself.
Los Wild Ones
(USA, 2013, 95 min)
Director: Elise Salomon Writers: Ryan Brown, Elise Salomon
Featuring Luis Arriaga, Gizzelle, the Rhythm Shakers and more
Logline: Wild Records is an La indie music label comprised of young Hispanic musicians, it is run by Irishman, Reb Kennedy. Wild is an unconventional family, reminiscent of the early days of Sun Records, all of its musicians write and perform 50s Rock ‘n Roll. If Wild is going to continue to grow and reach broader audiences, its current business model will cease to work.
Aftershock
(USA, 2012, 90 min)
Director: Nicolás López
Writers: Guillermo Amoedo, Nicolás López and Eli Roth
Cast: Andrea Osvart, Ariel Levy, Eli Roth
Logline: In Chile, a group of travelers who are in an underground nightclub when a massive earthquake hits quickly learn that reaching the surface is just the beginning of their nightmare.
Mission Park
(USA, 2013, 120 min)
Writer/Director: Bryan Ramirez
Cast: Jeremy Ray Valdez, Walter Perez, Fenanda Romero, Joseph Julian Soria, William Rothaar, Jesse Borrego
Logline: Four friends from the rough side of town grow apart when two are consumed by a life of crime, and the other two become FBI agents sent deep undercover – to bring down those childhood friends.
Shorts Film Showcase~
#Postmodem
(USA, 2012, 13 mins)
Writers/Directors: Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer
Cast: Jillian Mayer, Kayla Delacerda, Amy Seimetz, Arly Montes, Jesse Miller, Shivers Thedog
Logline: A comedic, satirical, sci-fi pop musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, #PostModem is the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.
@borschtcorp
Fireworks
(USA, 2012, 11 mins)
Director: Victor Hugo Duran
Writer: Kevin James McMuillin
Cast: Roger Cruz, Alberto Castañeda, Irene Sorto, Azucena Benitez, Edgar Vanegas, Julio Duran, Victor Hugo Duran, Kevin James McMullin
Logline: During the Fourth of July in South Los Angeles, a teenage boy and his brother scour the neighborhood for fireworks in order to win the admiration of a girl.
Twitter: @victorhugoduran
Clara Como El Agua
(USA, 2012 10 min)
Writer/Director: Fernanda Rossi
Cast: Kathiria Bonilla León, Sixta Rivera, Rubén Andrés Medina, Alfonso Peña Ossoria, Stephanie Quiles Reyes, Eyra Aguero
Logline: Clara is the only light-skinned and clear-eyed girl in an all-black neighborhood. Teased incessantly, the children claim her unknown father is actually a “gringo” tourist. However, Clara was told a different story, and to find out the truth, she will venture into the magical waters of the bioluminescent bay all on her own.
Echo Bear
(USA, 2012 6min)
Writer/director: Yolanda Cruz
Cast: Joe Nunez, Hugo Medina, Tzina Carmel, Donato López, Lobo Manet
Logline: Bear, a single gay Latino man in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood, looks for love online. Fearing traffic, he searches locally, but soon discovers how geographic convenience can turn to heartache overnight.
Vincent Valdez: Excerpts For John
(2012, USA, 12 min)
Directed by Mark and Angela Walley
Logline: Two years in the making, this beautifully shot and perfectly paced short documentary captures the creative process of painter Vincent Valdez, as the artist works on a series of pieces dedicated to a childhood friend John Holt Jr. an Army combat medic who died in 2009 after serving in Iraq.
El Cocodrilo
(2012, 15 min)
Director: Steve Acevedo
Writer: Alfredo Barrios, Jr.
Cast: Jacob Vargas Hugo Medina Shannon Lucio Manuel Uriza
Logline: A Mexican journalist and a cartel assassin collide in a diner, with tragic consequences for both.
Reinaldo Arenas
(USA, 2012, 3:29min)
Writer/director Lucas Leyva
Shark: Alberto Ibarguen Man: Epifanio Leyva
Logline: Told from the point of view of a dying shark, 'Reinaldo Arenas' metaphorically captures the current state of the aging Cuban-American exile community, many of whom have still not come to terms with the Communist Revolution that changed their lives forever. The film culls from various Cuban films and works of literature to create not a singular voice, but a feeling of a particular moment in time
@borschtcorp
Gabi
(2012, USA 20 min)
Writer/Director: Zoe Junco
Cast: Marisé Alvarez , Dalia Davi , Roy Sanchez Vahamonde , Aris Mejias
Logline: A Puerto Rican saying haunts single women in their 30’s: “If such a woman is not married by this time, she must be a slut, a lesbian, or a prude.” This is the story of that woman...
@gabifilm...
- 4/3/2013
- by Christine Davila
- Sydney's Buzz
Trinidad & Tobago is a very small country filled with every race, as varied as the innumerable species of rice. "One quality we all share as humans is we are all different from each other," to quote Dylan Kerrigan. T&T seems like a microcosm of the world today at its best. I know I am not seeing the daily or the political problems the people must cope with in their lives, but I do have the privilege not to be a tourist but a participant in trinidad + tobago film festival, a seven year old event. Film, one of the seven new industries this oil-rich republic has designated for development, is vibrant and alive here. This country is not only a tropical paradise with its beaches and its forests, its music and its people of indescribable beauty, but its intelligence -- made of Amerindian, African, East Indian, Asian, Arabic, Spanish, French, British and American traditions as translated by the new generation -- is unique. The new and well-educated generation, as we all know, has a special edge over the old and the mainstream. What do I mean with these flaunting words?
I am astounded by what I have discovered here. The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires me and everyone who attends this festival.
To wax a little bit more poetic: the solution to the "immigration problem" can be solved simply by relabeling the state of the world today as one of Diaspora. When I grew up I thought the word Diaspora pertained exclusively to the Jews. We went through numerous diasporas, from the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem to the expulsion from Spain, then from all Europe. I think that if the greatest thinkers of the western world had not perished in the Shoah, we would have found words and formulations to deal with the issues of immigration and integration we are facing today. The words immigration and integration are antipodes. Looking at Trinidad & Tobago, immediately apparent and a constant topic of discussion in the society itself, in music, art and film, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora. And the Diaspora of Trinidadians in the world today mainly to Canada, New York, U.K. and Miami sees more Trinidadians outside than in the country itself. Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today.
Speaking of Diaspora, the country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
A grand transmedia project called Pan is now being planned for 2013 by the film and music producer, Jean Michel Giber (his recently completed Calypso Rose is a doc about a 70 year old Calypso singer) and written by Dr. Kim Johnson a noted authority on the pan in collaboration with story consultant Fernanda Rossi who has doctored films that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®.
And yet another aspect of Diaspora: Canada whose citizens are also spread throughout the world in diaspora and who has the most coproduction treaties in the world is also here lending strong sponsorship support through its Rbc Royal Bank which has banks throughout the Caribbean and Flow which offers internet, telephone and tv throughout the region. This year's focus is on Canada which is celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations and cultural and creative links between the two countries. Aside from the number of Canadian films screening and the number of Canadian filmmakers attending, Christian Sida-Valenzuela, Director of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival is on the jury.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, Amerindian, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working in film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
The industry has come to ttff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Ttff has formed alliances with Tribeca Film Institute, Cba Worldview -- Commonwealth Broadcasting Association aims to improve U.K. public understanding and awareness of the developing world via the mainstream broadcast and digital media. WorldView supports producers bringing the richness and diversity of the wider-world to U.K. audiences. Cba Worldview provides seed funding to producers to enable them to spend time in the developing world researching stories, identifying characters and locations and shooting taster tapes. Cba Worldview itself has alliances with Tribeca, Sundance and Idfa. Other ttff alliances are with Cuba's Icaic and the Havana Film Festival, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival, U.S.'s National Black Programming Consortium, a part of the Public Broadcasting System and Acp which is the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages).
Acp has a fund of €12 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave their award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity to the feature Stone Street. On presenting the prize, he reiterated Acp's motto, "No future without culture" and presented the prize on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people while encouraging filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Because Guadaloupe is French, it can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this. The BBC seriesDeath in Paradise has been such a hit that the BBC is renewing the series to the benefit of Guadaloupe's coffers.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 35% rebate on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart (Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys' Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made in 1993 and in 2006 and yet remains mostly forgotten. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Antiguan Jamaica Kincaid, Cuban Alejo Carpentier or Martiniquese Edward Glissant?
The winner of the Jury Prize for Best Caribbean Film by a non-Caribbean went to Canadian filmmaker Christy Garland for her documentary The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, a documentary that had the strongest buzz here. The trailer alone moved the audience at the awards ceremony to a collective and spontaneous sigh of sympathy. What a fiction adaptation could be made from the stories these people have to tell.
Some filmmakers are already embedding themselves here. Trinidadian native Ian Harnarin comes from Canada and lives in New York. We met at Tiff this year in a mentoring program where he was one of four most promising new filmmakers. His short was executive produced by Spike Lee. He is now working on the feature length film of the short. "I'm extremely happy to be taking my film Doubles With Slight Pepper to the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. The film was shot on location throughout Trinidad with a local cast and a lot of local crew. The film has garnered some amazing awards and screened at other festivals around the world, so Ttff will mark a homecoming for it. It's coming to be very special for the local audience to finally see it with the cast and filmmakers." This film is available on iTunes.
Alrick Brown, the director of Kinyarwanda, a hit of last year 's Sundance Ff, led the immersion workshops in documentaries with Fernanda Rossi, a New York based doc scriptwriter. Alrick also teaches at Rutgers and Nyu. Andrew Donsunmu, the director of Restless City which Ronna Wallace has been actively repping since Sundance (she just made a good digital deal for the film) and which will be released stateside by Affrm (as will Kinyarwanda) was part of a very interesting informal discussion which took place on the bus returning from our day at the beach about movement and the almost genetic styles of dance and choices of sports of the African diaspora...like why so many islanders can't swim, why they don't eat fish in Cuba, how Samba, Calypso, and a certain Jamaican dance use the same steps though to different beats. Such animated discussions of intercultural topics are frequent here and always fascinate and animate the participants and residents.
The filmmakers also participated in panels for the industry, sharing their motivation and modi operandi. Christy Garland, director of Bastards Sing the Sweetest Song, filmed in French Guyana spoke of how she enters an unknown culture with a vague idea for a subject and proceeds to draw people out until the story unveils itself to her. Patricia Benoit, director of Stones in the Sun which participated in Wroclaw's American Film Festival for films in post-production competition spoke of her dislike of people always talking of Haiti's "resilence" in the face of all its troubles and wanted to show the hidden wounds of Haitians with their own history while living in New York. The films title comes from the proverb, “Stones in the water don't know the suffering of stones in the sun.” You can read Indiewire's interview with her from Tribeca Film Festival here. Matias Meyer spoke of The Last Christeros, which showed in Toronto and is being sold by FiGa Films, wanting to show not the battles but the spaces between battles when a segment of the 90% Catholic population of Mexico waged war against the state in the 1920s when the government banned religion. American filmmaker Chris Metzler spoke of his film Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone as a wonderful tribute to failure. Another Trinidadian in Canada, Richard Fung talked of how when he grew up he loved dhalpuri roti and so set out to discover where this spicy flatbread was born in the film Dal Puri Diaspora. Next month Richard will present his film at Nyu. One entire panel discussion was given to The Jamaican Collective's New Caribbean Cinema collection of shorts all made Guerilla style in one day, Ring di Alarm. Shadow and Act covered this last month.
In addition to this productive work of sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, have opened their arms and invited us to join them these past few days in celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people. The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, though 40% is Bp, a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
In Moscow this past June, the event Doors held similar discussions among 25 American distributors and Russian filmmakers about exporting their films and creating viable co- productions. After those three days in Moscow, we were rewarded with the most spectacular trip any of us had ever experienced, driving to St. Petersburg and Petershof, attending the Mariansky Ballet to see Sleeping Beauty and the star ballet dancer of Russia from the best seats in the house, taking a long cruise through St. Petersburg's canals during the White Nights, when the sun never sets. That trip which we were privileged to participate in (thanks to L.A.'s Russian Film Commissioner Eleonora Granata and her boss Catherine Mtsitouridze who hired us to organize) did not surpass the bonus tour ttff gave us industry-ites to Las Maracas beach where we rode the waves in warm water until a tropical rain storm and hurricane type wind, lightning and thunder drove us out of the water to huddle under a shelter until if passed, and the evening Leslie Fields-Cruz of the National Programming Consortium of PBS and I spent with Trinidadian film and music producer, Jean Michel Gibert of Caribbean Music Group, music scholar extraordinaire Tim Johnson and Nestor Sullivan, music legend, steel drum virtuoso and manager of the prize-winning 120 piece steel band orchestra Pamberi at a steel drum orchestra rehearsal for Carnaval. I can say with authority, this experience was on an equal par with the best Russia has to offer.
Validation of the genius of this country can be found in the story of one man, Anthony Williams, who invented the tuned steelpan, and in a discussion I had with another Trinidad filmmaker, Janine Fung, who won the People's Choice for Best Documentary La Gaita. Janine, as you can guess from her name, is of Chinese descent, though thoroughly international and Trinidadian to boot. Her grandmother's extended family lived in Trinidad. Recently the Chinese embassy called her to see if she might research and make a documentary about a Trinidad woman who brought western ballet to China. When they named her she realized it as her grandmother's first cousin who had left Trinidad to study ballet in London and when she toured to China, she captivated the audience and remained to establish western ballet in China. No one in Trinidad is aware of this and Janine now must make the documentary. I love stories like this. Nestor Sullivan whose father played in the same steel drum orchestra which is 70 years old, told me that his grandmother told him he was the spitting image of her father who came to Trinidad somewhere between 1840 to 60 after slavery had been abolished (1833). His father was a Yoruban prince who was never enslaved except when kidnapped and carried to the New World. Looking at Nestor, you know this to be true. His grandmother was born in 1888. When we did the math, I calculated this was around the same time that my own grandmother was born after her mother had come to USA as a bride in 1881.
Filmmaker, Faisal Lutchmedial (Mr. Crab, a delightful short film of a shy 10 year old boy who idolizes and fears his imposing father and hides and escapes into a dream world, where the frightening Mr Crab with his deadly sharp claws awaits him until he hears the real fear in his father's voice when he cannot find him) resides in Montreal, and tells of his family's home in a section of Trinidad which has, to this day, remained almost exactly as it was when his father was a boy in 1945. In fact, he took a photograph of himself standing in the same spot where his father stood as a child and the surroundings are identical. He was looking forward to going there to "lime" for a few days after the festival.
When the two part France TV feature Toussaint Ouveture won two prizes, one for Audience Award for Best Narrative and the other to Jimmy Jean-Louis for Best Actor in a Caribbean film, Jimmy,whose stunning presence is as sweet as his beautiful face, and who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Creole, spoke sponteously of Haiti's continued plight and of the fact that this historical epic deserves to be seen as widely as possible to remind the world that Haiti was the first nation to liberate itself and its slaves from its colonial masters 200 years before most other Caribbean nations declared or were granted their independence.
One other discovery I made was of Dana Verde of 3Ck Media (meaning 3rd culture kids, a term coined in the 50s by cultural anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem). Dana Verde is a Cuban-Jamaican filmmaker who enjoys telling stories from the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. After receiving her Ma in Filmmaking from the London Film School in 2008, the Brooklyn filmmaker returned to New York to work as an independent filmmaker – writing and directing spec commercials, music videos and short films. Currently she divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and is venturing into directing feature films that encapsulate a crosscultural perspective. Check out her short Lock and Key on Facebook.
In summation of this whirlwind 4 day trip, it was well worth the 8 hour flight. So immersed was I that I find I must return, and much as I hate to reveal this new untrammeled festival and country, I must tell about it. I was the only press there, but I'm sure it will catch the eye of then rest of the world soon as it is a growth area for film invention and innovation on all fronts, from education (Bruce Paddington who teaches film at the University of The West Indies along with Christopher Meir, a native of Buffalo, New York).to production to marketing and distribution under the aegis of T&T Film Company. Although in the 50s Robert Mitchum filmed The Fire Down Below and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in T&T and you can be sure he had a blast there, still I feel like I have discovered it anew!
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band. The gala awards ceremony of the ttff/12 took place at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain. Here is a full list of the winners which can also be found here.
Jury Awards: Best Films
Best Narrative Feature: Distancia, directed by Sergio Ramirez from Guatemala
Best Documentary Feature: The Story of Lover’s Rock, directed by Menelik Shabazz
Best Short: Peace: Memories of Anton de Kom, directed by Ida Does
Best Caribbean Film by an International Filmmaker: The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, directed by Christy Garland
Special mentions in the best film category:
Best Narrative Feature: Choco, directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Best Documentary Feature: Broken Stones, directed by Guetty Felin
Best Short: Awa Brak, directed by Juan Francisco Pardo
Jury Awards: Best Local Films
Best Local Feature: Inward Hunger, directed by Mariel Brown
Best Local Short: Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Jury Awards: Acting
Best Actor in a Caribbean Film: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
Best Actor in a Local Film: Christopher Chin Choy, Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Best Actress in a Local Film: Terri Lyons, No Soca, No Life, directed by Kevin Adams
People’s Choice Awards
People’s Choice Award: Narrative Feature: Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
People’s Choice Award: Documentary Feature: La Gaita, directed by Janine Fung
People’s Choice Award: Best Short: Buck: The Man Spirit, directed by Steven Taylor
Other Awards
Film in Development Award: Cutlass, Deresha Beresford & Teneille Newallo
WorldView/Tribeca Film Film Institute Pitch Awards: Ryan Khan, Joaquin Ruano, Natalie Wei
Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Award: Michelle Serieux
Film that Best Epitomises Cultural Diversity: Stone Street, directed by Elspeth Kydd
Film Criticism Award: Barbara Jenkins, “Three’s a Crowd”, review of Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy
Film Criticism Special Mentions: Dainia Wright, Renelle White
Best Student, University of the West Indies Film Programme: Dinesh Maharaj
AfroPop/National Black Programming Consortium Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: Mandisa Pantin
50-Second Film Competition: M Jay Gonzalez...
I am astounded by what I have discovered here. The Caribbean multiplicity of island cultures, T&T's proximity to Latin America and how the film festival's founder and director Bruce Paddington sees the film industry developing from this pivotal point inspires me and everyone who attends this festival.
To wax a little bit more poetic: the solution to the "immigration problem" can be solved simply by relabeling the state of the world today as one of Diaspora. When I grew up I thought the word Diaspora pertained exclusively to the Jews. We went through numerous diasporas, from the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem to the expulsion from Spain, then from all Europe. I think that if the greatest thinkers of the western world had not perished in the Shoah, we would have found words and formulations to deal with the issues of immigration and integration we are facing today. The words immigration and integration are antipodes. Looking at Trinidad & Tobago, immediately apparent and a constant topic of discussion in the society itself, in music, art and film, is Diaspora. The entire human race is represented here as a product of Diaspora, not immigrants, but citizens of a society of people in Diaspora. And the Diaspora of Trinidadians in the world today mainly to Canada, New York, U.K. and Miami sees more Trinidadians outside than in the country itself. Diaspora is the new synthesis of the world today.
Speaking of Diaspora, the country's genius-created instrument, Pan, or the steel drum, the only new musical instrument created in the 20th century, is now a subject of study in most university music schools and has more adherents and orchestras abroad than in the country itself. Pan is compulsory in Finnish primary schools. In France it builds self-esteem and discipline in schools in rough neighborhoods. There are more steelbands in Switzerland (although they are smaller) than in T&T (where a small orchestra has 120 members). In African it is different. Johannesburg ensembles combine pans and marimbas. In Tokyo they are extensions of large corporations. Soon all will come to pan’s Mecca for a grand family reunion. During Carnival, 1,000 steel drum musicians converge here from all over the world where a giant parade and competition called Panorama transform T&T into a musical paradise. You cannot imagine the transformative power of a steel band orchestra (called "pan") unless you experience it first hand.
A grand transmedia project called Pan is now being planned for 2013 by the film and music producer, Jean Michel Giber (his recently completed Calypso Rose is a doc about a 70 year old Calypso singer) and written by Dr. Kim Johnson a noted authority on the pan in collaboration with story consultant Fernanda Rossi who has doctored films that went on to be nominated for Academy Awards®.
And yet another aspect of Diaspora: Canada whose citizens are also spread throughout the world in diaspora and who has the most coproduction treaties in the world is also here lending strong sponsorship support through its Rbc Royal Bank which has banks throughout the Caribbean and Flow which offers internet, telephone and tv throughout the region. This year's focus is on Canada which is celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations and cultural and creative links between the two countries. Aside from the number of Canadian films screening and the number of Canadian filmmakers attending, Christian Sida-Valenzuela, Director of the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival is on the jury.
The film world here is developing on four levels simultaneously and by design. Inclusive of British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial and slave-trading traditions, Amerindian, African, Indian, Arab and Asian diaspora communities here are working in film education, festival, production and distribution not only at home but throughout the region of the Caribbean nations, already represented in The United Nations in a 15 member Caribbean Community political consortium called Caricom.
The industry has come to ttff to tell of subsidies and coproduction opportunities, possibilities for marketing and distribution in the global marketplace, and to give immersion workshops on filmmaking and film criticism.
Ttff has formed alliances with Tribeca Film Institute, Cba Worldview -- Commonwealth Broadcasting Association aims to improve U.K. public understanding and awareness of the developing world via the mainstream broadcast and digital media. WorldView supports producers bringing the richness and diversity of the wider-world to U.K. audiences. Cba Worldview provides seed funding to producers to enable them to spend time in the developing world researching stories, identifying characters and locations and shooting taster tapes. Cba Worldview itself has alliances with Tribeca, Sundance and Idfa. Other ttff alliances are with Cuba's Icaic and the Havana Film Festival, Curacao Film Festival which is itself an extension of the Rotterdam Film Festival, U.S.'s National Black Programming Consortium, a part of the Public Broadcasting System and Acp which is the European Union's cultural subsidy arm (separate from Eurimages).
Acp has a fund of €12 million to grant in all areas of culture to reinforce and support access to markets, improve the regulatory environment and reduce unemployment, and it grants €10 million of this to cinema and the audiovisual sector. Acp's Director, Mohamed Ben Shabbaz gave their award to the feature which best epitomizes cultural diversity to the feature Stone Street. On presenting the prize, he reiterated Acp's motto, "No future without culture" and presented the prize on behalf of its membership of 79 countries and their 800 million people while encouraging filmmakers to submit projects which are eligible if produced by any member of the Caribbean, African and Latin American nations included in the Acp for grants.
Because Guadaloupe is French, it can access the French Cnc production subsidies and coproductions with them can share this. The BBC seriesDeath in Paradise has been such a hit that the BBC is renewing the series to the benefit of Guadaloupe's coffers.
Another incentive to make movies in this untapped and untrammeled region of the world is the 35% rebate on monies spent on production in Trinidad.
All this bounty would stir me as a filmmaker anywhere in the world to hasten to find coproducers in these countries to make a movie out of the myriad of stories that exist here. Guadaloupe novelist Simone Schwartz-Bart's great novel written in collaboration with her husband, Andre Schwartz-Bart (Last of the Just), A Woman Called Solitude, one of the most emotionally moving novels I 've ever read, has yet to be made into a movie. Dominican writer Jean Rhys' Wide Saragossa Sea, the prequel to Bronte's Jane Eyre, has been made in 1993 and in 2006 and yet remains mostly forgotten. Perhaps it's time for a remake. Or how about the novels of Antiguan Jamaica Kincaid, Cuban Alejo Carpentier or Martiniquese Edward Glissant?
The winner of the Jury Prize for Best Caribbean Film by a non-Caribbean went to Canadian filmmaker Christy Garland for her documentary The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, a documentary that had the strongest buzz here. The trailer alone moved the audience at the awards ceremony to a collective and spontaneous sigh of sympathy. What a fiction adaptation could be made from the stories these people have to tell.
Some filmmakers are already embedding themselves here. Trinidadian native Ian Harnarin comes from Canada and lives in New York. We met at Tiff this year in a mentoring program where he was one of four most promising new filmmakers. His short was executive produced by Spike Lee. He is now working on the feature length film of the short. "I'm extremely happy to be taking my film Doubles With Slight Pepper to the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. The film was shot on location throughout Trinidad with a local cast and a lot of local crew. The film has garnered some amazing awards and screened at other festivals around the world, so Ttff will mark a homecoming for it. It's coming to be very special for the local audience to finally see it with the cast and filmmakers." This film is available on iTunes.
Alrick Brown, the director of Kinyarwanda, a hit of last year 's Sundance Ff, led the immersion workshops in documentaries with Fernanda Rossi, a New York based doc scriptwriter. Alrick also teaches at Rutgers and Nyu. Andrew Donsunmu, the director of Restless City which Ronna Wallace has been actively repping since Sundance (she just made a good digital deal for the film) and which will be released stateside by Affrm (as will Kinyarwanda) was part of a very interesting informal discussion which took place on the bus returning from our day at the beach about movement and the almost genetic styles of dance and choices of sports of the African diaspora...like why so many islanders can't swim, why they don't eat fish in Cuba, how Samba, Calypso, and a certain Jamaican dance use the same steps though to different beats. Such animated discussions of intercultural topics are frequent here and always fascinate and animate the participants and residents.
The filmmakers also participated in panels for the industry, sharing their motivation and modi operandi. Christy Garland, director of Bastards Sing the Sweetest Song, filmed in French Guyana spoke of how she enters an unknown culture with a vague idea for a subject and proceeds to draw people out until the story unveils itself to her. Patricia Benoit, director of Stones in the Sun which participated in Wroclaw's American Film Festival for films in post-production competition spoke of her dislike of people always talking of Haiti's "resilence" in the face of all its troubles and wanted to show the hidden wounds of Haitians with their own history while living in New York. The films title comes from the proverb, “Stones in the water don't know the suffering of stones in the sun.” You can read Indiewire's interview with her from Tribeca Film Festival here. Matias Meyer spoke of The Last Christeros, which showed in Toronto and is being sold by FiGa Films, wanting to show not the battles but the spaces between battles when a segment of the 90% Catholic population of Mexico waged war against the state in the 1920s when the government banned religion. American filmmaker Chris Metzler spoke of his film Everyday Sunshine: the Story of Fishbone as a wonderful tribute to failure. Another Trinidadian in Canada, Richard Fung talked of how when he grew up he loved dhalpuri roti and so set out to discover where this spicy flatbread was born in the film Dal Puri Diaspora. Next month Richard will present his film at Nyu. One entire panel discussion was given to The Jamaican Collective's New Caribbean Cinema collection of shorts all made Guerilla style in one day, Ring di Alarm. Shadow and Act covered this last month.
In addition to this productive work of sharing business ideas and sharing the visions of over 120 feature-length and short films, there is the added bonus of being in one of the most amazing spots on earth. Island people, isolated from mainland civilizations and united among themselves by the water which also separates them, have opened their arms and invited us to join them these past few days in celebrating life. They have shared the natural beauty and the music and other arts of their island paradise And imagine the food-- a mix, (like the people themselves) of Caribbean, Indian, Asian, Arabian and African cuisine, all so fresh and with a homemade touch which rivals your own home cooking. Bake and Shark, a deep fried pita stuffed with delicious fresh and tender shark, or Roti, a variation of a curry dish found in India, Doubles, another street food well loved by the people. The economy, supported by its oil industry which contributes 60% to the Gnp, though 40% is Bp, a cause for some political dissension, does not need to rely on tourism for its sustenance. And though this is the wealthiest of all the Caricom countries because of its oil and natural gas, it still has the ubiquitous poverty seen worldwide including in our own United States of America. It is by no means perfect, but...
In Moscow this past June, the event Doors held similar discussions among 25 American distributors and Russian filmmakers about exporting their films and creating viable co- productions. After those three days in Moscow, we were rewarded with the most spectacular trip any of us had ever experienced, driving to St. Petersburg and Petershof, attending the Mariansky Ballet to see Sleeping Beauty and the star ballet dancer of Russia from the best seats in the house, taking a long cruise through St. Petersburg's canals during the White Nights, when the sun never sets. That trip which we were privileged to participate in (thanks to L.A.'s Russian Film Commissioner Eleonora Granata and her boss Catherine Mtsitouridze who hired us to organize) did not surpass the bonus tour ttff gave us industry-ites to Las Maracas beach where we rode the waves in warm water until a tropical rain storm and hurricane type wind, lightning and thunder drove us out of the water to huddle under a shelter until if passed, and the evening Leslie Fields-Cruz of the National Programming Consortium of PBS and I spent with Trinidadian film and music producer, Jean Michel Gibert of Caribbean Music Group, music scholar extraordinaire Tim Johnson and Nestor Sullivan, music legend, steel drum virtuoso and manager of the prize-winning 120 piece steel band orchestra Pamberi at a steel drum orchestra rehearsal for Carnaval. I can say with authority, this experience was on an equal par with the best Russia has to offer.
Validation of the genius of this country can be found in the story of one man, Anthony Williams, who invented the tuned steelpan, and in a discussion I had with another Trinidad filmmaker, Janine Fung, who won the People's Choice for Best Documentary La Gaita. Janine, as you can guess from her name, is of Chinese descent, though thoroughly international and Trinidadian to boot. Her grandmother's extended family lived in Trinidad. Recently the Chinese embassy called her to see if she might research and make a documentary about a Trinidad woman who brought western ballet to China. When they named her she realized it as her grandmother's first cousin who had left Trinidad to study ballet in London and when she toured to China, she captivated the audience and remained to establish western ballet in China. No one in Trinidad is aware of this and Janine now must make the documentary. I love stories like this. Nestor Sullivan whose father played in the same steel drum orchestra which is 70 years old, told me that his grandmother told him he was the spitting image of her father who came to Trinidad somewhere between 1840 to 60 after slavery had been abolished (1833). His father was a Yoruban prince who was never enslaved except when kidnapped and carried to the New World. Looking at Nestor, you know this to be true. His grandmother was born in 1888. When we did the math, I calculated this was around the same time that my own grandmother was born after her mother had come to USA as a bride in 1881.
Filmmaker, Faisal Lutchmedial (Mr. Crab, a delightful short film of a shy 10 year old boy who idolizes and fears his imposing father and hides and escapes into a dream world, where the frightening Mr Crab with his deadly sharp claws awaits him until he hears the real fear in his father's voice when he cannot find him) resides in Montreal, and tells of his family's home in a section of Trinidad which has, to this day, remained almost exactly as it was when his father was a boy in 1945. In fact, he took a photograph of himself standing in the same spot where his father stood as a child and the surroundings are identical. He was looking forward to going there to "lime" for a few days after the festival.
When the two part France TV feature Toussaint Ouveture won two prizes, one for Audience Award for Best Narrative and the other to Jimmy Jean-Louis for Best Actor in a Caribbean film, Jimmy,whose stunning presence is as sweet as his beautiful face, and who is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Creole, spoke sponteously of Haiti's continued plight and of the fact that this historical epic deserves to be seen as widely as possible to remind the world that Haiti was the first nation to liberate itself and its slaves from its colonial masters 200 years before most other Caribbean nations declared or were granted their independence.
One other discovery I made was of Dana Verde of 3Ck Media (meaning 3rd culture kids, a term coined in the 50s by cultural anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem). Dana Verde is a Cuban-Jamaican filmmaker who enjoys telling stories from the Latin American and Caribbean Diaspora. After receiving her Ma in Filmmaking from the London Film School in 2008, the Brooklyn filmmaker returned to New York to work as an independent filmmaker – writing and directing spec commercials, music videos and short films. Currently she divides her time between New York and Los Angeles and is venturing into directing feature films that encapsulate a crosscultural perspective. Check out her short Lock and Key on Facebook.
In summation of this whirlwind 4 day trip, it was well worth the 8 hour flight. So immersed was I that I find I must return, and much as I hate to reveal this new untrammeled festival and country, I must tell about it. I was the only press there, but I'm sure it will catch the eye of then rest of the world soon as it is a growth area for film invention and innovation on all fronts, from education (Bruce Paddington who teaches film at the University of The West Indies along with Christopher Meir, a native of Buffalo, New York).to production to marketing and distribution under the aegis of T&T Film Company. Although in the 50s Robert Mitchum filmed The Fire Down Below and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in T&T and you can be sure he had a blast there, still I feel like I have discovered it anew!
The awards themselves reflect the complexity of a society which, when its own special voice is raised in unison by its citizens, has the grandly unique and harmonic sound of the music of its own steel band. The gala awards ceremony of the ttff/12 took place at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain. Here is a full list of the winners which can also be found here.
Jury Awards: Best Films
Best Narrative Feature: Distancia, directed by Sergio Ramirez from Guatemala
Best Documentary Feature: The Story of Lover’s Rock, directed by Menelik Shabazz
Best Short: Peace: Memories of Anton de Kom, directed by Ida Does
Best Caribbean Film by an International Filmmaker: The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, directed by Christy Garland
Special mentions in the best film category:
Best Narrative Feature: Choco, directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Best Documentary Feature: Broken Stones, directed by Guetty Felin
Best Short: Awa Brak, directed by Juan Francisco Pardo
Jury Awards: Best Local Films
Best Local Feature: Inward Hunger, directed by Mariel Brown
Best Local Short: Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Jury Awards: Acting
Best Actor in a Caribbean Film: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
Best Actor in a Local Film: Christopher Chin Choy, Where the Sun Sets, directed by Ryan Latchmansingh
Best Actress in a Local Film: Terri Lyons, No Soca, No Life, directed by Kevin Adams
People’s Choice Awards
People’s Choice Award: Narrative Feature: Toussaint L’Ouverture, directed by Philippe Niang
People’s Choice Award: Documentary Feature: La Gaita, directed by Janine Fung
People’s Choice Award: Best Short: Buck: The Man Spirit, directed by Steven Taylor
Other Awards
Film in Development Award: Cutlass, Deresha Beresford & Teneille Newallo
WorldView/Tribeca Film Film Institute Pitch Awards: Ryan Khan, Joaquin Ruano, Natalie Wei
Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion Pitch Award: Michelle Serieux
Film that Best Epitomises Cultural Diversity: Stone Street, directed by Elspeth Kydd
Film Criticism Award: Barbara Jenkins, “Three’s a Crowd”, review of Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy
Film Criticism Special Mentions: Dainia Wright, Renelle White
Best Student, University of the West Indies Film Programme: Dinesh Maharaj
AfroPop/National Black Programming Consortium Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award: Mandisa Pantin
50-Second Film Competition: M Jay Gonzalez...
- 10/3/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
On April 21, 2012, Ida presented Fernanda Rossi’s signature workshop Trailer Mechanics, based on her book of the same name.
There was a sold-out full house buzzing with the excitement of emerging and veteran filmmakers at The Satellite, a collaborative working space in the heart of Santa Monica.
The presentation covered everything from words used to describe fundraising demos to different structures to build such demos, including effective opening techniques and methodologies to get the work going. Towards the end, Fernanda and the group discussed strategies to navigate the business, and ...
There was a sold-out full house buzzing with the excitement of emerging and veteran filmmakers at The Satellite, a collaborative working space in the heart of Santa Monica.
The presentation covered everything from words used to describe fundraising demos to different structures to build such demos, including effective opening techniques and methodologies to get the work going. Towards the end, Fernanda and the group discussed strategies to navigate the business, and ...
- 4/27/2012
- by IDA Editorial Staff
- International Documentary Association
When people ask to see your trailer, what is you usual reaction? Do you jump at the chance with confidence? Or do you stammer and hesitate as you explain why it's not quite where it should be?
Your trailer should be the ultimate pitch, the one thing that sells potential funders on the potential of your project. A fundraising trailer can make or break your film. We want you to stop guessing what works and what doesn't.
Ida has asked internationally renowned author, speaker and story consultant Fernanda Rossi to host ...
Your trailer should be the ultimate pitch, the one thing that sells potential funders on the potential of your project. A fundraising trailer can make or break your film. We want you to stop guessing what works and what doesn't.
Ida has asked internationally renowned author, speaker and story consultant Fernanda Rossi to host ...
- 4/5/2012
- by krelth
- International Documentary Association
With her eight-month-old baby in tow, the well-traveled, New York-based Fernanda Rossi led a day-long seminar on documentary trailers as the May edition of Ida's Doc U seminar series, held this time around at the Eastman Kodak screening room in Hollywood. Rossi has been taking her Trailer Mechanics seminar around the world for years, and motherhood has not slowed her down; by the May Doc U, her son had traveled 12 times since entering the world.
Rossi started out the day by breaking down the numerous terms for what filmmakers produce ...
Rossi started out the day by breaking down the numerous terms for what filmmakers produce ...
- 6/2/2010
- by twhite
- International Documentary Association
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