IAN ROYER
Film director Sean Hodgkinson has come to typify the name of his production company. The man behind Quirky Films is known for the Story About Wendy series, the lighthearted comedies that have done well both locally and abroad. A Story About Wendy and A Story About Wendy 2, both played successfully at the T&T Film Festival (Wendy 2 copped the People’s Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at TTFF/14) and at festivals like the Zanzibar Film Festival in Tanzania.
In 2015, Hodgkinson has taken a new direction and this year he presents Trafficked, a dark tale about drug trafficking in T&T, that is both compelling and visually beautiful. “I never want to be pigeon-holed into one genre of film,” he said. “When Garth St Clair approached me with the article we based this story on, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to branch out from what I was used to.”
The gambit paid off and Trafficked was well-received by the audience who turned up at the film’s world premiere at the T&T Film Festival on September 16 at MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain. The work of the cast is what binds the storytelling together with the cinematography. At the core, Kia Rollock, Aaron Charles, Gyerlini Clarke and Brett Bengochea brought a chemistry that made the characters believable, making it easy for viewers to empathise deeply with each of them.
Clarke portrays the main character Penny, with a beautiful vulnerability that typical of youth, yet is able to transform this character subtly as the film progresses. “I was ready to do this,” she said, “this film gives a powerful voice to a usually voiceless people.” Like most of the main cast it was her debut in a major film, and she nailed it with ease. Actor Aaron Charles was quite convincing in his role as George, bringing a lot of charisma and swagger to the character of the quintessential Saga Boy.
The breakthrough performance of the movie came from Kia Rollock. It was her second time working with Hodgkinson, the first time as an extra in A Story About Wendy 2. “Kia auditioned for a role in Wendy 2 and she was terrible at the audition,” Hodgkinson said. “But she had a spark that I wanted to explore, so I wrote Nadia for Kia, and Kia became Nadia.”
She is not the typical actress either, but that’s what makes her sell her role as the conscience of the group who binds them together as a unit that you fall in love with. Rollock makes Nadia a big girl with a big heart and personality to match and she grabs your attention in every scene. “During filming we all became very close,” Rollock said, “We became friends in a very similar way to the characters we portrayed, and that’s what made it all very real”
Being a bad guy isn’t a new thing for Brett Bengochea with his screen star looks and intense personality. His role as Alejandro, the villain in this film was extremely fun to watch, and frankly quite scary. He is able to charm you so sweetly that you almost want him to be the hero, but what Alejandro really is alarms you to the core. Bengochea said he was a method actor and did in-depth studies of notorious gangsters to prepare himself for the role.
“He made me cry,” Clarke said, “there was a scene where he stopped being Brett and was very much Alejandro and the tears you see were very real,” she explained when asked about her experience acting with him.
Both the producer/director and the main cast cited their experience working with the late Marcia Henville as both inspiration and a driving force to perfect the film. “In a way, this movie was everything that Marcia gave to T&T daily in her life,” Kia Rollock said. “She was a champion for people who couldn’t speak for themselves, and so this film is a huge part of her legacy”.
Their dedication to the final product is very telling in the high quality of the production. The cinematography and camera work—credited to director of photography and cameraman Anthony “Ninja” Fung—is the other main character of the story, and goes a long way to embellish the plot twists, acting and direction.
SCHEDULE
Trafficked
September 24, 8 pm, MovieTowne Tobago
September 25, 1 pm, MovieTowne PoS (Q&A with director)
September 26, 5.30 pm, MovieTowne Tobago
• More T&T Film Festival info on Page B2