Every day of the T&T Film Festival, T&T Guardian columnist and film writer, BC PIRES, will be picking a Film of the Day. Pires has been writing about film from an informed lay perspective since early 1988 and currently writes a film column, BC on TV, for the Sunday Guardian’s Arts section.
Pires served on the TTFF’s first jury and wrote the judges’ report. A different film will be picked every day, and other worthwhile films mentioned. Because of the limitations of programming schedules, the film of the day may not necessarily be the “best” one. Films with an asterisk have been or will be daily picks.
TODAY’S FILM IS:
Paradise Lost (Christopher Laird/2014/ T&T/ Medium-length documentary/ 34 mins/English /Rated G) 4 pm MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain Q&A.
In Paradise Lost, Christopher Laird, co-founder of the original Gayelle magazine TV show and the Gayelle cable channel, has turned in one of this year’s festival gems. The peg on which the whole production is hung is the newly rediscovered (and, mercifully, just as newly restored) archival footage of the titular Paradise Lost, the first, genuinely legendary Carnival band designed by masman Peter Minshall—but it is difficult to say whether the old footage, impressive as it is, is nearly as good as the new footage of the old Minsh himself.
Shot directly facing the camera, and filling the screen the way he fills a room, Minshall talks fluently, passionately and, yes, dramatically, about the approach he took to what might properly be called the staging of the production. Images of Minshall’s earlier designs and older costumes flesh out the explanation of the band, but it is the man himself who brings the film to its finale with his closing tale. A real accomplishment and an unmitigated delight.
Today’s Schedule for TTFF/15
VENUE: MovieTowne PoS
TIME: 11 am
So Now, What Do We Do?: Nirvania Quesada, 2015 / Puerto Rico/ Spanish, with English subtitles Fiction short / 3 minutes (GA)
January 1st: Erika Bagnarello, 2014 / Dominican Republic, Costa Rica/ Spanish, with English subtitles/ Fiction feature / 85 minutes/(12+) Q&A
TIME: 1.15 pm
April 4th 1968: Myriam Gharbi, 2014 / Guadeloupe/ Creole, with English subtitles/ Fiction short / 24 minutes / (GA)
Panama Canal Stories: Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, 2014 / Panama/ Spanish and English, with English subtitles/ Fiction feature / 106 minutes / (PG)
TIME: 4 pm
Paradise Lost: Christopher Laird, 2015 / T&T/ English/Medium-length documentary / 34 minutes / (GA) Q+A
Re-percussions: An African Odyssey: Kim Johnson, 2015 / T&T/ English/ Documentary feature / 52 minutes / (GA) Q&A
TIME: 6.30pm
Biggie and Tupac: Nick Broomfield, 2002 / USA, UK/ English/ Documentary feature / 108 minutes /(16+) Q+A
TIME: 9 pm
Quedate: Bradley Bixler, 2015 / USA/Spanish, with English subtitles/ Fiction short / 23 minutes / (PG13)
Margarita, with a Straw: Shonali Bose, 2014 / India/ Hindi and English, with English subtitles/ Fiction feature / 100 minutes / (16+)
VENUE: UWI Film Programme building, 12 Carmody Road, St Augustine
TIME: 10 am
Citizens of Nowhere: Regis Coussot, Nicolas Alexandre Tremblay, 2015 / Dominican Republic, Haiti/ Spanish and Haitian Creole, with English subtitles/ Documentary feature / 52 minutes / (GA)
TIME: 11 am
The Last Colony: Juan Agustín Márquez, 2015 / Puerto Rico/ English and Spanish, with English subtitles Documentary feature / 90 minutes /(GA)
TIME: 12.30 pm
Denis: Gabrielle Blackwood, 2015 / Jamaica/English/ Documentary feature / 60 minutes / (GA)
TIME: 2.30 pm
Casa Blanca: Aleksandra Maciuszek, 2015 / Cuba, Poland/ Spanish, with English subtitles/ Documentary feature / 62 minutes / (GA)
TIME: 3.30 pm
What Happened to Santiago: Jacobo Morales, 1989 / Puerto Rico/ Spanish, with English subtitles/ Fiction feature / 105 minutes / (GA)
TIME: 5 pm
Dreadlocks Story: Linda Aïnouche, 2014 / Jamaica, India, France, USA/ English, French and Hindi, with English subtitles/ Documentary feature / 83 minutes / (14+)
TIME: 6.30pm
City on the Hill: Patricia Mohammed, Michael Mooleedhar, 2015 / T&T/ English/ Medium-length documentary / 47 minutes / (GA) Q&A
VENUE: Medulla Art Gallery, 37 Fitt Street, Woodbrook
TIME: 7 pm
NEW MEDIA featuring works by Horacio Hospedales, Sandra Vivas, Kareem Mortimer and Lauren Marsden
VENUE: Hyatt Regency Trinidad
8 pm
The Creative Soul of Trinidad and Tobago: Craig Leon, 2015 / T&T/ English/ Documentary short / 28 minutes / (GA) Q&A
Our Soul Turned Inside Out: Mary-Ann Brailey, 2015 / T&T/ English/Documentary feature / 64 minutes / (GA) Q+A