Interview by Jesse Serwer and Tishanna Williams
It’s been two years since Trinidadian director Damian Marcano’s God Loves the Fighter first caught our attention with its intriguing trailer and another since it became the talk of last year’s Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, the Caribbean’s largest annual film showcase. A redemption story set against the seedy underbelly of Port of Spain, it’s a strikingly dark film that’s in stark contrast to the images of Carnival, soca and sun that Trinidad prefers to beam out to the world. Yet it’s one that has been surprisingly well embraced at home, having sold out Trinidad’s largest movie theater night after night during its theatrical run there.
Now making the international festival rounds, the 96-minute feature (which co-stars our own Tishanna Williams) lands in New York City for its U.S. premiere at the UrbanWorld Film Festival in Manhattan this Saturday, Sept. 20th. We spoke with the Los Angeles-based Marcano—also he director of Machel Montano’s “H.M.A.,” among other videos for the soca star—about his debut feature, how Trinidad has changed.
Watch the trailer below, and click here to read the interview.