Bamsees, Boats + Bazodee: Highlights From the Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival

The 10th annual Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival concludes tonight after two weeks of screenings across Port-of-Spain and its surrounds. LargeUp was there  for much of it, cramming as many movies as we could in between bottles of Stag and late-night runs to the doubles man on Ariapita Avenue.

While the scope of TTFF is worldwide, its focus is squarely on the Caribbean, with much of its programming coming from within the region. Haiti loomed large in this year’s edition, which opened with Sweet Micky For President, former Fugees member Pras Michel’s documentary on Michel Martelly’s unlikely run for president in 2011 (and Pras’ own role in it all). The harsh reality of post-earthquake Haiti, and the diffusion of Haitians across the region, inspired some of the best movies we caught at the festival, including Raoul Peck’s dark drama Murder in Pacot and the Dominican Republic-set January 1st. Trinidad & Tobago’s status as a growing hub for movie-making in the region was also evident, as the festival showcased a wide variety of films shot and set on the island, including a number of high-quality documentaries and the world premiere of Bazodee, the debut feature film from soca star Machel Montano.

Here, we’ve highlighted a few favorites, from brief shorts to epic features. Click here to start the roundup.

Murder in Pacot (Haiti)

Raoul Peck’s Murder in Pacot is an existentialist nightmare in the shape of a domestic drama, set entirely on the premises of a crumbled mansion in the aftermath of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. The story concerns an unnamed husband and wife, whose lives are flipped upside down, first by the tremors, and then again when they are forced to take in a French aid worker and his mercurial Haitian girlfriend (or mistress, perhaps) as tenants. What follows is as deft of an exploration of class in the Caribbean as you’re likely to find.

Re-Percussions (Trinidad & Tobago/Nigeria)

Re-Percussions is the story of Chief Bowie Sonnie Bowei, a former officer in the Nigerian army who has made it his mission to establish the steelpan in his home country. The second in a series of movies on the steelpan from Kim Johnson and Jean Michel Gibert (the first being Pan! A Musical Odyssey, the opening selection at last year’s TTFF), Re-Percussions uses Bowei’s story as a means to explore the broader narrative of the African drum, how it was preserved and then re-interpreted in the new world, and how it is now being brought back to the mother continent in new ways.

My Father’s Land (Bahamas/Haiti)

Miquel Galofré and Tyler Johnston’s My Father’s Land follows Papa Jah, a Haitian gardener living in the Bahamas, as he returns home to Haiti after 40 years to visit his 103-year-old father. This small, personal story, opens a window to a much larger narrative: The prejudices faced by Haitians living abroad elsewhere in the Caribbean. Through the experiences of Papa Jah and his family and neighbors, we are privy to the hardships and discrimination faced by Haitians in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic (where the filmmakers make a brief stop on their way to Port-au-Prince).

Vanishing Sail (Carriacou/Antigua)

Vanishing Sail tells the story of Alwayn Enoe, one of the last remaining boat builders in Carriacou, an island long renowned for the craftsmanship of its sailboats. Once again, there’s a bigger-picture story at work, and that is the death of trading by sail — once the main source of livelihood for men on this small island near Grenada in the Grenadines — all across the Caribbean. Beautifully shot, Vanishing Sail offers a glimpse into a disappearing Caribbean ideal.

January 1st (Primero de Enero) (Dominican Republic)

One of the most enjoyable Caribbean-set films in the festival wasn’t originally a Caribbean story at all. Costa Rican director Erika Bagnarello intended to make January 1st in her home country until a last-minute change of plans forced production to shift to the Dominican Republic. The relocation proved to be a blessing in disguise, however; the new setting adds a layer of depth and timeliness that the story may not have had in its original setting. It follows Sebastian, a bold, precocious Dominican boy, and his friendship with Francis, a tap tap bus driver from Haiti who aids him on a journey to recover a stolen piano. When Sebastian’s misadventures lead to Francis’ deportation, the viewer is forced to confront the real-life plight of Haitians in the Dominican Republic (a situation which made international headlines this summer). Despite all of this, January 1st is far from political; rather, it is an insightful window into a child’s world.

Dreadlocks Story (France/Jamaica)

Linda Anouche’s Dreadlocks Story explores the roots of Rastafari, but with a startling thesis. It traces dreadlocks, ganja smoking and Ital (vegetarian) diet—distinguishing characteristics of the Rasta lifestyle—back not to Africa, but to the Sadhus of northern India. Utilizing footage of present-day Sadhus chanting and partaking in sacramental ganja smoke as well as interviews with Rastafari elders, Jamaican historians and the family of Leonard Howell (the father of the Rastafari movement), Dreadlocks Story compellingly and effectively makes its case, even as its assertions are not entirely above debate.

Papa Machete (Haiti)
We’ve told you about Papa Machete before, but it wouldn’t hurt to recommend it once more now that the film (from LargeUp contributor Jason Fitzroy Jeffers’ Third Horizon collective) has taken home the best documentary short award at TTFF, and is also set to be made into a feature-length documentary. Naturalistic yet mesmerizingly surreal, Papa Machete offers a rare look into Tire Machèt (or Haitian machete fighting)—a sort of martial art with roots in the Haitian Revolution that has long been shrouded in secrecy.

Paradise Lost
Our Soul Turned Inside Out
(Trinidad & Tobago)

These two documentaries offer different insights into the event around which Trinidad’s calendar ticks: Carnival. “Masman” Peter Minshall is said to have revolutionized Carnival in 1976, when he designed a procession inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost that was staged in four movements like a symphony. Christopher Laird’s Paradise Lost is essentially Minshall retelling that story, as he’s shown newly unearthed footage of the procession for the first time. Bare-bones stuff, but Minshall is a highly evocative storyteller. Mary Ann Brailey and Kim Johnson’s Our Soul Turned Inside Out, on the other hand, speaks to the dark history that inspired three of the best-known Carnival characters.

City on the Hill (Trinidad & Tobago)

Laventille is Trinidad’s most stigmatized community, a place whose reputation as a haven for crime belies its rich cultural history. Patricia Mohammed and Michael Mooleedhar’s City on the Hill shines a light on the bright spots, offering a much-needed antidote to years of prejudice and bad press.

Bottom In De Road (Trinidad & Tobago)

One of the most talked about films of the festival was Bottom In De Road, Oyetayo Raymond Ojoade’s documentary exploring men’s preoccupation with the female behind (or bamsee, if yuh Trini). The informative and humorous treatise on “bumper power” is anything but sexist, celebrating the ways in which Caribbean women are using their God-given assets for their own good. Read our interview with Ojoade for more on the origination of this unorthodox documentary.