One of the most talked-about films of the just-concluded T&T Film Festival is the documentary Art Connect. The film, which shows the impact of an arts and music project on the children of Success Laventille Secondary School has prompted calls for the Ministry of Education to fund interventions in more schools. DAVID CUFFY saw the film and spoke with executive producer Charlotte Elias about the project.
At the Question and Answer session held following the screening of Art Connect at MovieTowne on Tuesday, it was clear the positive impact the movie had on the large audience.
Nearly all comments reflected on the power of the movie and calls were made for the Ministry of Education to put into action a training programme to reproduce the Art Connect project around the country's schools, and for the entire nation to see the film.
Among those expressing their views was popular entertainer Kees Dieffenthaller, who confessed he had seen the movie before, but was back with his wife and family to allow them an opportunity to experience the inspiring stories contained in the documentary.
Art Connect brought to a close the ninth annual T&T Film Festival. The feature-length documentary, directed by Miquel Galofr� and with Charlotte Elias as executive producer, is a polished, well-produced 73-minute affair, and while it opens with some of the less savoury elements of some areas of Laventille it does not delve too much into the criminal aspects of the community or portray intimidating scenery.
The film vividly illustrates how creative intervention changed the lives of a group of young people attending the Success Laventille Secondary School. It documents the profound impact that painting, poetry, music and dance had on the children, who were given digital cameras to record their experiences. By allowing the viewer intimate access to their world, they reveal their hopes and fears, and allow witness to how their lives are transformed.
The words from a 12-year-old girl: "I don't have anything to be happy about," is what sparked in Galofr� an emotional connection to the film. "This inspired me to give a greater voice to youths and listen to what they had to say," he told the audience.
Ateion Jones, one of the film's subjects, said: "I would like to say thank you to the Art Connect project, especially Charlotte, you've made my life grow, and I'm doing things right now that actually have decided my life. Thank you, everyone, for this experience; parents, producers, people who helped, thank you very much."
Salif Calif, another of the film's subjects, had this to say: "I would like to say that it was a pleasure working with all of my past schoolmates from Success Laventille Secondary School, and I met some amazing people–Muhammad Muwakil, Miquel and Aunty Charlotte. I just love all of these people and I hope that we can continue the programme in other school and areas and that we can show that the youth are not just about drugs and guns, that they are positive and that we can do a lot of things if we get the natural push. Thank you for coming to see the movie and enjoying it."
The Art Connect Project was created by Trinidad-born artist Wendell McShine and is rooted in the philosophy that investment in education, art and humanities is vital for the uplifting and development of any society. The programme was created to promote self-awareness through the use of educational and dynamic creative workshops.
However, responding to the calls from the audience, executive producer Elias pointed out that the project is not as simple as sending anyone and everyone into schools, but finding people with the right balance of qualities to fit the requirements.
"Not an easy task," she said. "It takes time and preparation. The involvement of the Company Chameleon dance company from the UK, for example, took two years of preparation and fundraising. The documentary itself took about two and a half years to produce."
Through the powerful experiences of art, song and dance, led by people and groups including McShine, Muhammad Muwakil and Lou Lyons of the Freetown Collective, and UK dance theatre group Company Chameleon, the movie shows the power art has to connect people to each other. It also shows art can connect young people to their strengths, often buried deep by the pressures of everyday life.
The impressive young people featured all begin the project dealing with harsh real-life situations and traumas. Some speak of never being happy, of being scared, of being misunderstood. Over the course of the film the power of group support in powering personal change is highlighted.
Miquel Galofr� is a multiple-award-winning filmmaker born in Barcelona and based in T&T. He is a director, cinematographer and editor of films, documentaries, commercials and television. His "Jamaican trilogy" of documentaries are all past selections of the TTFF, where they have won several prizes. For the last three years he has been taking photographs around T&T, under the banner "T&T Rocks!" He is currently at work on his first narrative feature film.
Born in the United Kingdom, raised in Trinidad, educated in Europe and the United States, Charlotte Elias is a global citizen, who has travelled extensively for business and education, as well as for pleasure. While she is versed in business and arts administration, her current focus is on spirituality and the arts. In 1995 she founded Caribbean Contemporary Arts and was its executive director for 12 years. It was an autonomous regional developmental organisation, based in Trinidad. Its main focus was to encourage Caribbean artists by supporting and fostering creative exchange between local, regional, and international artists.
Editor's note: This story draws extensively on the comments of Dr Dylan Kerrigan in his column on the film, headlined "Art Connects," in the Sunday Guardian of September 28. Our apologies for omitting to credit Dr Kerrigan's remarks.
TTFF 2014 winners
Behaviour, an incisive portrait of the life of an at-risk boy in Havana, claimed the top prize at the 2014 T&T Film Festival (TTFF) in an awards ceremony held at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain on September 28.
Directed by Cuba's Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Behaviour beat out four other films to nab the Best Narrative Feature prize at the Festival.
Behaviour was also a favourite with the Festival's youth jury, who awarded the film a special mention.
The youth jury gave its top prize to a Brazilian film, the charming LGBT-themed coming-of-age drama The Way He Looks, directed by Daniel Ribeiro.
Best Documentary Feature was awarded to a film from the Dominican Republic, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada's You and Me, an intimate look at the complex relationship between an elderly woman and her domestic servant.
A documentary was also the winner of the Best T&T Feature Film–Miquel Galofr�'s Art Connect, an uplifting crowd-pleaser featuring young people from the urban community of Laventille in east Port-of-Spain, whose lives are transformed when they undertake an art project.
The inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize went to The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink's touching, troubling reflection of the struggle gays and lesbians in Jamaica face to achieve their rights.
Here is a full list of the awards:
Best Narrative Feature: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba
Best Narrative Feature, Special Mention: Sensei Redemption, German Gruber, Cura�ao
Best Documentary Feature: You and Me, Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada, Dominican Republic
Best Documentary Feature, Special Mention: Hotel Nueva Isla, Irene Guti�rrez and Javier Labrador, Cuba
Best Short Film, Narrative: Bullock, Carlos Machado Quintela, Cuba
Best Short Film, Documentary: ABCs, Diana Montero, Cuba
Best T&T Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofr�
Best T&T Short Film, Narrative: Dubois, Kaz Ov�
Best T&T Short Film, Narrative, Special Mention: Noka: Keeper of Worlds, Shaun Escayg
Best T&T Short Film, Documentary: Field Notes, Vashti Harrison
Best New Media Film: They Say You Can Dream a Thing More Than Once: Versia Harris, Barbados
Amnesty International Human Rights Prize: The Abominable Crime, Micah Fink, Jamaica/USA
BPTT Youth Jury Prize for Best Film: The Way He Looks, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
BPTT Youth Jury Prize for Best Film, Special Mention: Behaviour, Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Cuba
People's Choice Award, Best Narrative Feature: A Story About Wendy 2, Sean Hodgkinson, T&T
People's Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature: Art Connect, Miquel Galofr�, T&T
People's Choice Award, Best Short Film: Flying the Coup, Ryan Lee, T&T
RBC: Focus Filmmakers' Immersion Pitch Prize: Raisa Bonnet, Puerto Rico
RBC: Focus Filmmakers' Immersion Pitch Prize, Special Mention: Davina Lee, St Lucia
Best Student at the Film Programme of the University of the West Indies: Romarlo Anderson Edghill
Best T&T Film in Development: Rajah: The Story of Boysie Singh, Christian James