The history of the festival began in November 2002, when Port of Spain hosted a three-day film festival named the Kairi Film Festival. Although quite a success, it was a one-off event. However, four years later, the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company helped launch an annual event that was named the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. One of the festival's main tasks is to facilitate the development of Caribbean cinema.
In 2007, the festival expanded to two weeks. For the first time, there were screenings held outside Port of Spain, including Tobago. The festival program included the Trinidad and Tobago classic film Bim (1975) and the Canadian drama A Winter Tale (2007), written, directed and produced by Canadian-Caribbean filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon. A year later, the festival teamed up with the University of the West Indies.
The 2009 trinidad+tobago film festival saw the inclusion of jury prizes. Awards were presented to the best feature film, the best documentary and the best short film in two sections of the competition, the national competition and the international competition. There also were special awards, including the Young Jury Award, the Amnesty International Award, and the Audience Choice Award.
Main goals of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival are to promote Caribbean films in various languages (English, French, Spanish, Dutch) and the Caribbean film industry in general, as well as to reach out to rural communities by hosting free film screenings outside of major urban centers. Along with competition and non-competition screenings, the program of the festival includes meetings with industry professionals, panels and workshops for filmmaking professionals, and networking opportunities.
Photo: ttfilmfestival.com
