Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago: First Outdoor Movies to Showcase Local Films
This evening, assuming the weather behaves itself and the universe remains broadly cooperative, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company will launch the first installment of its T&T Film Nights Cinema Showcase—not in a hushed theater with sticky floors, but under the open sky at Norfolk Street Park in Belmont, where stars, insects, and passing opinions are all part of the experience. The project will screen five local films for the Belmont community in a collaboration involving the TTFC, the Office of the Mayor of Port of Spain, and the Regional Corporation of Belmont—proving once again that when enough organizations cooperate, something quite cheerful can happen.
The event also benefits from private sponsorship by First Citizens, which has generously provided a 30-foot screen—large enough to ensure that no subtle facial expression, symbolic moment, or accidental boom mic goes unnoticed. The Cinema Showcase is planned as a traveling affair, visiting communities across Trinidad and Tobago throughout 2010, and has been developed with mayoral offices in Port of Spain, Arima, Point Fortin, and San Fernando, all of whom have bravely agreed that cinema should occasionally leave the building.
The aim is to highlight the work of local and regional filmmakers and to give communities access to films that rarely appear in commercial cinemas or on television, largely because they are busy being thoughtful. Filmmakers themselves will attend the screenings to answer questions from the audience, a process that typically ranges from insightful discussion to inquiries beginning with, “So what really happened there?”
Mayor Brown expressed pleasure in supporting the initiative and, in a move universally appreciated by anyone carrying a wallet, agreed that his office would absorb the cost of admission. This ensures the entire community can attend without the burden of deciding whether culture is worth a few dollars. “We look forward to residents of Belmont coming out in their numbers to enjoy local films,” Brown said, noting his pleasure at collaborating with the TTFC and sponsors to make the event possible—an arrangement that replaces ticket stubs with goodwill and the ceiling with stars.