Money up for grabs for talented filmmakers

Emerging filmmakers have a shot at winning $20,000 as RBC Royal Bank and the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) collaborate, for the second consecutive year, to host RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion. RBC Focus is an intensive four-day developmental programme where ten Caribbean filmmakers work with seasoned professionals to develop their creative voice. Now in its second consecutive year, RBC Focus forms part of the offering of this year’s ttff, which is the largest event of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean. “As a leading sponsor of ttff, we’re committed to helping emerging filmmakers develop their skills and bring their visions to life. Our support of this festival is part of a wider RBC approach to support emerging artists, not just in the Caribbean, but globally,” stated Bruce Sim, Capital Markets and Wealth Management head, RBC Financial (Caribbean) Ltd at the press conference to launch the festival, held last Wednesday at the Carlton Savannah. 

 

 

Sim added, “It’s a great feat for many in the arts to make that jump from having the talent, to being recognised for it; and that’s where RBC Focus Filmmakers’ Immersion intends to assist.” Ten budding filmmakers, spanning the region from the Bahamas to French Guiana, have been already selected to participate in this year’s Immersion programme. They will be exposed to group discussions and exercises on a range of documentary filmmaking techniques geared toward enhancing their skills. Each filmmaker will enter RBC Focus with a concept for a feature-length documentary and, over the course of the programme, will develop a detailed treatment that will be presented in a competitive pitch session for a grand prize of TT$20,000. The facilitators who will guide the process and select the five pitch finalists are two internationally-respected film industry professionals: Jamaican-American filmmaker and teacher Alrick Brown, and documentary story consultant Fernanda Rossi, born and raised in Buenos Aires but based in New York for the past 17 years.  

 

 

The ten finalists are: Tyler Johnston (the Bahamas), Willy Rollé (French Guiana), Olivia McGilchrist (Jamaica), Michelle Serieux (Jamaica/St Lucia) and John Barry, Mariel Brown, Sonja Dumas, Francis Escayg, Abigail Hadeed and Natalie Wei (T&T).

The trinidad+tobago film festival runs from September 19 to October 2, and will feature more than 175 feature-length and short films—narrative, documentary and experimental—screening at venues across both islands. 

 

 

• For further information, please visit www.ttfilmfestival.com, and Like their Page on Facebook at ww.facebook.com/ttfilmfestival.