Pothound captures 11 powerful minutes on film

It may not have achieved quite the fanfare that Keshorn Walcott’s javelin gold medal did, but Christopher Guinness’s startlingly good short film Pothound won silver of its own in the world short independent film equivalent of the Olympics when it became a finalist for the Vimeo Short Film of the Year in June. It surely must be a leading contender for the festival’s own Best Short Film award this year and, if you give it 11 minutes of your life, you’ll find out why. Taking the most Trinidadian of beings—the mongrel dog Trinidad gave the name that named the film—as its subject, the film follows a well-meaning little pothound (played by the real-life Bubberkin) through a day of its life and its encounters with other, usually more powerful, characters, to the drama’s surprising end. 

 

In its short runtime, it includes several scenes that could be used as film-school textbook illustrations of how to shoot; develops human drama and human interest and poses huge human questions while using a small animal as its star; is immaculately paced; and builds to a denouement worthy of the French. More than anything else, it is entirely Trinidadian, down to the feeling it leaves the viewer with: one of hope, for all small creatures. Pothound says more about the human condition, and the unique Trinidadian/Caribbean reaction to it, than most feature-length films on general release. It’s to get films like this that we put up with the Section 34s of the wider, crasser society.

 

Best of the rest

The Rumble of the Stones—1 pm, MovieTowne PoS; 

 

20 Años—8 pm, Little Carib Theatre, Woodbrook. 

 

Films start promptly at advertised times.