The opening film in the upcoming T&T Film Festival is one of four highly anticipated films in the festival that were supported by the T&T Film Company (TTFC).
Pan! Our Music Odyssey, which will enjoy its world premiere on September 16 in the festival's opening night gala at Globe Cinema, Port-of-Spain, was produced with support from the TTFC.
A release from the TTFC said the film was awarded a TTFC grant for scriptwriting and also benefitted from TTFC marketing funding for a showcase in the prestigious documentary film festival, Sunnyside of the Docs, earlier this year.
Directed by J�rome Guiot and produced by Jean Michel Gibert and Barth�l�my Fougea, Pan! was written by historian Dr Kim Johnson, an expert on steelband history.
It is a docu-drama chronicling the birth of the instrument in post-WWII Trinidad and its penetration of cultural spaces spanning the globe. Dramatised segments in the film powerfully illustrate that history. There are several interviews with pan practitioners from Japan, France, T&T and the US.
"It is a proud moment for the TTFC to have one of its films featured as the opening film of the festival," said TTFC CEO Carla Foderingham.
"Previous opening night films have been of an extremely high quality and Pan! Our Music Odyssey demonstrates once again that the T&T film industry is more than prepared to create work that can compete with films of that calibre."
Foderingham added that the three other TTFC-supported films selected for the festival were also worthy of note.
Sean Hodgkinson's dramatic feature A
Story About Wendy 2, a hilarious, thrilling tale about an offbeat heroine's struggles with romance and her TV career, has received marketing funding from the TTFC.
The Cutlass, a dramatic short about a kidnap, directed by Darisha Beresford, was awarded a 2011 TTFC grant. Its producers hope to make it into a feature-length drama.
Dubois, a 31-minute mystical drama about a heroic homeless man, directed by Kaz Ov�, was made with partial funding from a TTFC production assistance grant.
"All of these films show the capacity and potential of filmmakers who are from or are working in T&T, and we know that this is just the tip of the iceberg," Foderingham said.
The TTFC is a founding and lead sponsor of the T&T Film Festival. The 2014 Festival runs from September 16-30.
Screeening info for TTFC-supported films
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Pan! Our Music Odyssey (Opening night gala film)
September 16 - 6.30 pm, Globe Cinema, Port-of-Spain
A Story About Wendy 2
September 17 - 6 pm, MovieTowne PoS (with Q and A)
September 24 - 3.30 pm, Little Carib Theatre (with Q and A)
The Cutlass
September 19 - 8 pm, Little Carib Theatre (with Q and A)
September 24 - 10.30 am, MovieTowne PoS, (with Q and A)
Dbois
September 20 - 6.15 pm, MovieTowne PoS (with Q and A)
September 27 - 8.30 pm, Little Carib Theatre, Woodbrook, PoS
For more information about the Film Festival visit ttfilmfestival.com.