A new documentary from Jamaica on the subject of reparations for African chattel slavery will screen at the 2014 T&T Film Festival (TTFF), which runs from September 16-30.
The Price of Memory, directed by Karen Marks Mafundikwa, takes as its starting point the visit by Queen Elizabeth to Jamaica in 2002. On that trip, she was petitioned by a small group of Rastafari for slavery reparations.
The Price of Memory film traces the Rastafarian petition and a reparations lawsuit against the Queen over a decade into both the British and Jamaican parliaments, while interweaving stories of earlier Rastas who pursued reparations in the 1960s.
A release from the TTFF said the film will have two screenings, September 21 at 12.30 pm and September 28 at 3.30 pm. Both screenings take place at The Little Carib Theatre.
Immediately following the first screening on September 21, a panel discussion on reparations will be held. The panelists are: Aiyegoro Ome, Chairman, T&T National Committee on Reparations; Bridget Brereton, Professor Emerita of History at UWI, St Augustine; Kevin Baldeosingh, newspaper columnist and public intellectual; and Clyde Noel, a member of All Mansions of Rastafari.
At the screening on September 28, director Karen Marks Mafundikwa will be in attendance, and will engage in a Q&A session with the audience after the film.
Tickets for the either screening of the film cost $30 ($15 for students with student ID) and may be purchased at the Little Carib in advance or at the time of the screenings.
As the countdown to the Festival takes place, the level of buzz and energy around the Festival goes up.
In addition to pre-Festival limes at Drink Lounge and Bistro, the TTFF has launched t-shirts to commemorate the Festival.
Designers Nick Salloum and Elena Molchanova of SAYSM have presented their own take on the TTFF/14's tagline Looking good.
SAYSM was launched as a creative brand in December 2013. Their tongue-in-cheek designs, bearing positive affirmations, helped Salloum and Molchanova quickly make a name for their new collaborative venture in T&T.
Coming from different backgrounds–Salloum as an artist, engineer and web developer; Molchanova as an advertising art director and fiction writer–the duo work together to turn words into mixed-media art and design concepts.
In the case of the TTFF/14 t-shirt design, the pair translated this year's tagline into an original SAYSM concept, while remaining loyal to the TTFF brand aesthetics.
Although intended for open interpretation, the geometric lens heart was initially thought of as a visual representation of what happens inside a camera after the shutter clicks, a reflection of the fact that there is a hidden universe behind every frame of every story.
The TTFF/14 special-edition T-shirt will be available for sale during the Festival–at a cost of $100.00 each–at MovieTowne Port-of-Spain, the Little Carib Theatre, and the TTFF Secretariat at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
On the Festival and see the full lineup of films, visit ttfilmfestival.com.