Campus Film Classics is pleased to be associated with the trinidad+tobago film festival 09, which runs from September 16 to 29. The festival presents some of the best films by Caribbean filmmakers, as well as films being made about the Caribbean in the Caribbean spirit.
In addition to the main film screenings at MovieTowne in Port of Spain, the festival also encompasses workshops and seminars for filmmakers and others in the film industry, panel discussions with visiting filmmakers, outreach screenings (at StudioFilmClub in Laventille, UWI St Augustine, San Fernando and MovieTowne, Tobago), social events and more.
And for the first time in the festival's history, there will be jury prizes for the best films, including a US $10,000 prize for best feature.
Subscribe to the festival blog for daily festival updates, news, and more.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Screening for Tuesday 4 August: Rue cases nègres
Director: Euzhan Palcy
Country of origin: Martinique
Year of release: 1983
Running time: 103'
Based on Joseph Zobel’s coming of age novel, the story of Rue cases nègres (Black Shack Alley or Sugar Cane Alley in English) is told through the eyes of José, a young boy growing up with his stern grandmother in the poverty of rural Martinique in the 1930s.
José is friends with Mèdouze, an old field worker who tells José stories of the past and of life in Africa. After Mèdouze’s death José moves with his grandmother to Fort-de-France, where he is to take up a scholarship at a private school. Inspired by Mèdouze’s tales, José begins to write stories that are so accomplished that his teacher is convinced he has plagiarised them.
Humiliated, José runs away from school. When he returns home, however, he finds his grandmother has told his teacher all about Mèdouze’s tales, and the teacher—now full of admiration for the young man—predicts that José will become a great writer.
The debut film by Euzhan Palcy (who would go on to become the first black woman to direct a Hollywood feature, A Dry White Season, starring Marlon Brando), Rue cases nègres is a genuine classic of Caribbean cinema, a vivid and emotional portrait of the colonial society, and one boy’s ability to go beyond the limitations of that society.
(Some info taken from austinfilm.org and imdb.com)
Country of origin: Martinique
Year of release: 1983
Running time: 103'
Based on Joseph Zobel’s coming of age novel, the story of Rue cases nègres (Black Shack Alley or Sugar Cane Alley in English) is told through the eyes of José, a young boy growing up with his stern grandmother in the poverty of rural Martinique in the 1930s.
José is friends with Mèdouze, an old field worker who tells José stories of the past and of life in Africa. After Mèdouze’s death José moves with his grandmother to Fort-de-France, where he is to take up a scholarship at a private school. Inspired by Mèdouze’s tales, José begins to write stories that are so accomplished that his teacher is convinced he has plagiarised them.
Humiliated, José runs away from school. When he returns home, however, he finds his grandmother has told his teacher all about Mèdouze’s tales, and the teacher—now full of admiration for the young man—predicts that José will become a great writer.
The debut film by Euzhan Palcy (who would go on to become the first black woman to direct a Hollywood feature, A Dry White Season, starring Marlon Brando), Rue cases nègres is a genuine classic of Caribbean cinema, a vivid and emotional portrait of the colonial society, and one boy’s ability to go beyond the limitations of that society.
(Some info taken from austinfilm.org and imdb.com)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Screening for Tuesday 28 July: Hoop Dreams
Director: Steve James
Country of origin: USA
Year of release: 1994
Running time: 170'
Considered by many to be the greatest documentary film ever made (and arguably the greatest sports film ever), Hoop Dreams is the remarkable true story of two young African American men from the inner city determined to turn their love of basketball into personal success.
Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to attend a suburban private school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and Arthur Agee soon discover that their dreams of glory become obscured amid the intense pressures of academics, family life, economic circumstances and athletic competitiveness.
Yet both boys remain focused on their dream, no matter how hard tragedy strikes or how desperate their situation becomes. Their faith in the game they love continually gives them hope, a hope that ultimately allows them to build upon their failures as well as their triumphs and make for themselves a potentially better life.
Far more than a sympathetic portrait of two teenagers reaching for the
stars, Hoop Dreams, while remaining epic in scope, manages to be intimate in detail, chronicling the universal process of growing up and coming of age. It is about success and failure not just on the basketball court, but also in school, at home, in society, and ultimately, in life.
(Some info taken from kartemquin.com)
Country of origin: USA
Year of release: 1994
Running time: 170'
Considered by many to be the greatest documentary film ever made (and arguably the greatest sports film ever), Hoop Dreams is the remarkable true story of two young African American men from the inner city determined to turn their love of basketball into personal success.
Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to attend a suburban private school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and Arthur Agee soon discover that their dreams of glory become obscured amid the intense pressures of academics, family life, economic circumstances and athletic competitiveness.
Yet both boys remain focused on their dream, no matter how hard tragedy strikes or how desperate their situation becomes. Their faith in the game they love continually gives them hope, a hope that ultimately allows them to build upon their failures as well as their triumphs and make for themselves a potentially better life.
Far more than a sympathetic portrait of two teenagers reaching for the
stars, Hoop Dreams, while remaining epic in scope, manages to be intimate in detail, chronicling the universal process of growing up and coming of age. It is about success and failure not just on the basketball court, but also in school, at home, in society, and ultimately, in life.
(Some info taken from kartemquin.com)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Screening for Tuesday 21 July: Awara
Director: Raj Kapoor
Country of origin: India
Year of release: 1951
Running time: 193’
If one person can be said to have created the magic formula of Hindi cinema—Bollywood as it is commonly known—that person is director/actor/producer Raj Kapoor. And if one film more than any other set the standard for the Hindi film as we know it today, it is Kapoor’s 1951 classic, Awara.
Awara is an atmospheric social commentary about Raju (Raj Kapoor himself) a cheerful Bombay slum-dweller who has taken to petty crime to feed himself and his ailing mother, Leela. Both were thrown out on to the streets by Leela’s husband, the district judge Raghunath (Raj Kapoor’s real-life father, Prithviraj), who wrongly believed his son to not be his own but that of a sworn enemy.
While on a thieving caper, Raju meets up after many years with his childhood friend, the beautiful, budding lawyer Rita (Nargis). The two fall in love, but little do they know that Rita’s guardian is none other than Raju’s estranged father himself. A violent encounter follows the discovery, which leads to a date in court for Raju and a difficult first case for Rita.
A landmark in Hindi cinema, Awara firmly established many of its hallmarks, from the lovers hampered by a rich/poor divide, to the fantasy-dream song sequence, to the testosterone-appeasing fist fights. Yet the movie is perhaps best loved for the radiant chemistry of the two leads, Nargis and Raj Kapoor, whose romance both on and off screen remains the stuff of legend.
(Some information taken from filmjournal.net)
Country of origin: India
Year of release: 1951
Running time: 193’
If one person can be said to have created the magic formula of Hindi cinema—Bollywood as it is commonly known—that person is director/actor/producer Raj Kapoor. And if one film more than any other set the standard for the Hindi film as we know it today, it is Kapoor’s 1951 classic, Awara.
Awara is an atmospheric social commentary about Raju (Raj Kapoor himself) a cheerful Bombay slum-dweller who has taken to petty crime to feed himself and his ailing mother, Leela. Both were thrown out on to the streets by Leela’s husband, the district judge Raghunath (Raj Kapoor’s real-life father, Prithviraj), who wrongly believed his son to not be his own but that of a sworn enemy.
While on a thieving caper, Raju meets up after many years with his childhood friend, the beautiful, budding lawyer Rita (Nargis). The two fall in love, but little do they know that Rita’s guardian is none other than Raju’s estranged father himself. A violent encounter follows the discovery, which leads to a date in court for Raju and a difficult first case for Rita.
A landmark in Hindi cinema, Awara firmly established many of its hallmarks, from the lovers hampered by a rich/poor divide, to the fantasy-dream song sequence, to the testosterone-appeasing fist fights. Yet the movie is perhaps best loved for the radiant chemistry of the two leads, Nargis and Raj Kapoor, whose romance both on and off screen remains the stuff of legend.
(Some information taken from filmjournal.net)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Screening for Tuesday 14 July: North by Northwest
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country of Origin: USA
Year of Release: 1959
Running time: 131 minutes
North by Northwest is a supremely entertaining, often tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller. The film stars Cary Grant as a Manhattan advertising man, Roger O. Thornhill, who is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Philip Vandamm (James Mason), who believe Thornhill is a CIA agent.
Thornhill escapes, but is pursued across the US by a seemingly conspiratorial group of spies, the police and the FBI, as he seeks to clear himself of a murder he did not commit. Along the way he gains the help of a mysterious and beautiful blonde woman, Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). He also finds himself in the middle of some of the most memorable action scenes in all of cinema, including a brush with a crop-duster in a cornfield, and a climactic struggle on Mount Rushmore.
A brilliantly manipulative tale featuring mistaken identity, murder, mayhem, spies, counterspies, a femme fatale, and a domineering and unbelieving mother, North by Northwest is a masterwork by one of cinema’s greatest talents, working at the height of his powers.
(Some info taken from filmsite.org and imdb.com)
Country of Origin: USA
Year of Release: 1959
Running time: 131 minutes
North by Northwest is a supremely entertaining, often tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller. The film stars Cary Grant as a Manhattan advertising man, Roger O. Thornhill, who is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Philip Vandamm (James Mason), who believe Thornhill is a CIA agent.
Thornhill escapes, but is pursued across the US by a seemingly conspiratorial group of spies, the police and the FBI, as he seeks to clear himself of a murder he did not commit. Along the way he gains the help of a mysterious and beautiful blonde woman, Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). He also finds himself in the middle of some of the most memorable action scenes in all of cinema, including a brush with a crop-duster in a cornfield, and a climactic struggle on Mount Rushmore.
A brilliantly manipulative tale featuring mistaken identity, murder, mayhem, spies, counterspies, a femme fatale, and a domineering and unbelieving mother, North by Northwest is a masterwork by one of cinema’s greatest talents, working at the height of his powers.
(Some info taken from filmsite.org and imdb.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
