Students forge inter-regional link through film

Participation in the Secondary Schools Short Film Festival (SSSFF) will now give young people from T&T an opportunity to share their experiences, interact creatively and build long-standing networks with other youth from throughout the Caribbean region. An invitation from FEMI—the International Cinema Festival of Guadeloupe—to students of the winning schools of last year’s SSSFF to visit Guadeloupe as part of an inaugural film student exchange programme, has started the regional alliance.

This interest demonstrates the leading role that T&T has taken in encouraging young people to get involved in the film industry and bodes well for Caribbean integration through the audio-visual sector, driven by upcoming generations. Visiting FEMI for the first time from Tobago was Kyle Walcott, an 18-year-old Bishop’s High School student, whose school’s film, Reflections, won Bishop Anstey High School the Tobago Award in last year’s SSSFF. He observed that “Young Caribbean people are the same everywhere—we like to lime, go to the beach, work towards our dream” and noted that “interacting with other students interested in producing film has been amazing.”

Walcott took full advantage of the week-long festival, along with fellow-students Nicholas Ramnath of Rio Claro East Secondary, 17, and 15-year-old Ashley Singh of Holy Name Convent, Port-of-Spain. The three met other young film-makers from Guadeloupe and were set the task of producing a documentary about their trip to encourage entries for the 2012 SSSFF and to promote film as a career in T&T. Visual Arts teacher, Dominique Chung, who accompanied the students noted that two high schools in Guadeloupe have Film on their syllabus—a development she would love to see in T&T.
 Registration for the SSSFF ends tomorrow and more information can be found at www.trinidadandtobagofilm.com