OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
S Y N O P S I S
Documentaries
CUBA
Title: Rumbero de Nacimiento – Rumbero by Birth
Director: Angel Alderete
Date of production: 2012
Length: 25 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: All rumba tradition from generation to generation.
Angel Alderete: Winning filmmaker and photographer. He performed as a film
photographer over forty documentaries from 1972 to 1982. Photo journalist in several
African countries. Cameraman of the Cuban television newscasts and CBC Agency. He
has given seminars and lectures on his specialty in different countries: Germany,
Ecuador, Russia, Spain, France, etc. He has taught at the International School of Film
and Television of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Currently, He is a Cinema School
Professor in the Higher Institute of Art in Cuba. Along the Director of ASC Photography,
HASKELL WEXLER, USA, in his capacity as Director, made the Photography direction on
the occasion of Pope John Paul II visit to Cuba (January/1998) and the documentary
about the encounter between Cubans and Americans musicians MUSIC BRIDGES
(Havana, 1999).
NICARAGUA
Title: The Black Creoles – Memories and Identities
Director: Maria Jose Álvarez y Martha Clarissa Hernández
Date of production: 2012
Length: 85 min.
Genre: Documental
Synopsis: Ethnographic film, which recounts the arrival of the Black to the Central
American Caribbean and Creoles formation. Human Geography that reveals ancient
practices of survivals. History of everyday life that shows the ancestral culture, their
Memories, their challenges and their past relationship with the Caribbean.
Maria Jose Alvarez: First Woman Director Film Nicaragua and Central America.
Librarian photographer. Founder member of Team INCINE (1980 83), Nicaraguan Film
Institute. Winner of several awards and citations, including: Special Jury Mention in
the III, IV and V Third Coral, Documentaries, XVII Festival of New Latin American
Cinema. He received the Cultural Order Rubén Darío of Nicaragua in 2007. Director of
the documentary, "The Atlantic Coast, Bread and Dignity Open Letter to Nicaragua
and" Workers ". Co author of the photo book "Patterns of the Caribbean" published
by the Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America (IHNCA). Gets CINERGIA
recognition for his cinematic story: Frank's Big Game, 2005. In 1990 formed Moon
Films Production with independent filmmaker Martha Clarissa Hernández. In 2013,
obtained "The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at Largo Costa Rica
International Festival with the documentary: The Black Creoles Memories and
Identities.
Martha Clarissa Hernández: Documentary maker. She studied literature and
linguistics at the Autonomous University of Honduras, UNAH. Actress and theater
director of the National theater company, Honduras. (1977 1979). Graduate "Theory
and methodology of gender analysis”, UCA, Managua Nicaragua. Her approach to the
world of images begins formally in INCINE (1979), where she worked as a researcher
and producer of over 50 news and documentaries, as well as casting director, field
producer and assistant director on "Walker" "Latino" and "Sandino". In 1985,
organizes and directs the project office INCINE until 1989. Director and executive
producer of the TV series Undertow (18 chapters).
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
JAMAICA
Title: MAKING HISTORY
Directors: Karen D. McKinnon and Caecilia Tripp.
Date of production: 2008
Length: 10 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Making History is a short, lyrical film written and directed by Karen D.
McKinnon and Caecilia Tripp. The film stars Edouard Glissant, one of the most
important Caribbean writers in history who was nominated for a Nobel prize in
literature, and Linton Kwesi Johnson, father of ‘dub poetry’. The two passionate
poets debate identity politics, particularly how slavery affected modernity in
general, and the contemporary Caribbean Diaspora in particular. Glissant and
Johnson try to differentiate between European immigrant groups who came to
America, and Caribbean immigrant groups who moved to Europe and explore
what those differences mean for those who identify as Caribbean.
Karen D. McKinnon is an American filmmaker based in London, where she
attended Goldsmiths College. She wrote "Dance/Art", for the PBS network and
was selected for an emerging director’s fellowship at Columbia Pictures. Her films
have been shown in festivals and galleries across Europe and America and funded
by the UK Film Council. She was selected for EON Productions sponsored WFTV
mentorship program.
Caecilia Tripp, artist and filmmaker based in Paris, has shown internationally,
notably at Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, De Appel in
Amsterdam, PS1/ MOMA NY, Mostra Venice, Galerie Vermelho in Sao Paulo, CAC
New Orleans, Gwangju Biennale 7 in Korea. Her films have been in international
festivals..
ESTADOS UNIDOS
Title: Tengo Talento “El niño Jesús” I have Talent “Jesus Kid”
Director: Eli Jacobs Fantauzzi
Date of production: 2013
Length: 13 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Julito Padrón is an excellent Cuban musician; a trumpet player teaches
us trough Jesus Anduz, a 14 year old boy that Cuban musical richness, as heritage
is kept by the new generations.
Eli Jacobs Fantauzz: graduate of UC Berkeley, he received his MA degree from
NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to graduation, the Pan African Film Festival
honored Eli with the Student Filmmaker Award for his first solo feature length
film, Investos: Hip Hop Cubano. Eli continues utilizing music as a tool to provide
insight into culture and socio/political community struggles. In 2010, he released
his second film, Home Grown: Hip Life in Ghana. His current production
Revolucion Sin Muertos “Revolution Without Death” captures a youth movement
in Comuna 13 in Medellin, Colombia, where Hip Hop is utilized to empower a
Peace Movement. Currently, Eli is curating the Fifth Annual Fist Up Film Festival in
Berkeley, California. His dedication to his craft is deeply connected to his
commitment to social justice and the belief in the transformative power of film.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
CUBA
Title: Yo soy del son a la salsa / I’am from Son to Salsa
Director: Rigoberto Lopez
Date of production: 1997
Length: 90 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Testimony on Cuban popular music from its origins to the present.
Offered for the first time the history of Caribbean dance music told by its own
protagonists.
RIGOBERTO LÓPEZ: One of the most outstanding Cuban filmmakers. His
documentaries and shorts of fiction were worth him the recognition of the public
and the critique specialized in Cuba and abroad, as well as important national and
international prizes. Invited by cultural and academic institutions of diverse
countries he has offered conferences, workshops and seminars and published on
diverse topics related to the cinema. Member of the National Board of the Cuban
Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC), of Cuban Union of Journalists (UPEC), and of
International Journalists Union. He was awarded by the National Culture
Distinction, granted by the State council of Cuba and is the Founder and President
of the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase.
Documentaries
MEXICO
Title: Rumbos de la Rumba: Parada Central Park – Rumba roads
Director: Berta Jottar
Date of production: 2012
Length: 30 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Experimental documentary about the essence of Afro Cuban rumba in its
public demonstration in New York. Combining ethnographic and forum sequences,
it captures the internal relations of the circle (dialogue, seduction, conflict ...) and
the struggle between the community and the law.
Berta Jottar: Afro Latin performance, borders and identity are central issues in her
artistic and academic carrier of this filmmaker. She starts her training in Cultural TV
in Federal District, and undertakes her artistic practice with border Art workshop,
Tijuana. Her documentary Central park is produced in New York, other productions
are: Rumba… I want to see, Border Swings, War Games, Erasing the Line, Cholos…
and stronger.
CUBA
Title: El canto es la vida / Singing is life
Director: Richard Abella
Date of production: 2013
Length: 37 min.
GENRE: Documentary
Synopsis: Life and work of the outstanding musician, composer, Chorus director and
founder of Coral Music Movement in Cuba, Electo Silva.
Richard Abella: Producer and filmmaker with 20 years of experience in audiovisual media.
Well known national and international with some prizes in events and festivals (Special
th
prize of the jury in 11 International Documentary Festival Santiago Alvarez in Memoriam,
2010. Santiago de Cuba. Award as filmmaker for the short fiction film “Pyramid” in the
International Cherokee Film Festival de Oklahoma, USA, 2006. He has experience as a
workshop teacher on cinema appreciation and language, production and actors director.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
HAITI
Title: MASTER ISSA (Maestro Issa)
Director: FRANTZ VOLTAIRE
Date of production: 2009
Length: 52 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: The clarinetist, arranger and orchestra conductor of Palestine origins, Issa El
Saieh, travelled during his youth from Haiti to the USA to study music, and when he
returned to Port au Prince he created his own band. From this valuable artist’s testimony,
the great documentary Master Issa establishes a retelling about music and context back on
the 40’s and 50’s decades, making particular emphasis on the constant flow of musical
exchange between Haiti and Cuba. Among these bands there are some of the best Haitian
musicians and Cuban artist like Celia Cruz, Bebo Valdés and Dámaso Pérez Prado.
Frantz Voltaire: academic, writer, director and haitian producer who lives in Montreal. He
has made some documentaries of a significant value about cultural evolution and history of
Haiti. Besides, he is director of (Centre International de Documentation et d'Information
Haitienne, Caribéenne et Afro Canadienne) in Canada, one of the few ethnic organizations
in French language in Quebec, dedicated to research, arts and culture in general.
UNITED STATES
Title: Recordando el mamoncillo Remembering the mamoncillo tree
Director: Pamela Sporn
Date of production: 2006
Length: 15 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Every second Sunday of July from the 1960s through the early 2000s,
hundreds of Cubans and lovers of Cuban music assembled at the Bohemian Beer
Garden in Queens for the Recordando el Mamoncillo festival. Remembering the
Mamoncillo gives viewers a taste of that joy. The festival was hosted by el Club
Cubano Interamericano and modeled after a dance that many of the club’s members
had attended in Cuba at the Cerveceria Tropical. The history and cultural importance
of the Recordando el Mamoncillo festival and El Club Cubano is brought to life by
dance scenes, testimonies of long time members of the club and musical
performances by Chico Alvarez y his Palo Monte, Son Sublime, the Charanga All
Stars, and Orquesta Broadway.
Pamela Sporn: A Bronx Based documentary filmmaker whose work inter weaves
historical narratives and personal storytelling. Her films have screened at many
venues and festivals including the Anthology Film Archives, The Havana Film Festival,
The Chicago International Latino Film Festival, The London International
Documentary Film Festival, and at colleges and community media centers
throughout the United States.
TRINIDAD Y TOBAGO
Title: Calypso Rose: The lioness of the jungle.
Director: Pascale Obolo
Date of production: 2010
Length: 85 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Calypso Rose is an ambassador of Caribbean music. Living legend of Calypso
music, she is a charismatic character often compared to the great Soul singers such as
Aretha Franklin. She did a reprise of her famous song “I Say a Little Prayer for You”.
Or Miriam Makeba, with who she will sing “Voodoo Lay Loo” in the 1980’s. This music,
in its’ rebellious and mocking style, is Trinidad & Tobago’s soul, ex English colony,
located in the Caribbean sea. Born in the village of Bethel in Tobago in 1940, she has
been singing since the age of 15 years and hasn’t stopped spreading the daily tales of
her native island, on the world stages, with an inbred energy and a contagious love for
life. IN 1978, she will become the first woman to be crowned "Calypso Queen" during
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
Trinidad's famous carnival, (which after her win, was changed to the title of “Calypso
Monarch”). During her career, she wrote more than 800 songs and recorded 25
albums, making her the uncontested diva of Calypso.
Pascale Obolo: Cameroons. She studied audiovisual at the Conservatoire Libre du
Cinéma Français in Paris and then obtained her Master in cinema at the University of
Paris VIII (experimental cinema section) Pioneer of urban culture she filmed at its
beginning the hip hop scene and the Parisian graffiti painters, auto producing several
about rap, street culture and taggers. She collaborated with Virgin Music France
during 1995 to 2000, for which she signed several portraits of world music artists,
such as Manu Chao, Les Nubians, 3 Canals, Mungal Patasar. Pascale has specialized in
musical documentaries. Her attraction to the cultural heritage of island of Trinidad,
with its carnival and music, makes her direct her first feature film: Calypso at Dirty
Jim's (2005), a tribute to the last big stars of Calypso, the soul of this island and by
extension, Caribbean culture. Member of the Guild of Africans Filmmakers, founder of
the artists collective “Coupé Décalé Film" who are experimenting with a new aesthetic
linked to new technology. Also a producer. She made 10 films for Virgin France, I télé
/Canal+, Warner Music France, Virgin, CRTV and Clam production between 2004 and
1995 with «Graff’ Mouve » videos.
CUBA
Title: Gira/ The Tour
Director: Ernesto Sánchez Valdés
Date of production: 2012
Length: 46 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: A Cuban artist plastic group made a national tour that includes exhibitions in
art galleries, schools and prisons. During that tour is evident the similarities of human
beings, among them, art and freedom.
Ernesto Sánchez Valdés: He worked as director assistant in several films and
documentaries of ICAIC and Other producers. As First assistant has produced the still
traveler, long distance and inevitably together. He made his debut as a Director with
the documentary Salvador from Cojimar, in 2009 and his recent work Tour was
produced in 2012. He studies Direction in Audiovisual School in the Higher Institute of
Arts.
PUERTO RICO
Title: Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories
Director: Pamela Sporn
Date of production: 2000
Length: 57 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories highlights the historical journey of an Afro Cuban
American family, from Jamaica, to Cuba, to the Bronx, revealing that the Cuban
American experience is more diverse, racially and ideologically, than we are often led to
believe. Diana, Ruben, and Pablo reveal stories of growing political awareness,
overcoming the dangers of the streets, and coming into their own as Afro Latinos in the
1960s and 70s.
Pamela Sporn: A Bronx Based documentary filmmaker whose work inter weaves
historical narratives and personal storytelling. Her films have screened at many venues
and festivals including the Anthology Film Archives, The Havana Film Festival, The
Chicago International Latino Film Festival, The London International Documentary Film
Festival, and at colleges and community media centers throughout the United States.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
HAITI/ CANADA
Title: Mc Pherson
Director: Martine Chartrand
Date of production:2011
Length: 10 min.
Genre: Animated film
Synopsis: In Quebec during the early 1930s, young poet Félix Leclerc befriended Frank
Randolph Macpherson, a Jamaican born chemical engineer. A jazz fan and a university
graduate who worked for a pulp and paper company, Macpherson inspired Leclerc,
who wrote a song about the log drives. Leclerc entitled it “MacPherson” in honour of
his friend and, through poetry, transformed him into one of those men who dance on
logs. Somewhere between documentary and fiction, MacPherson depicts turning
points in history and, with great sensitivity, captures in lavish images the deep feelings
shared by the Jamaican engineer and one of the poet’s sisters.
Martine Chartrand: Martine Chartrand completed a BFA in visual arts at Concordia
University in 1986, and a certificate in art education from the Université du Québec à
Montréal in 1988. In 1992, she directed the award winning short T.V. Tango, her first
animated film, for the NFB. In 1994, she received a grant from the Conseil des arts et
des lettres du Québec and from the Canada Council for the Arts enabling her to study
in Russia under Alexander Petrov. In 2000, she made her second NFB's film, Black
Soul. A paint on glass animated short that traces the memory of black history. The
film has won 23 awards, including the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2001. Her third film,
MacPherson, inspired by the song by Félix Leclerc, is a paint on glass animated film
bursting with poetry, history and musical diversity. MacPherson won the First prize
and The Best Canadian Short Film public award, at the Montreal International World
Film Festival in 2012.
BARBADOS/ UNITED KINGDOM
Title: The Story of Lover’s Rock
Director: Menelik Shabazz
Date of production: 2011
Length: 96 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: The story of how Lovers Rock music defined a generation in the late 70s
and 80s hugely impacting on British Pop Culture. The films which will be released
on 30 September 2011 in the UK.
Menelik Shabazz: Filmmaker and Producer. He is best known for his award
winning feature Burning an Illusion (1982). In 1996 he received in the USA Prized
Pieces Award for his BBC documentary Catch a Fire from the National Black
Programming Consortium. Shabazz has directed and produced films for BBC,
Channel Four and ITV. He is also the founder of the BFM International Film Festival
and founder Editor of BFM (Black filmmaker magazine). Menelik is one of the
pioneers of Black British cinema.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
NICARAGUA
Title: Al son de Miss Lizzie
Director: Ileana Lacayo
Date of production: 2010
Length: 18 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Documentary about Elizabeth Nelson Forbes life. She tells us of her
childhood, youth and work for cost dance. The audiovisual goes all over her life
and colorful world of Creole rhythms, of the Caribbean in Nicaragua.
ILEANA LACAYO: Director in BLUE films and Communication Director in BICU –
Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University, in Bluefields.
HAITI
Title: Herby, el jazz y la música haitiana/ Herby, the jazz and Haitian Music
Director: Arnold Antonin
Date of production: 2012
Length: 88 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Discovery of urban popular dance music of Haiti, its relations with Latin
music and jazz through Herby Widmaier’ story, who recorded musicians and
orchestras for nearly 40 years in Haiti. The musician Widmaier, played with many
famous national and international groups.
Arnold Antonin is a film director and a university professor who also heads a
cultural center. He was President of the Haitian Filmmakers Association. He
created the community center Petion Bolivar, a center that promotes culture and
political debates. Antonin has produced and directed more than twenty
documentaries and two films, Piwouli and the Zenglendo and Does The President
Have Aids (Le président a t il le Sida?) gaining several international prizes.
COLOMBIA
Title: Los reyes criollos de la Champeta. The creole Kings of Champeta
Director: Lucas Silva/ Sergio Arria
Date of production:2010
Length: 30 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Champeta is a sleepy giant that wakes up in the world music, without
cultural authorities support. Nowadays, Champeta is a sleepy giant that awoke in
the world music, without any cultural authority support. Nowadays, Champeta is
part of radio stations hits of tropical music in the Caribbean, although, irrefutable
fathers of this music are black cimarrons from San Basilio de Palenque, in
Cartagena. The documentary is about this popular music from Colombian
Caribbean y its singers
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
Lucas Silva/ Sergio Arria independent filmmakers and musical producer. The most part of his work is dedicated to African cultural heritage and its presence in the United States. He studied in Louis Lumière School (Paris). En 1996, produced together with Marta Rodríguez "AMAPOLA: Maudite FLOR", "LOS REYES CRIOLLOS DE LA CHAMPETA". During 1998 and 2000 made 2 documentaries, "Los hijos de los Thunder" and "Los Tres Poderes". In 2000, directed a new documentary on afro colombian music, "Hijos de Benkos", co produced by "Films du Village" (París, Francia). In 2002 y 2009 made some musical to Frederic Galliano, or afrocolombiana hip hop band Choc Quib Town. In 2010, Silva created his own film production company, Hollywoodoo Films.
HAITI/ EUA
Title: Brooklyn Racine
Director: Jeremy Robins/ Magaly Damas
Date of production: 2006
Length: 12 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: This documentary (a short version feature length doc “The Other Side
of the Water”) explores what happens when a group of young immigrants take a
voodoo inspired walking music from the hills of Haiti and reinvent it on the
streets of Brooklyn.
Jeremy Robins: Director / Co producer. He is a media educator and filmmaker
with a passion for visual storytelling. He has made a few documentary films about
the Haitian’s history and culture. He has recently worked as a field producer for
MTV’s True Life, and has worked as a Director of Photography on shows for PBS
and the Hartley Film Foundation. As an educator, he teaches production classes
at Downtown Community Television (DCTV), and has led documentary projects
with NYC public high school students since 1998. He has also written for The
Independent Film & Video Monthly and the Brooklyn Rail.
Magali (MAGI) Damas: Co producer, She has worked the past fifteen years in
video production, festival organization, and civic activism. She has co produced
documentary films and co directed a music video. She's currently the video
coordinator for HaitiXchange.com, and works in a variety of production roles for
Metrovision Production Group, NYC. From 2000 to 2002 she helped organized
Haiti second largest festival "Gelee," in Les Cayes, as well as a Rara festival in Les
Cayes.
CUBA
Title: 20 Años
Director: Barbaro J. Ortiz
Date of production:2010
Length: 15 min.
Genre: Short animate
Synopsis: A woman lives grappled to a happy past, but her present is very
different. 20 years of indifference and mistreatment had challenged the love of
this person. In order to get the attention of her husband, she‘ll try even the
impossible.
Barbaro J. Ortiz, Director and producer of Animation Studios from Cuban Film
Institute ICAIC.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
PUERTO RICO
Title: Sonó, sonó. Tite Cure
Director(s): GabrielCoss/ Israel Lugo
Production´s date: 2011
Duration: 85 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Homage to the most important composer of “Salsa”, Tite Curet Alonso. Although there have been a lot of homage to Curet, any of them with the extent and technology of this one. The Popular Bank left the production work in hands of the multimedia group Rojo Chiringa, famous for its audio visual productions for “Calle 13”. The music was arranged and directed by Jose Lugo, Ricardo Pons and Omar Silva, and Ángel Cucco Peña, an old friend of the organization, also took part. They recruited a real all stars to support the invited musicians. The result is a pack that includes a CD with 18 songs and a DVD with the making off of the recording and different testimonies remembering the life and work of Tite Curet Alonso.
Gabriel Coss is a Puerto Rican director and editor with experience in documentaries, fiction, music videos, advertisement. He also makes collaborations on theatre and dance, and participates in community workshops as videographer. Currently, he is an active member of the multimedia collective Rojo Chiringa, but also works as an independent editor. Some of his works are: Aljuriya; Eco; Hobos Bay Reserve; Atrévete; La Perla. Finalist in the Environmental Film Festival of the Wild Life and Wilderness Foundation (Panda Awards); Won Best National Documentary at the 2005 San Juan Cinemafest; Honorable Mention at the 2005 Three Continents Documentary Festival in Venezuela; nominated for best Foreign Video in the Music Video Awards (Canada); he won two Emmys and the Latino Grammy for best music short video twice.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Israel Lugo: Director and Actor of Theatre and Film. He has worked as Director and Assistant Director with some of the best known film companies in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. He has also worked in the screenwriting process for films such as Maldeamores. He also has acted in films such as The Apostate (HBO films), El Cuerpo del Delito, directed by Raul Marchand in 2004, and receiving excellent critics. In 2006, Israel demonstrated his resourcefulness as an actor in the protagonic role of Pedro Adorno's y Emilio Rodriguez's film, El Clown which debuted at the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. In 2007, Israel acted together with Benicio del Toro in Steven Sodemberg's film, The Argentine. Some of his works are: Eco; Sonó Sonó, Tite Curet; Atrévete; La Perla. Currently he is an active member of the multimedia collective Rojo Chiringa. Nominated for best music video MTV Latino Music Awards; nominated for best Foreign Video in the Music Video Awards (Canada); Won the Latino Grammy for best music short video twice.
Title: Classical steel
Director: John E Barry
Date of production: 2011
Length: 42 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Playing classical music on the steelpan showed Trinidad society that a percussion instrument invented in the poorer areas of Port of Spain could reach the heights of a symphony orchestra. The film looks at the importance of classical music in the development of the steelband and its acceptance worldwide as a legitimate instrument.
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John Barry: He holds a BA in Mass Media Studies from the University of the District
of Columbia and an MA in Communication Arts from the New York Institute of
Technology. He has a wealth of experience in video making as a writer, producer
and director. Among his credits is his first documentary, Dance de Calypso.
JAMAICA
Title: Rise up
Director: Luciano Blotta
Date of Production: 2010
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: There is a place where music is not just entertainment. It’s a way of life. Far
from the tourist resorts, RiseUp travels to the heart of Jamaica and its flourishing
underground music scene. On an Island where reggae is considered the voice of the
people and an outlet for survival, three aspiring artists – Turbulence (a charismatic
lyrical master from the ghetto), Ice Anastasia (the privileged uptown artist), and
Kemoy (a shy angelic songstress from the country) – seek to “rise up” into the
legendary eminence of their iconic predecessors). Deep in the ghettos where reggae
was born, music continues to be a key form of expression for ghetto youths, who face
crippling inequalities, poverty, and violence. The film features music from many
other notable artists.
Luciano Blotta: Filmmaker based in L.A. He fell in love with the permanent soundtrack
of the Jamaican streets and began Rise Up as his first film adventure.
SECTION C CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
TRINIDAD Y TOBAGO
Title: Young Explorers Caribbean Point Fortin
Directed by Lorraine O'Connor
Date of production: 2006
Length: 18 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: Young Explorers of the Caribbean is a television series in which a group of
young people makes a great discovery in Trinidad and Tobago to learn about the
culture, beauty and the characteristics of each community they visit through the
eyes of children in the area. The programs appeal to young and not so young as
they are full of fun, educational brushstrokes and beautiful landscapes. The
children are accompanied in his adventures from 2 animated characters; Suni
Caracol and Fredo Frog. Point Fortin is one of the oldest cities in the country. Is
located on the southwest coast of Trinidad. On the way to Point Fortin, passed by
the famous Pitch Lake in La Brea, the largest of the three natural asphalt lakes in
the world. In Point Fortin, the Young Explorers meet some very talented children
and learn to play the steelpan, sing in a choir and visiting the city.
Lorraine O'Connor has sought alternatives to promote the culture of Trinidad and
Tobago in Europe. She has worked as author and co producer of several
documentaries on Caribbean culture (1989 1994), Roots Calypso, Panfusion and
Panma. In 2002, she co founded with Rosemary Hezequiah, Riddums Productions,
a multimedia company specializing in audiovisual productions: the documentary
"Calypso @ Dirty Jim's" Calypso Rose. In 2006 produced and directed Young
Explorers Caribbean series TV in Trinidad and Tobago. She was associate producer
on "Art Connect" a documentary about the power of creativity and artistic
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expression in education. In 2012, she was project coordinator of the exhibition Side
by Side: Celebrating 50 Years of Independence through film. In 2013, she produced
the documentary/fiction about steelband: PAN! A modern odyssey. She currently is
a producer on the feature to be shot in Trinidad Play the Devil.
TRINIDAD Y TOBAGO
Title: Atiba Williams
Directed by Bruce Paddington / Christopher Laird
Date of production: 2000
Length : 7 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: With just 9 years old Atiba Williams is the youngest musical arranger who
had a steelband in the first steelband competition "Panorama". This film is a look at
a day in his life, from home to school, to the performance of the assay.
Bruce Paddington designer and co coordinator of the course in the Film Faculty of
Humanities of the University of the West Indies. He is also an award winning
filmmaker founder of Banyan Productions, the Caribbean Federation of Filmmakers
and Film Festival in Trinidad and Tobago. He has directed and produced over 500
films and TV programs and was a consultant for the founding of the Film Company
of Trinidad and Tobago. His academic work includes teaching in photography,
communication address at prestigious academic institutions such as University of
West Indies, York University, Toronto, and other centers of higher learning in the
Caribbean and North America. He has published numerous articles on Caribbean
and Latin American cinema.
Christopher Laird: Founder / Executive Gayelle The Channel and co founder of
Banyan Productions, first independent production company in Trinidad. He
believes that the ability of television and its development are directly related to the
challenges they face today in the creation of a sustainable indigenous film industry.
Christopher 's achievements were recognized on July 11 in the fourth annual
Caribbean Tales Festival in Toronto , Canada, where he received a well deserved
award "Lifetime Achievement "
PUERTO RICO
Title: Eyerí, a Musician with Magic
Director: Frank Elías
Production´s date: 2010
Duration: 12 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: It is the history of a 4 year old boy with a great talent for the music. The
documentary contrasts the boy's innocence with the mother's concerns on what
can bear a future in the music for him. The history that "he narrates" the singer
Seven through some brief verses that locate the spectator in the thematic of each
segment.
FRANK ELÍAS: Santurce, Puerto Rico, 1959. He studied Communication and
Journalism in the Sagrado Corazón University. Master in picture and cinema
studies in Maine Photographic Workshops with Billy Williams BSC, Vilmos
Zsigmond ASC and Arnold Newman. Photography Director of commercial and
musical videos. Eyerí, a musician with magic is his first documentary project as
director after 3 decades of Career.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMM- 6TH EDITION
Dedicate to Caribbean Music
CUBA
Título: Fly
Director: Ermitis Blanco and Yolanda Durán
Date of Production: 2012
Length: 12 min.
Genre: Documental
Synopsis: Fly is a girl who lives in an unreal world. Want to "fly" but space has
become smaller.
Yolanda Duran: In 2010 she starts working at the Animation Studios of the Cuban
Television (ICRT) as an animator and illustrator. She studied Industrial Desing in ISDI,
and has also collaborated in diverse audiovisual design projects (animation,
documentation, music videos) with Ñoo Productions.
Ermitis Blanco: He was comic strip maker and Illustrator. Cartoon Director in the
Animation Studios of the Cuban Television (ICRT). Some of his works are Reducto,
Serenata en Son mayor, Caracol Award in animation. He has made animation work
and artistic concept for documentaries, shorts and long features of fiction, and
publicity. In 2005 Ermitis Blanco established the¨ ÑOOo Productions¨, an
independent group with other young film makers.
VENEZUELA
Title: Dudamel
Director: Alberto Arvelo
Production´s date: 2010
Duration: 84 min.
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis: “Dudamel. The sound of the children" takes as a central figure the director
of orchestras Gustavo Dudamel, who does a tour for his dream of being a recognized
musician. In this documentary, of an hour and 25 minutes of length, Arvelo registers
the artistic and social impact that “The System " (designed in 1975 by the teacher
Jose Antonio Abreu), has had in places as dissimilar as Bolivia, Korea, Los Angeles,
Berlin, Scotland, London, Colombia and Venezuela
Alberto Arvelo Venezuelan Director, writer and film producer. He studied history at
the University of Los Andes. In 1986 his first two feature films premieres "Candles in
the Mist" and "The Song of the mountain." Produce with Alexis Montilla "One Life
and Two Trails." The work won the Best Screenplay Award at the Festival of Latin
American Cinema in New York. "A house with sea view" wins Audience Awards in
Biarritz, Huelva and Freiburg; besides the Glauber Rocha Award in Havana. In 2001,
produces and releases the Latest TV miniseries. In 2005, he premiered the
documentary Touching and fight on the system Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.