Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

In TOMB, a science fiction feature film set and made entirely in T&T, writer and director Nicholas Attin tells the story of a Trinidadian astronaut who slips into a wormhole while responding to a distress beacon in deep space and suddenly finds himself in the afterlife.

Attin said the concept for the film came to him in a dream, where he was approached by a space traveller in a black spacesuit called Obatala, who asked if Attin wanted to tell his story. In doing his research, Attin later found out that Obatala is the name of an Orisha god. He combined this vision with the work of his greatest cinematic influence, writer and director Stanley Kubrick, who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. “I pay a lot of homage to him in my work. If you’ve seen any of his films, I take it as a sense of pride and honour to be able to recreate even a single shot, because I learned so much by watching his films and listening to him talk.”
Attin said he was initially overwhelmed by the idea of creating a film in the image of 2001 and Interstellar, knowing he had little or no budget. However, he said projects that are meant to be created take on a life of their own, and this began to happen with TOMB. In searching for ways to recreate the iconic space helmet, Attin contacted a costume designer who worked on the film Prometheus, showed him one of his previous films, Escape from Babylon, and impressed him with his willingness and enthusiasm. The designer made a helmet which he called the Martian’s helmet, a helmet used primarily for exploring planets, as opposed to just being floating around in space. This was perfect for Attin, who also designed the suit to sleek and streamlined, less like the traditional bulky NASA spacesuit.
Another major obstacle to be overcome were the space scenes. After shooting most of these on a green screen, Attin found a free 3D modelling program online called Blender, which enabled him, after a two-month self-taught crash course, to design two ships, the TTSS Hummingbird and the TTSS Scarlet Ibis. He said that is one of his greatest achievements to this day.
Attin is proud of the fact that the film was created entirely in Trinidad, with Tribagonian actors, with very little funding and at no expense to the taxpayers of T&T. He attempted to raise funds through an online Indiegogo fundraiser, which garnered little or no support from people in T&T. Attin said this lack of support was heartbreaking, but he understands that film-making in T&T is still developing and people are sceptical about investing.
He said his main reason for wanting funding would be to pay the actors, who he said are some of the most accomplished in T&T. “The two lead actors, Kearn Samuel and Gregory Pollonais, were trained by Hollywood coaches. I had worked with them on Escape from Babylon and wrote those roles for them because we have a really great professional relationship and a great friendship. The lead actress, Jair Massiah is Tobagonian but based in Los Angeles, and she is also Hollywood-trained. She has lamented to me at times that it’s difficult getting decent roles in Hollywood, especially for someone of her skin colour, but I knew her calibre and her ability, so I asked if she wanted the role of Obatala’s wife, and she accepted. My philosophy on directing is that 90% of directing is casting. The other 10% is my little 16 herbs and spices, nothing to talk about.” Attin also paid tribute to his creative consultant, Rafael Noblé, an American actor also based in Los Angeles, who trained Samuels and Pollonais. Attin said Noblé has an affinity for T&T and has been a bedrock of support. Attin is also an advocate for having people of colours in strong roles, unlike most of what obtains in Hollywood currently.
Attin said he hoped T&T audiences will like the film, as he sees it as a glimpse of what can be done here. He is also looking forward to the international premiere of the film, which he said was almost chosen to open the LA Film Festival. “It was really heartbreaking, because the LA Film Festival is one of the top 10 movie festivals in the world. I appreciated that we reached that distance and I can only imagine what would have happened if we had gotten to that level.”
For those locally and internationally who might query T&T having a space program, even in a fictional film, Attin said his philosophy is that it is our turn to spin the wheel and tell a story involving space. “The film is a global story about a global event that’s taking place in 2025 where countries that possess the adequate wealth are able to finance representatives to go out into space, because there’s this great search for life on other planets, given all the different problems that we have here, so that’s how I felt at ease to present this concept to the rest of the world.”
TOMB will be premiered at the T&T Film Festival on September 23rd, with two additional showings on September 24th and 26th. For more information, go to http://ttfilmfestival.com/film/tomb.