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

A cadre of specially invited Jamaican film-makers will be attending this years T&T Film Festival (ttFF) to show five short films in a special showcase.

The films, which will have their world premiere at the Festival, are the result of a program called Propella initiated by the Jamaican Film and Television Association (JAFTA).

The winning films were chosen from over 20 submissions in a blind application process. They are ‘Original’ by Kurt Wright and Noelle Kerr; ‘Shock Value’ by Adrian Lopez; ‘Shoot the Girl’ by Tony Hendricks and Natalie Thompson; ‘Sugar’ by Laurie Parker, Sharon Leach and Michelle Serieux; and ‘The Silent Ones’ by Gregory Lopez and Janet Morrison. They range from urban to science-fiction to supernatural.
JAFTA Marketing Director, Kevin Jackson, said one mission of the organization is to create opportunities for film-makers and people involved in film, including writers and technical experts, and so the initiative gave the five film-makers TT$500,000 (approximately US$4,500) each towards finishing their short film, as the biggest challenge for film-makers is always funding. “People don’t want just to make a short film, they want to make one that is impactful, visually appealing and looks professional, and that’s one of the main reasons why Propella came about. Because of the purpose of the project, you’ll find people are willing to help out where they can or reduce their rates to help make the film happen. So what you’re seeing is Jamaica trying to step up the production value of their storytelling because we want to be neck and neck with the professionals internationally.”
The Propella initiative was started after JAFTA received an invitation in March from the ttFF to prepare a one-hour showcase. Jackson said the Association asked its members to submit their concepts via email anonymously, with uniform formatting so that nobody could identify whose scripts was whose. “The scripts were then sent to judges who would be reading them for the first time and they looked for uniqueness, innovation and story, because the whole idea was not just to tell a good story but also something that was feasible during the time frame given, and the other thing was to ensure that the story was captivating. You don’t want to send a story that people aren’t going to get and at the same time you don’t want to send a story that people aren’t going to want to get excited about. So some of them are supernatural or have special effects or science-fiction, and that might be because the judges had never seen before in Jamaican film and wanted to see coming out of Jamaica. The stories behind them as well, Jamaica is very rich in folklore, and to pull them off, some visual effects would be needed, so those stories represented a bit of innovation and uniqueness that the judges wanted to see.”
Ten scripts were picked initially, and the film-makers then went through training sessions in scriptwriting, directing, pitching, festival strategy and deal-making, following which the five winning films were chosen. The funds came from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, an organization that gives funds to artistic and other ventures.
JAFTA then approached the Film Commission at the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) for assistance in getting the film-makers to attend the ttFF in person. Jackson said JAMPRO was very enthusiastic about the initiative and went as far as also taking the film-makers to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). “They’re trying to push film and representation at the T&T Film Festival is a big deal because it’s the biggest film festival in the Caribbean. They saw merit in taking the film-makers there, because you can enter a film festival but if you’re not there your presence isn’t really felt, even if your film does well. At TIFF, the film-makers will be working and attending the marketplaces and finding out the new trends in the business side of the film industry. We definitely have to thank JAMPRO for assisting us to be able to push ourselves in the marketplace.”
Jackson said following the world premiere at ttFF, JAFTA hopes to showcase the films at other major film festivals internationally in order to promote the film-makers and try to make some of the short films into full-length films. “Most of them are actually feature films project ideas which were just done as shorts to get the concepts out there. Several film festivals have actually started asking for the films already, and the film-makers going to festivals will be going to workshops to help broaden their knowledge and skill base. The hope is that by next year this time, we will see at least one or two of those films becoming feature length films to be put in theatres.”
The Propella initiative is also working on sustainability. “We hope that by the second year, the first Propella group will be helping out the next cohort of Propella film-makers, giving them advice, telling them about their experiences on the film festival circuit, any business deals that they’ve made, giving pointers where that is concerned, so they pass on the knowledge and we can grow the film industry in Jamaica.”
For more information, go to http://ttfilmfestival.com/film/jafta-propella