...OK people, as a true Trini to de Bone, and being a major annual audience participant in the annual TIFF aka The Toronto International Film Festival, a friend and I bought the massive TIFF book on all the films making their début appearance at this year's TIFF. Lo and behold, I came across a film from Sweet T&T in the listing titled
Sistagod that made the cut.
Accolades on making the cut and obtaining screening at this year's TIFF, which ranks second, behind Cannes, in the category of international film festivals. Numerous films are sent to TIFF for screening consideration for its annual event.
Roughly only 300 films are screened during the 10-day run and yuh got to know dat a great many of the films out of Hollywood, which consider themselves to be artsy movies, aka
independent films, are chosen simply because of the megawattage star power. But to be fair to Piers and he peeps (Piers Handling being one of the founding members of TIFF and now co-Executive Director), those Hollywood artsy movies are normally very good although giving them screening during TIFF does diminish screening time, and therefore valuable exposure, for those truly independent and low budget films, which are in and of themselves remarkable and outstanding, and which actually use these types of festivals to acquire a distributor for their films....Hollywood films definitely don't require such exposure but one has to admit that it was those very same Hollywood films that have elevated TIFF to its wide international appeal and draw...as per usual, power and the almighty buck rule the day BUT at least in this one instance, they have given staying power to TIFF and TIFF has used this staying power to continue promoting excellent low-budget independent films every year.
There are only two screenings...
Thursday September 14, 2006 at 6PM at Paramount 3 (King West and John in the Entertainment District)
Saturday September 16, 2006 at 11:30AM at Cumberland 3 (Yorkville)
I'm going to the Saturday morning screening...please come out in your numbers to support we homegrown film...
Just as the SW made it to the World Cup,
Sistagod has made it to its own World Cup début and so we should support...in fact, Sweet T&T artistic talent is bursting out of its seams, yearning for its own well-deserved spotlight in the sun on the international scene. We, as Trini ex-pats, need to support our artistes so that they are given the opportunity to benefit from international exposure that they truly deserve and that which is truly befitting them. Let's not leave it up to the foreigners to wave we red, black and white colours fuh we...we have to take it upon weself to wave we own colours fuh we peeps and dem...
Meh cultural attachée, and she's de bes in de city, point out to meh dat Ah forget to add de TIFF link for further information and ting...
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2006/films_schedules/films_description.asp?id=276Sistagod was reviewed by Cameron Bailey, one of de T-Dot's foremost film critics, in my humble opinion.
