An image from "Songs of Redemption" (left) and "Passage" (right)
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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - As its final event for
the year, the trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is hosting a free screening
of the documentary Songs of Redemption,
on Tuesday 10 December, at its offices at 199 Belmont Circular Road in Belmont.
The screening takes place in
association with Amnesty International, in observance of Human Rights Day.
According to its website, Amnesty is
“a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in
over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human
rights”, and is “independent of any government,
political ideology, economic interest or religion.”
Human Rights Day was proclaimed
by the United Nations General Assembly in 1950. It seeks to bring attention to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement
for all peoples and nations.
Directed by Miquel
Galofré and Amanda Sans, Songs of Redemption
goes inside the General Penitentiary in Kingston, Jamaica, to document a
remarkable programme that seeks to rehabilitate prisoners by allowing them to
write, record and perform reggae music.
The film features
extraordinarily candid and moving interviews with the inmates in the programme,
some serving sentences for crimes as serious as murder. It climaxes with a
powerful live concert within the prison.
A hit at ttff/13,
Songs of Redemption won the audience
prize for best documentary feature, and was co-winner of the jury prize for
best documentary.
Preceding
Songs of Redemption will be a short
fiction film,
Passage, winner of a
special jury mention at ttff/13. Written and directed by Kareem Mortimer of the
Bahamas,
Passage tells the story of a
group of Haitians, locked in the hold of a fishing vessel, who are being
smuggled through Bahamian waters in the hopes of reaching the United States.
There will also be a
brief video message from Amnesty about the observance of Human Rights Day, and
literature detailing Amnesty’s work in the Caribbean will be available. (Please
note that Amnesty is not responsible for the content of the films being shown.)
The screenings begin at
7.30pm, and doors open at 6.30pm. Space is limited, so please arrive early to ensure
seating. Refreshments will be available.
The
trinidad+tobago film festival is presented by Flow and given leading
sponsorship by BpTT, RBC Royal Bank, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company and
the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
