IT was a diverse menu of emotions for the audience attending the the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (TTFF) Opening Night Gala and viewing the Caribbean premiere of the film, Doubles.
The evening began with a pre-show mix and mingle in the lobby with beverages and some tasty Caribbean hors d'oeuvres, including doubles (of course), with the sounds of pan music sailing in from the band outside. The attendees included several members of the local film industry and broader creative sector as well as a few regional and international visitors.
The formal part of the event began promptly at 7.45 pm with a welcome by emcee Salene Griffith, opening remarks by FILMCO director Dion Boucaud and a very visually creative video presentation by festival signature sponsors, the National Gas Company.
Canada's High Commissioner to TT Arif Keshani said in his remarks TTFF celebrates films from and about the Caribbean and the diaspora, and noted there is a large Caribbean diaspora population in Canada.
He pointed out that Doubles' writer/director Ian Harnarine's 2011 short Doubles With Slight Pepper which the new film, Doubles, is based on, won many accolades including the Best Canadian Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival and also a Genie Award.
He noted the night's feature film was sponsored by several Canadian organisations and was a cross-cultural collaboration having been filmed in both Trinidad and Canada and featuring a local and Canadian cast. He added that TT and Canada have a robust relationship and Doubles was an opportunity to further cultural collaboration.
Doubles tells the story of a poor and frustrated doubles vendor in Trinidad who travels to Canada to find his estranged father in the hopes of financial gain. But his trip becomes complicated when he learns that he is a father who has a serious illness.
[caption id="attachment_1036607" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Olatunji Yearwood performs during the launch of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, at Queen's Hall, St Ann's. - Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
Harnarine, a Canadian filmmaker born to Trinidadian parents, in his remarks and told the audience it was a special night for him and a lot of people.
"It's opening this festival in this country that is in many ways the home and heart of this film as you will see."
He said he has been working on the project for "years and years and years" and the only thing that kept him and his collaborators and team members was knowing that this night would happen.
"We made this movie for you all and for this night."
He thanked his producer Mark Sirju who is a fellow Trini-Canadian and has been on this film journey of Doubles for a number of years. He also thanked his star, local actor Sanjiv Boodhu who plays the Trini doubles vendor Dhani.
"This man is this movie. He carries this movie. He's literally in every single scene. And he trusted me to do things that I asked him to do that I am sure you did not want to do as an actor."
He recalled he asked Boodhu to run into a snowbank that wa
