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The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago around the latter half of September, and runs for two weeks. The festival screens feature-length narrative and documentary films, as well as short and experimental films.

History
The festival has its origins in the Kairi Film Festival, a one-off event which took place over three days in November 2002 in Port of Spain. The first trinidad+tobago film festival took place in 2006, and was supported by the Trinidad & Tobago Film Company, a state enterprise. Films screened included Sistagod, directed by Trinidadian filmmaker Yao Ramesar, and the documentary Calypso Dreams.

In 2007 the festival expanded to its current length, and included, for the first time, screenings outside of Port of Spain, including Tobago. One of the films shown was the Trinidad and Tobago classic Bim (1974), directed by Hugh A. Robertson. In 2008 the cable television provider Flow became the festival's presenting sponsor, and the festival expanded further to include technical workshops, and began a partnership with the University of the West Indies. Among the festival's guests that year was the British artist and filmmaker, Isaac Julien.

The 2009 festival opened with the film Rain, written and directed by Maria Govan of the Bahamas. 2009 also saw the inclusion, for the first time, of jury prizes. Guests that year included the Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, director of the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize-winning Silent Light, and Hilton Als, theatre critic for The New Yorker magazine. In 2010 the festival entered into partnerships with the Zanzibar International Film Festival, as well as Zambia.

The ttff also has a partnership with StudioFilmClub, a weekly Port of Spain cine-club, run by the artist Peter Doig.

Main initiatives

 * Promoting Caribbean films The trinidad+tobago film festival is a celebration of the best in film from the English, French, Spanish and Dutch Caribbean, as well as the Caribbean Diaspora. The festival also screens films from Latin American countries that border the Caribbean Sea.


 * Promoting the Caribbean film industry The festival seeks to promote indigenous filmmaking not only through screening films by regional filmmakers, but also by hosting workshops on technical aspects of filmmaking, as well as panel discussions on marketing, co-productions, etc.


 * Reaching out to rural communities In keeping with its tagline—“You’re in Focus”—the festival is committed to promoting the culture of viewing indigenous films throughout Trindad and Tobago by hosting film screenings in communities outside of the main urban centres. These screenings are free of charge to the public.

Prizes
One of the main features of the festival is the awarding of prizes to the best films. A jury, made up of local, regional and international film industry professionals, awards prizes for Best Feature Film, Best Short Film and Best Trinidad and Tobago Film. Each award comes with a significant cash prize. In addition, there are audience awards for Best Dramatic Feature, Best Narrative Feature, and Best Short Film. == References ==