The T&T Film Fes­ti­val (TTFF) is start­ing off its tenth an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tions on a high note with its fifth an­nu­al Car­ni­val Film Se­ries.

Over the past four years, the se­ries has pre­sent­ed di­verse and un­usu­al rep­re­sen­ta­tions of Car­ni­val on film and screen. Films have in­clud­ed trib­utes to pi­o­neer­ing ca­lyp­so­ni­ans such as Lord Su­pe­ri­or, Ca­lyp­so Rose and Shad­ow; and Pe­ter Min­shall and oth­er Car­ni­val prac­ti­tion­ers in nar­ra­tive and doc­u­men­tary forms.

In ad­di­tion, the high­ly en­ter­tain­ing anec­do­tal pre­sen­ta­tions on vin­tage Car­ni­val by Ray Funk have con­tin­ued to de­light and sur­prise au­di­ences.

For this year's Car­ni­val Film Se­ries, the TTFF promis­es even more di­ver­si­ty and en­ter­tain­ment. Ad­mis­sion is free to all screen­ings and pre­sen­ta­tions for the se­ries.

Ca­lyp­so Dreams and Trib­ute to Mid­night Rob­ber, Bri­an Hon­ore­at UWI

The first of the four-part 2015 Car­ni­val Film Se­ries will be shown on Jan­u­ary 17 from 6.30 pm at the UWI Film De­part­ment's Stu­dio at 12 Car­mody Road, St Au­gus­tine. The pro­gramme will fea­ture Ca­lyp­so Dreams–di­rec­tors Ge­of­frey Dunn and Michael Horne's chron­i­cle of the rich and com­plex cul­tur­al roots of ca­lyp­so mu­sic in T&T.

Al­so on the pro­gramme is Rob­bertalk, a spe­cial film and mid­night rob­ber per­for­mance trib­ute to Bri­an Hon­ore, one of this coun­try's most pop­u­lar mid­night rob­bers, on the tenth an­niver­sary of his pass­ing. This will be pre­ced­ed by Liv­ing Lega­cies: Trains in Trinidad; and Clay and Dirt Ovens in T&T, two short doc­u­men­taries pro­duced with the sup­port of the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Di­ver­si­ty and So­cial In­te­gra­tion.

The Mighty Spar­row and Lord Su­pe­ri­o­rat the Globe Cin­e­ma

Next the se­ries moves on to the high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed Caribbean pre­miere of The Glam­our Boyz Again: Spar­row and Lord Su­pe­ri­or on the Hilton Rooftop, at the Globe Cin­e­ma, on Jan­u­ary 18. At this screen­ing, both Spar­row and Lord Su­pe­ri­or will be pre­sent­ed hon­orary awards by the Em­bassy of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca, Port-of-Spain. Au­di­ences in the 1,200 seat Globe Cin­e­ma will al­so be treat­ed to an ex­clu­sive live per­for­mance by both ho­n­ourees.

Di­rec­tor Ge­of­frey Dunn will be present for a Q&A Ses­sion af­ter the film. This spe­cial event is spon­sored by RBC Roy­al Bank in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Em­bassy of the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca. The In­ter­na­tion­al Art Al­liance (IAA) is al­so work­ing close­ly with the Em­bassy to fa­cil­i­tate the awards and the par­tic­i­pa­tion of the Mighty Spar­row, Lord Su­pe­ri­or and Ge­of­frey Dunn. This event starts at 6 pm and doors open at 5 pm.

Pan! Our Mu­si­cal Odyssey­at San Fer­nan­do Hill

On Jan­u­ary 23, from 6.30pm, San Fer­nan­do Hill will be­come an out­door cin­e­ma for the spe­cial show­ing of Pan! Our Mu­si­cal Odyssey, which re­cent­ly had its the­atri­cal re­lease at lo­cal cin­e­mas. Lim­it­ed copies of the film's DVD and CD will be avail­able for pur­chase. Re­fresh­ments will be on sale and lim­it­ed seat­ing will be pro­vid­ed. Au­di­ences are in­vit­ed to bring their own seat­ing and re­fresh­ments.

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Ray Funk Presents: Ca­lyp­so Crazeat Nalis

The se­ries will con­clude at the Nalis Am­phithe­atre on Jan­u­ary 25 from 6.30 pm, with Ray Funk Presents: Ca­lyp­so Craze. Once again, Alaskan based Car­ni­val His­to­ri­an Ray Funk will thrill au­di­ences with rare vin­tage Car­ni­val film clips–this time fo­cussing on the Ca­lyp­so Craze. The Ca­lyp­so Craze swept Amer­i­ca in 1957, when the whole Amer­i­can en­ter­tain­ment in­dus­try thought ca­lyp­so would kill rock and roll.

This pre­sen­ta­tion at the Nalis Am­phithe­atre will co­in­cide with the of­fi­cial launch of the book, CD and DVD set of the same name. Both events on this week­end will be pre­ced­ed by Liv­ing Lega­cies: Trains in Trinidad; and Clay and Dirt Ovens in T&T, pro­duced with the sup­port of the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Di­ver­si­ty and So­cial In­te­gra­tion.