Black Immigrant Daily News
Last weekend saw another successful conclusion of GATFFEST 2022 with over 14 filmmakers walking away winners at the Palace Cineplex Sovereign.
The re-branded Greater August Town Film Festival hosted by the newly merged Mona Social Services/UWI Community Film Project ran from June 9 to July 2 with overwhelming responses from both filmmakers and patrons turning out for eight film nights culminating in the awards ceremony.
Filmmakers garnered awards for Most Original Screenplay “Patty versus Patty”, Franklyn St. Juste Award for Best Directing, “Timoun Aw (Your Kid)”, Best Cinematography “No Entry”, Lennie Little-White Award for Best Local Film “Traytown”, Best International/Regional Film “Timoun Aw (Your Kid)”, Best Animated Film “Mother Finch”, Best MSS/UWICFP Film “A Day in the Life of a Mangrove Warden”, The Lamar Dookie Award for Best Edited MSS/UWICFP Film “A Day in the Life of a Mangrove Warden”, The Spirit of GATFFEST Award “Timoun Aw (Your Kid)”, Archibald McDonald Award for the Best of GATTFEST “Timoun Aw (Your Kid)”, International Viewers’ Choice Award, “Timoun Aw (Your Kid)” and “The Bathtub”, Jamaican Viewers’ Choice Award, “Traytown and Nice Lady”.
Professor Ian Boxill, former Gatffest Festival Director and Eka Patterson, filmmaker share a photo opportunity
The Mona Social Services/UWI Community Film Project Award for Change in the Community was presented to a graduate of the UWI Community Film Project who uses what has been taught in the programme to make a significant impact on the community. This year’s winner is Phillip Watson.
In 2021, Phillip Watson was accepted into the Mona Social Services/UWI Community Film Project (MSS/UWICFP) under the Kingston Harbour Ecosystem Adaptation Measures (KHEAM) Project. He is a part of 3 cohorts trained in film and video production with an emphasis on environmental issues facing the Kingston Harbour and the communities that immediately surround it. He graduated in August 2021.
Phillip Watson now runs a community-based organization/social enterprise; Supm Fi Talk Bout; that empowers and uplifts the youths of 16 different inner-city communities of downtown Kingston. Most of these youths are motherless or fatherless and Supm Fi Talk Bout provides a safe haven for them; a space to develop them creatively and intellectually. This is done through academics, sports, permaculture, music, arts, farming, dancing, and community tours/skateboarding.
The organisation also visits the sick and afflicted to pray for them and feed them, teaching the youths the power and importance of empathy; helping the youths to understand the importance of being upstanding, contributing members of society in a positive and impactful manner.
As GATFFEST brought the curtain down on celebrating a decade in filmmaking, Festival Director Savannah Peridot proudly chronicled their journey with 1,950 total film submissions, 323 films screened at GATFFEST, 31 UWICFP student films screened, 130 Jamaican Films submitted, 33.5 hours of film master-classes and workshops and 115 Jamaican films screened.
Savannah Peridot was full of praise for the GATTFEST Planning Committee and the festival’s partners which include the Embassies of Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, the Bob Marley Foundation, Jamaica Social Investment Fund and Rum Fire, Hampden Estates.
The festival had its genesis in 2013 when it was introduced as an avenue to showcase the films produced by the graduates of the UWI Community Film Project, a community-based initiative supporting the UWI Township Project. It offers training in film and video production for youth in a number of under-served communities.
Since its inception the festival has grown significantly, from a four-day to an eight-day festival, receiving numerous international and local submissions every year. GATFFEST serves as a platform for the exposure of filmmaking talents of directors, producers, casts and crews. It is an opportunity to showcase new and emerging filmmakers who are telling stories through a mix of short films and documentaries.
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