Exploring the Rastafarians, Baptists and Orisha religious groups with female members having different philosophical orientations, social positions and cultural activities.
Created for an international audience, yet set against the intriguing backdrop of three diverse African-based religions each retaining some elements of Christianity, this documentary “From Adam’s Rib” will explore women’s status, roles, beliefs and practices in the sacred space of ‘Shouter’ Baptist, Rastafarian and Orisha women - a space that is a paradox of sorts - being simultaneously imprisoning and liberating, baffling and beautiful.
This exploration of women through this religious landscape shall take place in both Trinidad and Tobago, islands where mainstream religious institutions have by tradition, been rigidly male dominated. Some grassroots religions have inherited this gender bias, others have created a division of leadership based on it and still others have made no apologies in attempting to overthrow it. As such, the religious arena has become a gayelle where gender issues are challenged, resisted and fought at a time when women are negotiating their place in this arena.
Through a religious peep-hole, this documentary will investigate Afro-Trinidadian women’s social and cultural activities whilst it exposes some of the prejudices, assumptions, myths and challenges that seek to define and demote those of us created from Adam’s rib.
The Chacachacare Leprosarium is now isolated and derelict. It is a neglected place. It is a place of death and a place of beauty, a place governed by a haunting silence but rich in the history of service and sacrifice.
On the island of Chacachacare which borders the Boca Grande of the north-west coast of Trinidad, our social history stands naked, amidst the ruins of an abandoned leprosarium and the graveyard of the nuns who once served that leper colony.
The Chacachacare Leprosarium is now isolated and derelict. It is a neglected place. It is a place of death and a place of beauty, a place governed by a haunting silence but rich in the history of service and sacrifice. The outside world remains unaware of its mysteries and its secrets, including the knowledge of the happy marriage that occurred there between the sacred and the secular.
This documentary travels rapidly through time to explore how the religious missionaries,aided by the colonial government served the lepers of Trinidad & Tobago 1926-1955. Utilizing a braided time scheme that entwines the past and the present, this documentary blends historical photographs and newspaper articles with illustrations, video footage and still photography to reveal the complex social history, which is part of our cultural heritage.
Shucking: The Art of Harvesting Oysters is a documentary that explores the life of the Oyster from the aerial roots
of the Caroni Bird Sanctuary in Trinidad and Tobago to the flambeau lit
tables of the Oyster vendor.
Navin Kalpoo of Kalpoo's Ibis Tours gives us a detailed description of the life of an Oyster in the Caroni Bird Sanctuary.
The
way some communities use mangroves is by pulling every last crab out of
its hole and by slashing mangrove roots to extract oysters growing on
them.
These are unsustainable practices that will eventually
destroy a resource that can support the wider community, not just the
crab catchers but also the oyster harvesters.
