“Who Let the Dogs Out?” is a love story that traces the journey of
homeless dogs from the litter to the lethal injection. This documentary
about home and homeless dogs addresses the increasing problem of stray
dogs in our nation, mirroring as it does so the treatment of a nation’s
animals with the moral progress of a nation. Through health-care and animal welfare organizations, this film
travels through Trinidad’s rural and city landscapes comparing and
contrasting homed and homeless dogs, blending graphic video footage with
still photography to reveal an intimate portrayal of a destitute dog’s
world of disease, decay and death.
In Crick-Crack, Ek Nawa Kahani legend collides with life. This story is
laced with sorcery and intrigue as Mayaro 'soucouyants' Matilda and
Loretta shed their skins and take off for England to steal a golden
spoon from Queen Victoria's royal cutlery. But the lives of these two
old hags are changed forever when their obeah fails and a disoriented
Loretta returns to Mayaro just before daybreak to a 'sound cut arse' while Matilda comes back with the golden spoon that ignites the greed of Lionel, her "saga boy" lover.
Lionel soon forgets his grandfather's warning of "crave all, loss all"
so he plots to get the diamond-studded golden spoon. He steals the
spoon, outwits his lover and pours salt and pepper into the mortar where
she has hidden her skin, but after doing this, Lionel finds himself in
deeper trouble than even he could have imagined! Matilda puts the curse
of eternal life on Lionel and compels him to become transformed every
night into a creature of the underworld.
Determined to end the
curse and return to his former self, Lionel seeks the help of other folk
spirits but punishment awaits him. He is lured to a forest by a La
Diablesse who exacts revenge for all his ploys against women. He later
battles with Papa Bois for the mysterious Mama l'Eau (Mother of the
Water). He even witnesses the birth of a Raakas, a deformed demonic
newborn child from Indian folklore whose eyes, posture and movement are
like that of a tadpole. In exchange for his freedom, Lionel offers white
rum, cigarettes and a black rooster to Dee Baba, an Indian spirit that
protects the land against dangerous forces but when Dee Baba fails to
help him he finally enlists the help of Gang Gang Sara, the African
witch of Golden Lane, Tobago. Will he survive unscathed to tell the
tale?
This thought provoking documentary produced jointly by emerging
Trinidadian-Nigerian filmmaker Oyetayo Raymond Ojoade and Nigerian
criminologist Professor Onwubiko Agozino questions power and social
control through exposing the central conflict between Euro-centric and
Afro-centric religions. This film exposes the schisms inherent in the unhappy marriage between
the secular and the sacred, first offering a socio-historical context
as it re-visits the 1917 - 1951 Prohibition Ordinance on the “Shouter”
Baptist religion of Trinidad & Tobago but it goes further by daring
to challenge laws that legislates against a belief system, questioning
the real causes and the effects of such legislation both on members of
the faith and the general public.
Shouters and the 'Control Freak' Empire intertwines
Christianity with African cultural practices, it juxtaposes
Euro-centricism with Afro-centricism and it restores a voice to the
voiceless in a film that is compellingly visual and profoundly
enlightening.
This film won a best international documentary award from the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival in 2011.