10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

News:

Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution

In September 2013 will see the premiere of the documentary directed and produced by Bruce Paddington: Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution (2013 – 150 min.) during the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival.

The film received a research grant from the University of the West Indies and received post-production and marketing assistance funds from Columbus Communications (Flow Trinidad), the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, and Fundashon Bon Intenshon.

The documentary explores the achievements and shortcomings of the People’s Revolutionary Government (1979-1983) of Grenada as it attempted to forge a new revolutionary society.

It focuses on the year 1983 through use of archive footage and first hand recollections of persons who witnessed the events of October 19, with the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his close colleagues, their bodies never to be recovered. This was followed by the American invasion and over twenty years later the gradual release of the prisoners from jail. The film, with its multiple perspectives and different narratives, explores this key event in the history of the Caribbean. The eloquence and passion of Maurice Bishop is apparent as he defends the revolution on such critical issues as human rights and the need for a true peoples’ democracy. The film also includes excerpts from a feature address by George Lamming at a memorial service for Maurice Bishop in 1983 as well as music of Brother Valentino.

The country still suffers from painful memories of this period but the healing has begun as all the prisoners have now been released from captivity. Hopefully, Forward Ever: the Killing of a Revolution will play an important role in helping the people of Grenada, and the wider Caribbean, to come to terms with this critical event in its history.

Dr Bruce Paddington is, among other things, a professor of film studies at the University of the West Indies en is co-founder and director of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival and has directed numerous films and television programs. At the Curaçao IFFR 2013 he gave a lecture on the history of Caribbean cinema.



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