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Caribe Comes to SF by Joanne Butcher
Luke Paddington could have become a geologist but he decided to go into the family business: film. photo: courtesy L. Paddington
ALTHOUGH LUKE PADDINGTON SPENT
his childhood on film sets in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), he genuinely didn’t think he was going to work in film. Indeed, he got a degree in Geography and Environmental Science at McGill University in Montreal.
“[But] I grew up surrounded by film and filmmakers,” says Luke, currently a Senior Producer, Script to Screen at CiscoTV, the company's in-house production studio in San Jose, “so I never really knew anything else. [Film] has always been life more than work.”
Luke founded his own production company Squint Media and has learned to bridge the worlds of art and corporate production first working inside government agencies in the Caribbean, then in small production houses and now in a company ranking in the top 100 of the Fortune 500.
“Once you’ve learned to cut through government red tape in the Caribbean, there’s really nothing that can stop you!” (More on Luke’s Cisco side in November’s CineSource.)
Luke almost always spends his annual vacation in T&T in September to coincide with the film festival run by his filmmaker father, Bruce Paddington, and supported by his filmmaker family: his uncle, Christopher Laird, his long-time collaborator, Alex de Verteuil, and others.
They usually put him to work editing films or promos for the festival.
Luke’s main project for this year's festival was “Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution” which he collaborated on with his father. The five-year, father/son effort tells the story of the build-up and aftermath of the Grenadian revolution led by Maurice Bishop and the consequent invasion by the US.
The two-and-a-half hour festival-cut had a budget of only $15,000—for everything! We started our discussion there.
CineSource: So let’s talk about 'Forward Ever'.
Only the two of us were involved. I edited and wrote. I took 90 hours of film, plus footage from the US Library of Congress and the Cuban Archives. Right now I’m working on the Spanish subtitles for the Havana Film Festival in December.
First we showed the three-hour version to the Grenadians who were in it—as we had promised. They didn’t want ANYTHING cut before they saw it.
Then came the festival version (2.5 hours) and we’ll be making a shorter version for outside the Caribbean.
What are some of the projects you’ve worked on with a T&T / US connection?
I’ve been bringing people to work in T&T for a long time now. For example, I was hired to produce a film called 'The Cutlass' which started with a 12-minute short. It’s a true story about a woman who was kidnapped in Trinidad; her best friend wrote the story.
I brought in a NY-based lighting director and cinematographer. That film was the first time I brought anyone down. Not much crew or equipment.
On the first day there I went to every production house—I have full access because my Dad has taught almost everyone [there]. These two great department heads picked up what equipment they could find, built things themselves and put their departments together.
'Jab: The Blue Devils of Paramin' is probably my favorite, the film I am most proud of. [Again] a two person crew.
It’s full of energy, and shows the transformation of a quiet, country man into one of the scariest characters in Carnival. It won Best Picture at the Hollywood Film Festival.
'’70: Remembering a Revolution', is my homage to the Black Power movement and takes place in 1970 (I was born in ’74).
It was because of the Black Power revolution and army mutiny in Trinidad in 1970 that I could be born in a country without racism. Before that, black people weren’t even allowed to work in banks in T&T. Stokely Carmichael was a Trinidadian, see "70 the Movie".
This year I was hired to edit 'Blue and Gold', a scientific documentation of the re-population of the Nariva Swamp by blue and gold macaws, native to T&T. The 45-minute short was directed by Alex [de Verteuil]. I brought in a sound guy from San Francisco to mix the piece for cinema.
What do you bring to the table now that you are located in the Bay Area?
I have so many amazing connections here, but if I were in T&T I could never afford them. Only three and a half features—because Damian Marcano is half Trini [Trinidadian]—in this year’s festival out of 160 were from T&T. It is EXTREMELY difficult!
[Damian Marcano is the US-based, half-Trinidadian director of 'God Loves the Fighter', winner of, in the category of narrative feature, the People’s Choice Award, the Jury Prize AND the Special Mention in the Jury Prize.]
For the Grenada film ['Forward Ever'], I got color correction by Will Smith in Half Moon Bay. He color corrected a two and a half hour film in two weeks for half his rate. Chris Baldwin is a DP and he volunteered his facility, Sustainability Media, for free; I gave him a producer credit.
Even though Will and Chris had no connection to Grenada or to the Caribbean, they said it was an honor to work on the film and they would work on it again.
The three screenings of 'Forward Ever' were sold out. After the festival, two more screenings were added and they sold out. Next the film is going to Grenada and will be screened on the anniversary, up at the Fort in the Courtyard where the executions took place.
I’d like to ask you the same question I asked your father: What does T&T have to offer to Bay Area filmmakers?
T&T offers 150% tax rebate. Jamaica has crew and equipment, but not the legislation. Any money you spend you get 50% back—CASH! We have the legislation that my father helped start and fund.
Alex de Verteuil just retired. He used to work for Pearl & Dean. He formed a production company with all his equipment that is a co-op. We vet all the filmmakers. If you return the equipment, you get 95% of your money back.
Joanne Butcher is a writer of English and Trinidadian descent who now lives in the Bay Area.