Editor

The first annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival announced its winners on Saturday night, followed by a closing night celebration on the island of Providenciales. The TCIFF’s executive directors Jasmine Guy and Terrence Duckette joined with Michael Misick, Premier of Turks & Caicos, and his wife, actress LisaRaye Misick, and two hundred guests for the awards ceremony and closing night party.

A film festival that defines itself by celebrating the fusion of music and cinema, the TCIFF winners were chosen by jurors Robert Forster, Elenora Granata and Sanaa Hamri. Brazilian director Breno Silveira’s “Two Sons of Francisco” was named Best Feature; “The Hip Hop Project,” executive produced by Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah, was named Best Documentary; Mark Becker was named Best Director for “Romantico;” Angeleno Antonio was named Best Actor for his role as Francisco in “Two Sons of Francisco;” Best Score went to “Brass Tacks;” and Best Song was “We Fall Down” by Donnie McClurkin from the opening night film “From Darkness to Light: The Donnie McClurkin Story.”

Music and movies were celebrated throughout the five-day festival with screenings and live musical performances by Raul Midon and Caribbean group Elvis White. Visitors discovered the charm and beauty of the islands and also screening films each night on a jumbo screen temporarily erected on the beach at The Alexandra Resort and in a 250-seat temporary theatre on the Resort’s property during the day.

The festival drew a crowd spanning many genres of music and film, including gospel singing sensation Donnie McClurkin, rapper Lil’ Kim, Vivica A. Fox, and Wanda Lopes Coleman and Quentin Coleman, parents of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of the group “TLC,” whose life was profiled in the documentary “Last Days of Left Eye.”

On Thursday the TCIFF worked with the Turks & Caicos Friends of the Arts Foundation to sponsor the first annual Youth Arts Day. One hundred students from two local high schools were treated to a screening of “The Hip Hop Project” followed by a live performance by the documentary’s dynamic subject, Chris “Kazi” Rolle. The students also screened Vivica A Fox’s “Salon.”