QUIET REVOLUTION

category: caribbean, documentaries, environmental, short films

QUIET REVOLUTION

"QUIET REVOLUTION," follows a group of everyday heroes who aim to give voice to permaculture ("the quiet revolution") in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).

Erle “the crazy runner” is a farmer, adventure racer, barefoot ultra marathoner, and now a major advocate for Permaculture in T&T. He was raised in non-farming African and Canadian urban settings, with no prior knowledge of the Caribbean landscape. Armed only with an old photocopy of a permaculture (“permanent agriculture/ culture”) manual, Erle set out to regenerate the land. Against a land history of fire damage, herbicide and pesticide use, his permaculture farm, Wa Samaki Ecosystems, is a hub for ecological farming and learning.

‘Quiet Revolution’ is a portrait of the community at Wa Samaki and their lifelong efforts to learn and practice permaculture amidst the dominant culture of conventional agriculture. The film is timely in that it was completed days before the passing of permaculture founder, Bill Mollison, whose wisdom punctuates the film.

directed by RHONDA CHAN SOO
Rhonda is a documentary filmmaker by trade. She pursued a Master's degree in documentary filmmaking at Wake Forest University, with an interest in cross cultural communication and storytelling. Upon returning to Trinidad in 2014, she has worn several hats in the local film industry, from camera department PA, to video assist, to script supervisor and co-producer. Two of her short documentary films produced in Trinidad and Tobago have won awards locally - “Riding Bull Cart”, which won the Best T&T documentary short at the trinidad + tobago film festival in 2015, and “Quiet Revolution” which won the Jury Award at Trinidad and Tobago’s Green Screen in 2016. She is now focusing primarily on documentary film, with an interest in social issues, environment and cultural identity. She is working with NGOs to create documentary content in these areas, and is also developing personal creative projects.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO || 2017 || 15 MINS