Killing Columbus is a local film about a once famous artist, Donny, played by Stephen Hadeed Jr, who is now struggling in his career.

He returns to TT and has to stay with his now more successful protege, Anya, played by Chelsea Pooran. In an attempt to get back in the limelight and to make some money, he takes a commission for a portrait of Christopher Columbus from a woman named Isabella, referencing Queen Isabella of Spain who sponsored Columbus’ voyage, even though it went against his ideals.

Because of his mixed feelings, he self-consciously paints a self-portrait which comes to life and embodies all of his most negative values and qualities.

Directed by Yasha Hanoomansingh and David Parris, two 23-year-olds with a passion for film, Killing Columbus premiered at the TT Film Festival (TTFF) on Thursday.

Hanoomansingh and Parris met at the university of the West Indies (UWI) in 2017 at the beginning of their film production programme and have been friends ever since. And Killing Columbus is a movie they did together for their final year class, Capstone.

In 2020, Parris graduated with double honours in film production and film studies and Hanoomansingh will graduate with honours in film production and communication studies in October.

Hanoomansingh said their Capstone lecturer, Yao Ramesar, presented them with several scripts from previous years to choose from to use as a template.

“Our original idea was about cultural erasure and that whole theme of identity. When we read the script for Killing Columbus, which was originally written by Shazim Khan, we felt it was the most natural choice as it related the most to what we had planned to do, this topic of the erasure and whitewashing of history and culture.”

She said as filmmakers they are protective of their cultural identity, and so preserve it as much as possible in the art they create. Therefore, the fact that Columbus is an issue in TT society was one of the things that drew them to the script. (There are calls for a statue of Columbus to be removed from a square in Port of Spain as part of a movement against colonial monuments.)

[caption id="attachment_915238" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Stephen Hadeed Jr and Chelsea Pooran in a scene from Killing Columbus. Hadeed plays Donny a once famous artist and Pooran is his protege Anya. -[/caption]

Parris added that Columbus is an allegory for art which is subjective but very powerful. He said one of the lines in the film is, ‘It’s dangerous to create anything carelessly,’ because others could use it for propaganda or their own agendas.

Hanoomansingh described the filmmaking process as tiring, stressful but unforgettable, “an experience unlike any other.”

The first thing they did was completely re-write the script although they kept some of the original plot points.

They began shooting at the end of 2019, most of it at the home of actor Cecilia Salazar, who played Isabella, with different sets in different rooms.

By the time the pandemic hit TT in March 2020, about 80 per cent of the