Lorraineoconnor

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LORiO – THE PRODUCER

My first foray into film production, started back in 1987 when I brought a couple of French film-making friends to Trinidad for Carnival. This trip opened my eyes to the musical power of the Steelband, the lyrics in Calypso music, and the contagious joie de vivre of Soca music. With Michele Pons, I co-wrote the script for Calypso Roots – a documentary directed by Roland Fruytier and produced by Salto Productions, Paris.

We filmed the documentary from November 1988 to February 1989 and interviewed the likes of Nestor Sullivan from Pamberi Steel Orchestra, Brother Resistance and Karega Mandela at the People's Mall, David Rudder, and even Machel Montano in Siparia.

This was a life-changing moment for me as I came in close contact with the people behind the culture and creative spirit of Trinidad and Tobago. I was fascinated and enraptured by the music, the energy of the people, and the spirit of Carnival and that's when I decided I wanted to come back and live in Trinidad and work in the creative industries.

Calypso Roots garnered limited success but it influenced a new career path and lifestyle choice for me. And I returned to live in Trinidad in 1991.

My love for the music of the steeldrum saw me working on several stories around the pan, but the one that was produced was

Panman (1993) by Barthelmy Fougea and Jerome Cecil Auffret, a French production with Boreales, where we followed a 12-year-old young boy and how he managed life between school, the rehearsals, and life with his family, in preparation for the big Panorama competition.

I also organized 2 tours of Pamberi in Europe in 1991/92, quite a feat as with the team of Michelle Pons, Roland Fruytier, Jean Michel Gibert, and William Tanniefani, we coordinated to bring 30 players and drums from Trinidad to France for 45 days performing in 3 countries.

That was it! I had the bug to plan events, produce films, and share my love of Trinidad and Tobago culture with the world.

I also realized that I was good at organizing and coordinating people, places, and things.

Relocating to Trinidad, I started working on a TV series on the steeldrum movement with Carole and Timmy Mora of Video Associates, it was a six-part series called Pan Fusion and examined different aspects of the steeldrum, not just as an instrument but as a community organization with different levels of employment being offered.

1994, Port of Spain, Trinidad

I created Rituals Music with Roses Hezekiah and Jean Michel Gibert, intending to promote Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean culture to the world. We had a lot of ambitions and we excitedly were led by our hearts and wanted to work with all the musicians/artists that we loved, as evidenced in our first compilation, Rituals of Trinidad, which we released for Midem 1994.

We pitched to the newly formed TIDCO (Tourism Industry Development Company) under the direction of Kirk Ifill, to film 2 tourism driven productions using our local music – One for Tobago called "Not just sea, sand and sun" – and the other "Why settle for Less", showcasing the unexpected beauty of Trinidad. These were co-produced and co-directed by Lorraine O'Connor and were used by TIDCO for many years.

Under the Rituals Music label, we started producing music videos, financing the production of the tracks, and signing artists. Some of the careers that took off under the Rituals Music were the likes of 3canal, Kindred, Ajala, and Brother Resistance ……we worked with the great Superblue, Mungal Patasar, and Calypso Rose.

We presented in 1997 a Trinidad and Tobago contingent of musicians at the first Midem Miami, it was a very big moment and Machel Montano had just won his first Road March with "Big Truck" (song most played on the road for Carnival). He performed live with his band at the Vizcaya Gardens and Rituals Music had the most amazing booth at the 3-day event. 3canal had also a breakthrough year with their first hit "Blue" and the music video directed by Walt Lovelace was a showpiece.

Rituals Music was on the rise albeit we were still focusing on the niche music of Rapso and not the mainstream Soca.

We had the opportunity to build out a Soca band Question, under the leadership of Ajala, but that was short-lived.

In1998, I produced Machel Montano's music video "Charge" with Shaggy, and in 1999, "Outta Space", with Beanie Man.

Music videos, documentaries, and international productions were happening and the team at Rituals was growing.

Our strength was in the distribution of the music, and the sales of CDs were booming. In 2000 we launched D Yard, a space where artists under the Rituals label could perform and showcase their music every Friday night.

We opened in 2001 D Music Store at the newly renovated Piarco International Airport, it was a trendy store, all in wood, and very Caribbean. CD sales were great until they weren't anymore and everything went digital. And we opened the first legal download site in the Caribbean www.trinidadtunes.com

The same year, Rosemary and I created Riddums Productions, a multi-media production, and event management company, where we incorporated animation with my brother, Robin New, and videography with my husband, Selwyn Henry.

We produced several events under the Riddums Productions umbrella: Fashion Shows, Concerts, Movie Premieres, Launches…. for the Office of the Prime Minister, Meiling, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, Alliance Francaise, Vintage Fuh So, Bombay Dreams, Hotel Normandie Under the Trees, to name a few.

In 2019, I produced the Festival of the Bands, to launch Tribe Carnival 2020.

In 2020, I was a creative consultant for the first virtual Port of Spain Fashion Week and produced a video presentation for each designer.

I have has also worked in different capacities with the team behind Machel Monday for the past 5 years.

Our talented team at Riddums Productions scripted produced and/or directed several music videos, documentaries, and TV programs locally and internationally.

In 2006, we produced in collaboration with the newly formed CNMG TV Station the first local television series for children: Caribbean Young Explorers, where a group of children from Port of Spain went on an exploration of different parts of the country and were greeted and hosted by children from the area. There was even a theme song.

https://filmco.org/project/caribbean-young-explorers

Other video productions that I was directly involved in as producer/fixer include:

Calypso @ Dirty Jims, 2005

https://caribbeantales-worldwide.com/movies/calypso-at-dirty-jims/

Pan! A Modern Odyssey, 2014

https://www.amazon.com/music-odyssee-Stephen-Goldteeth-Clarke/dp/B079JWH8QT

Caribbean Next Top Model Season 1 (2010) and 3 (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC_dOqkfc-I&ab_channel=%40CaribeNTM

Home Again, 2012

Feature film

Art Connect, 2014

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/artconnect