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FOR OUR SISTER: From left, brothers Jon and Kees Dieffenthaller perform at the memorial for their sister TV and film producer Danielle Dieffenthaller on the evening of December 2 at the Anchorage, Chaguaramas. - Photo by Faith AyoungTHERE were Moko Jumbies, soca ebbed low, intermingling with the hum of voices, some, possibly, recollecting how and where they met her.
The environmental backdrop was the sea as Chaguaramas’ The Anchorage came alive with celebration for the life of later film-maker/TV director Danielle Dieffenthaller on December 2.
She died on November 22 after years of battling renal failure.
Her family, friends and fellow creative people gathered to say a joyful goodbye. Many took the time to share tributes such as Dr Gabrielle Hosein,
Her best friend Antoinette Hagley spoke at the memorial service and said she could not imagine her world without Danielle as they met at St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain in their "tween" years.
Hagley described Dieffenthaller as a force with whom to reckon.
She took the audience through Dieffenthaller’s life and how moments shaped her such as moving to Kenya.
“The African years, as we later called them, were very formative for Danielle, because it allowed her to see beauty that was bigger, wider and vaster than how we saw Trinidad but to give context, although we were small we were mighty.
“She saw real excerpts of Trinidad in various things that she experienced even when she went to other countries.”
Dieffenthaller often tried to get people to do things out of their comfort zone and keep the excitement going, Hagley said.
She told in a comprehensive manner what it was like working on the ground breaking TV series, Westwood Park with her, saying that they did the pilot with no money. She recalled Dieffenthaller telling her to use her “convent accent” and ask people to use their houses to shoot Westwood Park.
“The passion that she had for this land and her craft. Danielle was the woman who encouraged me to find my own passion in the work that I do.
“When I saw through her eyes how she loved, film-making, storytelling, her country, the people around her, it made me realise, ‘Don’t work for the sake of working, you have to do the things that brings you joy and passion.’”
A large turnout of people at the memorial for local TV and film producer Danielle Dieffenthaller on Tuesday evening at the Anchorage, Chaguaramas. - Photo by Faith Ayoung
Hagley said, at the time, Westwood Park received a lot of criticism as people asked why they were showing this “bougie thing” but, to Dieffenthaller, every story was worth telling and every layer of TT’s society deserved having images as they often intercepted beautifully.
Media producer, journalist, editor and blogger Georgia Popplewell said Dieffenthaller’s achievements fell into two distinct and but closely intertwined categories: her creative work and her advocacy for the development of a vibrant, self-sustaining, local and locally-supported film/TV industry.
She said despite serious financial odds she turned out 100 episodes of Westwood Park and got them aired through the region, New York and London.
“It remains one of the longest running and most successful indigenous television series ever produced in the English-speaking Caribbean,” Popplewell said.
The series proved the viability of local and regional television productions to local and regional industry workers and would-be funders, she added.
She said the burgeoning of documentaries, fiction shorts and feature shorts in the early part of the century owed a debt of gratitude to Dieffenthaller.
Popplewell said Dieffenthaller’s career was a study in determination and self-belief and inspired many with persistence.
“At a time when working in the creative industries feels especially precarious, may we draw strength from Danielle’s fearless resolve and honour her memory by believing in the possibilities of this place.
“And by doing the important work of building a supportive, collaborative, creative community and of putting our stories out into the world with grace and with power.”
Her brothers Kees and Jon Dieffenthaller honoured her in song.
English (US) ·