Shari Petti, a film director, cinematographer, archivist and educator, is driven by a deep curiosity about the human experience and a desire to give voice to the underrepresented. Drawing from her Trinidadian heritage, Shari’s films explore the complexities of Caribbean identity, culture, and history. A Fulbright scholar with an MFA in Cinematography from Florida State University and double major in Film Production and Film Studies from the University of the West Indies, Shari is adept at crafting documentaries, narrative films, experimental videos, commercials, music videos, and photographs.
Her documentary series “Small Lime” (2016) provides an intimate, unfiltered glimpse into the lives of everyday Trinidadian youth, while her work on “Mas Prep”(2020-ongoing) explores the rich tradition of Trinidad’s carnival, celebrating the artisans and performers behind the scenes. Her documentary “Sorf Hair,”(2017) about the natural hair experience in Trinidad and Tobago, was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the Pan African Film Festival and the Nouveaux Regard Film Festival, won People’s Choice for Best Documentary at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, and screened at several film festivals and universities globally. Shari’s narrative short film “Fantastic Friday” (2023), which has screened in London, Canada and across the Caribbean, merges documentary and narrative techniques, capturing the experience of Carnival in a story of friendship.
Her work as a commercial cinematographer earned a “Silver Addy for Cinematography” in 2023 and as a creative director, won 7 Addys including “Best of Show” at the 2024 Caribbean Advertising Federation – American Advertising Awards. Shari also works in experimental video having collaborated with contemporary artist Christopher Cozier on “All around us – elsewheres are beginnings and endings” as a cinematographer for the 2019 Sharjah Biennial as well as Curator Andil Gosine as cinematographer for his film on artist Wendy Nanan which exhibited at the Art Museum of the Americas. Shari has been an artist in residence at Alice Yard in Trinidad, Oxford Brookes University, and recently completed a fellowship with the Caribbean Film Academy in Miami via The Third Horizon Film Festival. She currently teaches Cinematography at the University of the West Indies St. Augustine and serves as founder and creative director of Scene Productions Limited (@scenepresents) https://scenepresents.com/.
