BRITISH filmmaker Sir Samuel Mendes did not forget his Trinidadian roots when he won Best Director for a Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night.
Mendes won for his film 1917 which is loosely based on The Autobiography of Alfred H Mendes a book about his Trinidadian-born grandfather who fought in World War I.
In his acceptance speech as winner of the Best Director of a Motion Picture, Mendes praised his grandfather Alfred Hubert Mendes saying, “He signed up for the First World War (at) age 17 and I hope he is looking down on us and I fervently hope it never ever happens again.”
Better known as Sam Mendes, he has directed two Bond Films – Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). He already has an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Director for his debut movie American Beauty (1999).
He was knighted in 2020 New Year Honours for services to drama.
Born in Trinidad in 1912, his grandfather Alfred went to England at the age of 15 and instead of attending school he enrolled in the army and he served in the Rifle Brigade.
1917 is loosely based on Alfred’s role as a messenger during the war which is chronicled in the book: The Autobiography of Alfred H Mendes 1897–1991 published by the University of the West Indies Press (2002).
Alfred returned to Trinidad after the war and became a prolific writer famous for his books Pitch Lake in 1934 and Black Fauns in 1935.
He produced a literary magazine called Trinidad with CLR James and contributed to The Beacon journal in Trinidad and other publications in the US and Europe.
Alfred was a founding member of the United Front, a socialist party that participated in the 1946 general elections in Trinidad and died in Barbados in 1991.
