DC Caribbean Film Fest to give rare showing of 
Gloria Rolando's Roots of My Heart 
about the 1912 Massacre of AfroCubans, 6/29/05

ÀDC-CARIBBEAN FILMFEST 2005À

  in celebration of  
Caribbean American Heritage Month June 2005  

Sponsored by  
TransAfrica Forum, Arthur R. Ashe, Jr.  
Foreign Policy Library  
TransAfrica Metropolitan D.C. Chapter

Caribbean Association of World Bank and IMF Staff (CAWI)

Caribbean Professionals Networking Series (CPNS)

Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS)  

Provisions Library

  Admission:

Suggested donation $5 on June 8, 15, 22, 29

For more information and pre-registration visit  www.transafricaforum.org or call 202.223.1960 x132

Each screening will be followed by a discussion

Guiana 1838, written and directed by Rohit Jagessar (Guyana, 2004, 2 hours).  Docudrama focusing on the Indian migration to the Guyana during British colonial rule.  Guiana 1838 received the Best Film Award at the 2005 Belize International Film Festival.  Synopsis: “The abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean in 1834 prompts The Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Company in Calcutta, a part of the East India Company, to recruit Coolies from India to fill the resulting labor void.  The company hires Sinha, a fierce small timer who sells dreams of El Dorado to the unsuspecting, impoverished Coolies. They are signed to five-year contracts as indentured servants.  Upon the Coolies' arrival in British Guiana in 1838, the British planters promptly enslave them to ensure that the growth of sugar in the British West Indies will continue uninterrupted. John Scoble of the British and Foreign Anti Slavery Society arrives on the colony a year later to discover a new form of slavery; this time on the backs of Indians.” (From Guiana 1838 web site, http://www.rbcradio.com/guiana_synopsis.html) Director Rohit Jagessar will be available for a post screening discussion.

No Seed, directed by Howard and Mitzi Allen (Antigua & Barbuda, 2002, 90 minutes). Drama.

Synopsis: “A dramatic thriller which tells a story of power, superstition and deception. This Caribbean tale, set on St. Mark, a fictitious island, is craftily woven to parallel a warri game.  Warri, a popular board game in some Caribbean islands, originated in Africa. …The game came to the West Indies from the Gold Coast [Ghana] of Africa with enslaved Africans. The object of the game is to capture your opponent's nickels. The nickels are small nuts belonging to the Guillandria bush.”   
(From No Seed web site http://www.hamafilmsantigua.com/noseed.html)

The Annihilation of Fish, screenplay by Tony Winkler and produced by Paul Heller (Jamaica, 1999, 108 minutes).  Drama.  Synopsis: “Everyone needs a focus in life; something that gives meaning and purpose to their existence. For Fish (James Earl Jones), what could be more useful than keeping the devil at bay from an unsuspecting world. …For Poinsettia (Lynn Redgrave) finding the perfect lover would justify her life. …Fish and Poinsettia are drawn together when they move to neighboring apartments in a building owned by the free-spirited Mrs. Muldroone (Margot Kidder). Stumbling over the obstacles they've each created in their imaginary lives, this unlikely pair finds love and fulfillment in a reality that finally transcends their fantasies.”  (From The Annihilation of Fish web site http://www.annihilationoffish.com/pages/film/intro.html)

Dance de Calypso, directed by John Barry (Trinidad & Tobago, 1996, 46 minutes). Documentary.  Synopsis: “This is an entertaining look at the evolution of dance in calypso music.  It is a wonderful melding of cultural history, dance and music.  There is extensive use of archival video footage and still photography while six of Trinidad and Tobago's leading cultural ambassadors tell the story of the history and the art of dancing to calypso music.”  (From Python Productions Ltd. producers of the film)

The Killers directed by Tanya Hamilton (Jamaica, 1995, 20 minutes). Drama.  This film was voted Best Short of the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, (1996).  The Killers is a story of two Jamaican children whose mother has left them on the island to pursue work in the U.S., only to disappear. The children struggled to come to terms with the loss of their mother, and the impending death of their grandparents.

Raíces de Mi Corazón (Roots of My Heart), directed by Gloria Rolando (Cuba, 2001, 50 minutes).  Docudrama in Spanish with subtitles.  The film dramatizes the 1912 massacre by Cuban troops of over 6,000 members of Independents of Color.  The party was established in 1908 by Evaristo Estanoz, and was composed primarily of Afro-Cuban veterans of the wars of liberation from Spain (1868-1878 and 1895-1898).  It was this hemisphere’s first black political party outside Haiti.