Caribbean Film Series explores wonder, traumas of family history and legacies
Curtis Caesar John, co-producer of the series and executive director of The Luminal Theater, says new films representing the richness and uniqueness of Caribbean cinema make their way to Brooklyn as The Caribbean Film Series (CFS) returns to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).
Caesar John told Caribbean Life that the two-day film lineup of feature length and short films explores deep family legacies and both the joys and anguish that accompany them.
Caesar John said CFS February opens with “Kumina Queen” by Jamaican-American filmmaker Nyasha Laing on Friday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m.
Nyasha Laing. Photo by Chandu
In the documentary, seeking spiritual healing following the loss of her mother, Caesar John said Laing travels into the heart of the Jamaican countryside to research Kumina, a Central Africa-derived ancestral ritual rooted in song, dance, and trance possession.
He said this journey leads her to the legacy of Jamaica’s best-known Kumina queen, Imogene “Queenie” Kennedy, a priestess in post-colonial Jamaica who catapulted her African spiritual practice into renown.
Caesar John said “Kumina Queen”’ is preceded by Haitian-French filmmaker Wilmarc Val’s “Brave,” in which the filmmaker and his mother return to Haiti, so that she can perform a long overdue ritual in honor of her mother, who was a Vodou priestess.
Cébé performs her mother’s home going ceremony in honor of the diety she served as a Vodou priestess in Wilmarc Val’s “BRAVE.”Photo courtesy Manifest
On Saturday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m., Caesar John said the Caribbean Film Series presents the New York premiere of “Doubles,” the first feature film from award-winning Trinidadian-Canadian filmmaker Ian Harnarine.
In this narrative film, Caesar John said it’s clear to Dhani, a down-on-his-luck Trinidadian street food vendor, that he needs to make a significant change in his life.
“So, when gets an opportunity to expand his business, he travels to Canada to get the investment money from his estranged father,” he said. “But, instead, he discovers that his father’s life isn’t quite that robust.”
“Doubles” is an expansion of Harnarine’s 2011 popular film festival short film “Doubles with Slight Pepper,” which was executive-produced by Spike Lee, Caesar John said.
“Our latest edition of The Caribbean Film Series is extra-special as both of our feature films, in addition to being extremely thought-provoking, are also directed by longtime supporters of our program,” he said.
“The dynamic examinations into the positives and negatives of family legacies that Nyasha, Ian and Wilmarc have created represent what the Caribbean Film Series is all about — representing the Caribbean Diaspora in totally unique ways,” Caesar John added.
Now in its ninth year, he said the Caribbean Film Series is an ongoing program of Third Horizon, The Luminal Theater and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Talkbacks are scheduled to follow each film. Both days of screenings take place at 7 p.m. at BAM, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217.
