-render some nostalgic, others ecstatic
THE EIGHT short films, Backyard, The Bottle, Beached, The Encounter, Tradition, Three Cards, Hope, and Luck Beat Handsome which are now known as the CineGuyana Set, produced under the President’s Film Endowment 2011 began its International Tour with a successful launch last Sunday at The Billie Holiday Theatre, New York. Five of the eight filmmakers were present at the function, as well as three students and two faculty members of the Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana. Several of the films’ producers, editors and cinematographers were also present.
The New York leg of the tour, hosted by The Guyana Cultural Association (GCA) of New York, played to a packed theatre, forcing the organisers to hold a second show immediately after the premiиre to accommodate the large spillover crowd.
As a prelude to the showing of the movies, brief remarks were made by GCA President, Prof. Vibert Cambridge; GCA Committee member, Mr. Louis Kilkenny; and Director of the President’s Endowment fund, Dr. Paloma Mohamed.
Prof. Cambridge, in welcoming the audience, noted that the occasion was a signal event as the Association celebrates its 10th anniversary, and a historic one as Guyana marks a new phase of development in the film industry. The eight films, he said, were representative of the reawakening of a film tradition and the arrival on the scene of a new generation of Guyanese filmmakers.
Mr. Louis Kilkenny, a former head of the Guyana Film Centre, emphasised that film was and is not simply entertainment in Guyana or anywhere else in the world. “It shaped many of our social, economic and political views, often with devastating consequences to our own interests,” Kilkenny said, before proceeding to trace the development of the film industry in Guyana, covering the early period of 35 and 16mm film production to present.
He also acknowledged the pioneer work of the likes of Hamley Case, H. Bhaichandeen and Vivian Lee, and movies and documentaries such as ‘Aggro Seizeman’, ‘If Wishes Were Horses’, ‘Sounds of the Sugarcane’, ‘Operation Makonaima’ , ‘Wan Pipel’, ‘The Terror and the Time’, and ‘World of the Caribbean’. 
Dr. Mohamed, Director of the Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana, thanked Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, who commissioned the Endowment; The Ministers of Culture and Finance; The University of Guyana; the tutor, Mr. Brian Zahm; Higher Education for Development (HED) and USAID who underwrote Mr. Zahm’s stint here; Digicel and other local businesses and individuals who funded various aspects of the production of the films; as well as the families now hosting filmmakers and students of the Centre for Communication Studies in New York.
She challenged CineGuyana members to improve on their skills and ensure that the investment is worthwhile.
She also called on the Diaspora to promote Guyana as the next ideal location for international film production, and noted that the enthusiastic and often highly emotional response to the films by New Yorkers, especially of Guyanese descent, was validation to the work of the filmmakers and all who supported the project.
“This is Guyana telling its own stories in a highly professional and excellent context; that’s what it’s about!” Dr Mohammed said.
The launch was streamed live on CineGuyana.com and Demerara Waves, while international coverage was provided by Caribbean Life & Caribbean Insight Newspapers, One Caribbean Radio, and The Audrey Johnson Show. Broadcasts were interrupted during the films due to copyright restrictions.
Feedback from the audiences in New York, who were mainly Guyanese living in North America (persons travelled all the way from Toronto to see the films) was focused on the nostalgic.
Many were they that had not seen Guyana in well over 40 years, nor have their children ever set foot on these shores. Again, many saw familiar faces and places in a new light.
The many foreigners in the audience commented on the high professional quality of the productions. Many of them said they felt they got a quick snapshot of what Guyana is like just from watching the films, and felt they wanted to see the country now for themselves.
The films will tour across Guyana during September and October under continued support from the President’s Film Endowment fund and the Ministry of Culture, while internationally; in addition to the NY Film Festival, they will be exposed at a variety of fora, including Warwick University in the UK’s prestigious International Arts and Environmental Conference in September, and The Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival in November.