FILM producer and director, Michael James and his cast members are on a mission to sell Linden by showcasing its culture, beauty and potential to the world through the lens of a camera.
The production team, well known as ‘Mic James Production and Drama Group’, has already successfully produced five movies since 2005, with a sixth to be soon released.
Being one of the pioneers in Linden’s movie- making industry, Michael James has ambitions of not only producing movies to garner profits, but to sift out the talents of young Lindeners who may never get the chance of utilising it while simultaneously keeping them meaningfully occupied.
The movies he’s already produced are “Coal-pot Saga”, “Ole House pun Ole House 1 and 2”, “Tantimerl And She Junky”, and the short film, “Three Cords”. Soon to be released is “Story Bridesmaid”.
All of the actors are from Linden, and as James explained, they all have one common thread: The simple things of life.
“The simple things that we take for granted; that we might pass every day. The coalpot, for example,” he said, “is something simple but it has value; it feeds the family.
“So, the things that we see as unimportant can be very much important. And nearly all of my films kind of produced that.”
Most of the films were dramatised on stage before being produced into movies.
THE CHALLENGES
While the Linden community has been lauded for their support over the years, James is of the opinion as of recent, there has been a decline in support with the advent of the Internet and free streaming sites where persons can watch foreign produced movies in the comfort of their homes and free of cost.
This, coupled with movie piracy, has been a stumbling block to the local movie producing industry.
“Persons would burn a film and sell it on the road for $100! But you spend nearly $1M to produce a movie; you can’t sell it for $100! So, that is the challenge as it relates to persons buying in Linden,” James said.
While his main focus is not on the profits, financing is needed if the industry should continue to flourish. He revealed that funding is currently his major challenge, as he has not been successful in recruiting large companies as sponsors.
“How they see it is, they will not be interested in something that they won’t directly have a ‘kick-back’ on,” James said, adding:
“If they have a colour party or an all-white party, you would find the companies supporting that, because they know the drinks selling; but if you get a play at the theatre, they won’t show much interest in that. We need help! Big film companies does get help, much less a small man.”

ON A MISSION
But despite these setbacks, James is on a mission to have Mic James Production become more recognised in the Caribbean and in the Diaspora, so as to allow those Lindeners and other Guyanese living in these countries to purchase his movies in stores close to their homes and then share it with others.
The overseas market is a specially targeted market for James, as the movies he makes not only act as a form of nostalgia for overseas-based Guyanese, but also help promote Linden as a potential tourist destination. “Persons will look and say, ‘Oh, I grew up next to that church! Oh, I went to that school.’
“So, we purposely showcase Linden: The river area, the market area, the scenic areas,” James said.
To meet the goal of saturating the overseas market, James is currently working on improving the quality of his production, but is hoping to garner the support from the government and other stakeholders, since there is a lot of talent in Linden but these youths have no financing.
He stressed that there is need for more support of the arts, since it meaningfully occupies the youths, while selling history and culture.