By Francis Quamina Farrier

IT was a great day over the past weekend for movie production in the United States of America. The African-American and very talented multi-millionaire movie producer, Tyler Perry, opened a movie studio complex which he owns. The location is in Atlanta, Georgia. So what has that got to do with Guyana? Very much, you will be happy to know.

First of all, thousands of Guyanese now reside in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA and it is most likely that some of those Guyanese will be among the hundreds who will gain employment at this Tyler Perry movie enterprise. It was a long and rugged road to that achievement by a Black person in the movie industry in the USA. The movie production complex owned by Tyler Perry, we are told, is larger than all the established white-owned movie production studios in Hollywood, combined. That is quite an achievement by any standard. So it is alarming that there are so many United States-based Guyanese who seem to see none of these achievements by African-Americans and carry on and on about blacks being at the bottom of the social and economic ladder in the USA. They tend to imply that there is no positive future for Blacks in that, “The Land of the Free.”

Tyler Perry shot to fame and fortune playing a female character, Madea, in a series of very successful “Madea” films which continue to make millions of dollars at the Box Office. Tyler Perry films tend to focus on Black Family Life in the USA. They include “Too Close to Home,” “The Single Moms Club,” “Family Funeral” and “Big Happy Family” among others. These movies primarily explore the complex and funny side of family life. They are a far cry from the violence and vulgarity seen in plays more recently staged at Guyana’s National Cultural Centre. The character of Madea, a larger-than- life matriarch, is played by Tyler Perry — a man. For Guyanese of a certain age, that would bring back memories of the brilliant Guyanese comedians Sam Chase and Andre Subryan, who donned female costumes and played women characters on stage, entertaining audiences with clean comedy. In a way, it could be said that Guyanese Sam Chase was about 60 years ahead of American Tyler Perry, and was equally loved by his many fans. So too, was Andre Subryan in Guyana.

There is a big difference, however, between the two Guyanese performers and the American. There is quite a large disparity in the incomes from their creative works. Sam Chase and Andre Subryan lived in a country of less than a million people. Tyler Perry lives in a country of nearly 300 million. Tyler Perry’s movies earn him tens of millions of dollars at the Box Office. He remains one of the highest-paid entertainers in the world. Additionally, Perry has also teamed up with the African-American billionaire Oprah Winfrey in other successful financial projects.

Now let us turn the clock back exactly 80 years to one of the biggest years of the movie-making industry in America, when an African American movie actress shone as never before on the big screen. It was the year 1939 with the production of the epic movie “Gone with the wind,” which is set in Atlanta, Georgia. The movie was also filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Such an epic that movie was, that there was an intermission when it was screened. The last statement by the principal female character Scarlet O’Hara, before that intermission was, “I will never be poor again.” That is a statement which Guyana is about to make as well.

The black slave character of “Mammy,” played by Hattie McDaniel — 1893-1952 — caught the attention of most Guyanese of African heritage. Here was a black actress playing the role of a slave but in no way being submissive, rather, very self-confident and dynamic in her white environment. McDaniel’s performance so impressed her peers that it resulted in her winning Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards that year, 1939. It was an achievement by Hattie McDaniel which made history in Hollywood, as she was the very first Black person to have won an Oscar in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

That success was the beginning of a long and rugged road to glory for African-Americans in the American movie industry. From the Oscar win by an African American in 1939, it was not until 1964 before another African American made that achievement; Sydney Poitier won Best Actor in 1964 with his inspiring performance in “Lilies of the Field.” Just a year ago there was the blockbuster and highly successful movie “Black Panther,” which also won a number of Oscars. Two Guyanese actresses, Letitia Wright and Shaunette Wilson, played prominent roles in that historic black -produced movie; it made history at the Box Office, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Many years earlier, Guyana also made a direct contribution along that journey. This was when the movie “To Sir With Love,” from the best-selling novel by Guyanese E.R. Braithwaite was produced to rave reviews. The rave reviews were not only for the production itself, but also for the great storytelling of E.R. Braithwaite and the brilliant performance by Academy Award-winning actor Sydney Poitier in the leading role. Other African-American film performers who have won Oscars include Denzel Washington with two wins and an impressive six nominations; Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman, Halle Berry, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Lupita Nyong’o and others.

So there has been that quantum (slow motion) leap over the past 80 years with movie productions in Atlanta, Georgia, where thousands of Guyanese now reside. Many of those Guyanese had migrated from New York to Atlanta over the past 20 years. More Guyanese government officials visit Atlanta more often than ever before. From the epic movie, “Gone with the wind” set in Atlanta back in 1939, in which Hattie McDaniel’s performance earned her the first Oscar by a Black person in the USA, to the opening of the magnificent Movie Production Studio Complex, also in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2019, much has been achieved.

There are some connections between Guyana and Atlanta; a visit of then Chief Citizen of Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young to Georgetown being one of them. The opening of that Tyler Perry Production Complex in Atlanta, Georgia, was an event attended by Black billionaire Oprah Winfrey and a host of other Black High Achievers in Hollywood, including Will Smith, made last weekend’s event one of the highest profiles in the USA. And as Sydney Poitier who once paid a brief visit to Guyana stated in his Oscar acceptance speech back in 1964, “It was a long journey.” That statement by Sydney Poitier was made 55 years ago. Eighty years ago, Hattie McDaniel in her Oscar acceptance speech, mentioned how proud she was of her achievement for her race. No doubt she is looking down with pride and admiration on the most recent achievement of her people in Atlanta, where so many Guyanese now reside.