Annual Timehri Film Festival aims to display the creative films made locally

DPI/GINA, GUYANA, Thursday, June 1, 2017

The short film Adero directed by Kojo Mc Pherson and shot on location in Guyana, is one of over 26 feature films being screened at the second Annual Timehri Film Festival (TFF) showcasing films from Guyana and the Caribbean diaspora.

The film director noted that the film was inspired by a vacation he took with his family in the Rupununi in 1999. He highlighted that, the film is a proof of concept in the film industry to demonstrate the feasibility of the film for a more upscale project in the future.

Mc Pherson underscored that the film received rave reviews even with the surprise attendance of the First Lady Mrs. Sandra Granger who also congratulated him last night. The film director noted that though he has not been formally trained, he hopes that many will join in his footsteps towards making their dreams come through to pave the way for a future film industry in Guyana.

He told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the film focused on a working class man called Adero, who is searching for his parents and his identity. He is constantly haunted by his dreams and memories of his home, his culture and hopes to find his way back to know the truth of his past.

“My first trip into the hinterland was Rupununi which I took with my sisters in North Rupununi and that was my first exposure to the Rupununi culture and I think it left an impression on me …since then I have always loved travelling to that part of the country,” the film director explained. He added that the creation of magic-realism genre film is due to his love of the landscape in Rupununi as well as the culture and books he would have read.

He added that their films do not have to be an-hour long film, but needs to have a strong storyline which is relatable, which will capture and hold the attention of the audiences from the start to the end of the film.

The film director noted that this will not be the last that Guyana will be seeing of him since his film is a sample of what is yet to come.

Mc Pherson credited his employment at Merundoi for four and half years as a script writer and freelance photographer , photography at

Theatre Guild and his previous works like Standing and  Beach among others.

Additionally he found the same attention with his film especially with the persons he spoke to, although the background among other things was different, they found it understandable. The film director expressed his gratitude for the policy in place that requires local broadcasters to display local produced films in the future.

There is a lot more that needs to be done to establish a film industry in Guyana Mc Pherson opined, he noted that the establishment of the Institute of Creative Arts will help develop the industry as soon as it is opened.

“Unfortunately there are not a lot of opportunities for formal studies in film making (in Guyana), since the extent of formal study I got, was the President Film Endowment Project in 2011 which was a 4-5 month crash course programme in film making, that was facilitated by the Ohio University and University of Guyana. This took place at the Theatre Guild but the programme was discontinued for a number of different reasons but I think that is important (for Guyanese) to grab opportunities to learn whether it is online resources,” Mc Pherson urged.

Although the TFF is an annual event, this year it is a collaborative effort with the Green Screen TT, the Environmental Film Festival in Trinidad & Tobago, and the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development.

 

By: Neola Damon