Banyan News
NO BOIS MAN
NO FRAID
A feature length documentary by
Christopher Laird premiered in Toronto at the Caribbean Tales Festival In September 2013 and in Trinidad at the Trinidad &
Tobago Film festival later that month.
|
The Kalinda dance was brought to the Caribbean slave plantations from the Kongo and Angola. In Trinidad the Kalinda accompanied a development of the African warrior game of stick fighting and is practiced in arenas called “Gayelles”. Two young Trinidadian internationally certified multidisciplined martial artists re-discovered their roots in this unique Trinidadian martial art and were accepted for mentorship by living legends of the art. Follow Keegan and Benji as with humility, respect and the total commitment of the martial artist they enter the potentially lethal arena of the Gayelle which is to them is like a ring of liberation, “where I am a human being and I deserve to be alive and anybody in this circle I respect because they understand the value of life.” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
In everything we have our own thing, the things that all humans need to survive, moulded and crafted to become wholly and solely ours. I went yesterday to see the Documentary feature "No Bois man NO fraid" done by Christopher Laird and narrated or better yet lived by Keegan Taylor and Rondel Benjamin. There is so much i can say and in time and with further reflection i will but for now, if you are a trinibagonian in your heart and you feel a connection to this place in any real sense then you must go see this documentary, it will move you to do more with your life. trust me. i just wanted to congratulate the stickmen and women and the makers of the film for now. Will say my piece later in earnest. Love and respect to all the warriors out in the road fighting. No Bois Man No fraid. Muhammad Muwakil |
||
78 minutes A Film by CHRISTOPHER LAIRD Produced by Banyan & The Bois Academy of Trinidad & Tobago © Banyan & Bois Academy of T&T 2013 https://www.facebook.com/NoBoisManNoFraid |
||
Photo by Mark Lyndersay |
Banyan News Archive Banyan's Christopher Laird
Honoured In
June this year (2009) Banyan's Christopher Laird, CEO of Gayelle the channel
was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Caribbean
Tales Film festival in Toronto and the University of the West Indies has
awarded him an Honorary Doctorate (DLit). Following
is an interview with Christopher Laird by Anna Walcott-Hardy: AWH. How old
were you when you decided to become a film-maker? Who were your mentors? CL.
I guess all youngsters want to make movies but I first seriously expressed
the aim of becoming a filmmaker at 19. Film schools were just starting up in
London, Poland and a few other places but the way to a career in film still
meant getting a job and working your way up in the industry. My parents were
adamant that I get my degree first. My mentors
at that time were not necessarily filmmakers but the many Caribbean artists
especially the writers whom I had the privilege of knowing in my parent's
circle growing up and those whom I met in the Caribbean Artists Movement in
London in the 60s. John La Rose, Andrew Salkey,
Edward (now Kamau) Braithwaite and I remember Wilson Harris being very
supportive of my exploring things visually when he saw an illustrated poem I
had constructed at the time. I
knew that I had a strong visual sense and a strong sense of mission in terms
of expressing the Caribbean reality. Film seemed to be the way but I didn't
know how to achieve it. Remember, the time was the late 60s, and we were all
caught up in the revolutionary nationalism of the time. Video was just beginning
and that really was the way I entered filmmaking. AWH. Do you have
any projects you look back on and think – how were we able to accomplish this
on such a limited budget, little resources and time? CL.
In the early days I guess almost all the projects seemed like that but as
time went on one could not avoid a certain dissatisfaction or frustration
that the work had to be so compromised by the lack of time, resources etc. It
is an empty boast to say I had achieved X with nothing if X wasn't up to
standard. Eventually I chose just those projects which seemed to promise a
balance between resources and the quality of the outcome by accepting a
degree of modesty in its design. Needless to say, when you get down to it,
that promise is seldom if ever kept. You always want better. The growth of
digital technology, however, has helped a great deal to achieve a semblance
of quality with slim resources. AWH. Do you have a pet project? CL.
Gayelle was a pet project decades in the making and
I have to count my blessings that I have had a chance in my lifetime to be
able to confront the dream in reality. It is still a pet project yet to be
fully realised. My
other pet project has been to make a film of Sonny Ladoo's NO PAIN LIKE THIS
BODY. I've been working on that for 35 years, ever since I read the book
1974. Tony Hall, Errol Sitahal and I have a great screenplay but that is as
far as we have got. Meanwhile I have been working on a documentary on Ladoo
and have filmed about half of it. Work on that stopped with the coming of Gayelle the
channel. AWH. Who or what
inspires you? CL. There are so many names I shy away from naming
them for fear of those whom I will necessarily omit. I have always been inspired by the giants of our
Caribbean civilisation, James, Walcott, Naipaul, McBurnie, Chang, those who I was privileged to come to
know as people as a young person growing up. I grew up in a house that was
often filled with such presences inspired by the dream of Federation and I saw a whole
generation crash and burn with its demise. That conviction of our unique and shared
Caribbean genius lived on with the
Caribbean Artists Movement and I like to feel that I act still in that tradition
along with those who continue to share a vision of what we have to offer the
world as a region. While I would count my parents and people like John
La Rose as significant guides, I would also admit the influence of those two
generous and anarchic iconoclasts Ken Corsbie and Marc Matthews with whom I
have been close over the years. If I have an ounce of their talent and spirit
I would consider myself well endowed indeed. The
recording genius Emory Cook is still someone I would consider a model for all
my work with Banyan and Gayelle. I have been extremely fortunate to have been able to
work intimately with rewarding creative results with great talents like Tony
Hall and his brother Dennis, Bruce Paddington, Errol Sitahal and Niala
Maharaj and for the past five years I have had the incredible experience of
working side by side with one of the most extraordinary human beings I know,
Errol Fabien. Talk about inspiration! AWH. For the past 30 years your productions have helped
us to see ourselves, to better understand who we are as a people. With the
challenges Banyan and then Gayelle have faced over the years what do you
think is the future of film in T&T and of local
programming in T&T? CL. The
conditions for Caribbean motion picture production are still difficult, but
that is the nature of the business. Making films is never easy, anywhere. But
as Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando says, 'you can't stop artists dreaming',
even though for nearly half a century of television in the Caribbean we have
had to dream other people's dreams. Nevertheless there are hopeful signs: The Trinidad & Tobago
Film Company is a huge step forward despite the fact that the government has
slashed its already inadequate budget 50% this year; there are film courses
at UWI and students are coming out of them with
some promise. There are many young people out there now who fancy themselves
as filmmakers. The technology is doing for film what it did for audio
recording twenty years ago, putting it within the reach of everyone. When Gayelle
started five years ago people came to us with ideas, now they come with DVDs. AWH. Do you
think that subsidizing industry would help the progression of film or video
productions and raise the standard and does this come hand-in-hand with censorship
and regulations that may deter creativity? CL. Subsidies
for film production are absolutely essential if the state is serious about
developing the industry. Our market is so small massive investment over a
long period is needed to kick start the industry and establish momentum. This
includes investment in developing marketing and distribution channels and
infrastructure. The industry will not develop if we don't increase the size
of our market and that takes real investment. It is a matter of faith in the
real resource we have in the region, the creative drive of our people. This
is what has filled the world with Caribbean Carnivals, it could be a world
full of Caribbean media tomorrow. But the record is more than dismal when it
comes to our governments having faith in the worth of our people. AWH .Where do you see Gayelle the Channel in five years? CL.
Gayelle the Channel in five more years will have to still be at the centre of Caribbean media origination one way or the
other. It has already radically changed our expectations of our media.
Compare the media environment when we began to that of today: the explosion of channels,
television personalities , series, shows and people employed in the industry.
Yet we are still the only free to air station in the region with close to
100% Caribbean content 24 hours a day. In
the next few years you can expect a deepening and sharpening of focus as
economic realities are driven home but the shape of the industry in five
years will be unrecognisable compared to today. The
glory days of broadcast television are way past and the new media is poised
to turn established forms on their heads. I expect Gayelle to be in the midst
of that. At the very least we will have been the main inspiration and model. AWH . You've always seemed like such a
even-tempered, unassuming guy -are you excited about being honored by UWI by being on stage, in front of the camera for a
while? CL.
I have always been a back-stage person. I guess I have appeared unassuming
because I know I am no genius and it has taken 300 productions and many years
of work and self-analysis of my work to find my particular talent and become
secure in that. I am
not a flashy filmmaker, if you see my hand while watching a film of mine then
I have failed in some respect. The people in my films are the subject of the
films not me. You know, I see my films like I see my father's buildings. If
you walk into a Colin Laird building, its elegance and his exquisite sense of
scale will make you feel the dignity and infinite possibility of being human I like to
feel you get the same feeling when you watch my best work: the joy and pain,
the intelligence and enduring courage that it takes to live our lives
together in this world. I am
not alone in believing that in this society the fate of the truly innovative
and committed artist is vagrancy of one sort or another, literally and/or
figuratively. Our history makes us so brutal with those who don't accept
their station. I have seen too many of our heroes talking to themselves in
the street to not take it as a caution and know that those who have escaped
that fate have done so because someone SAW them, recognised
them, loved them, usually a nurturing friend or family member and they were
wise enough to accept that love as more important than their dreams. Recognition
and appreciation too often happens here after death.
So that the UWI has seen it fit to give me this honour is wonderful. I am deeply
appreciative even while I feel the accusing press of the legions of those
still unrecognised and restless warriors who
precede me and with whom I still walk. AWH. Do you have
a favourite director/producer actor? Too many to
name? Then can you list your five favourite
movies/documentaries. CL. The game of favourites
has always left me feeling even more alienated because I don't understand the
absolutes implied. "What's your favourite colour?" Surely it depends on the moment, the
feeling, the context. I do have many filmmakers I admire greatly for one
reason or another. There are many whose films I would go out of my way to see
but I can't name one or two names of those I think are perfect. Some are good
for one thing others are good in other ways and I take lessons accordingly.
Perfection is a dream and an illusion and while it may be something for which
we strive, if you have any wisdom at all you will know that it is the
accident that often allows one to approach 'perfection'. That said, however,
I must pay tribute to the Cuban filmmaker the late Thomas Gutierrez Alea who has to be one of the world's great filmmakers
and certainly a Caribbean giant. AWH. What are
some of the projects that you are working on currently? CL.
Gayelle is and has been a totally consuming project for the past six years
almost to exclusion of everything else though I have managed to make at least
one documentary a year. I would love to have the opportunity to carry my
Ladoo projects forward. The other is to be able to really finish my work on
the Banyan archives, over 3,000 tapes of Caribbean culture over the past 30
years that still require more detailed cataloguing and digitising
to make them more accessible. |
|
Banyan Programme
Catalogue
Banyan Archive
Summary
This Month's Archive
Extract
History &
Awards
DIGITISED ARCHIVE METADATA
Voice: (868) 681 0175 Fax: (868) 625 6339 E-mail: banyan@pancaribbean.com