Showcasing Guyana’s rainforest, indigenous culture

Surama, Iwokrama and Dadanawa Ranch chosen for film locations

Steering away from the much highlighted landscape of beautiful Guyana, actor, director, playwright, dramaturge and film-maker Michael Gilkes and his team are now focusing on showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous people of Guyana in his upcoming film, “Maira and the Jaguar People”.

“It’s a film inspired by my experiences with Guyana’s indigenous people living in the rainforest. People seldom visit the rainforest to see the people they go see the landscape. When I was a boy my father took me to Bartica and then we went into the interior. I was amazed as to what I saw. It was like a different country. I want to show Guyanese what our country looks like. The people I met, mainly Amerindians, were utterly different from persons in urban areas of this country. The connection they share with their landscape is totally different from what we see out in the capital city and I would like to show that too,” Gilkes revealed in an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine.
The film’s story starts off with the Piaiman (Shaman) telling the legendary story of Maira and her brother Mairun to the children gathered around his benab. Maira loves birdsong and is fascinated by the flute-like call of a rare bird no one had ever seen. Mairun dreams of becoming a brave hunter. The Shaman tells the listening children “music is life, the gift of the birds: the jaguar people’s gift is death, but both life and death must be welcomed. They are twins.” They (and the viewers) are taken back in time as the story unfolds. Maira and Mairun become caught up in a dreamlike drama of life and death with a talking jaguar when they lose their way in the forest looking for Maira’s elusive ‘flute-bird’. The ‘jaguar’, its secret discovered, refuses to let them return to the village. They must become ‘karamapichu’ (jaguar people) like him. It finally threatens to attack them. Mairun kills the creature with a single arrow, but dies saving his sister who is able to escape during the fight. The Shaman’s story ends when the ‘lost girl’ is found. Maira’s life and Mairun’s death are both reconciled through the music of the Shaman’s ceremonial flute, fashioned from the thigh bone of the dead jaguar.
“The cast of the film is mainly Amerindian – something that is being done for the first time. We’re going to shoot this film from the point of view of not only the people who live in the rainforest but from nature itself. We now have cameras that can do that. There are waterproof cameras that can be placed into rivers and can shoot wide angles up to the surface. It’s like from the fishes’ view. And then we have cameras to capture the rainforest canopy and the point of view of the trees. Through the film we’ll showcase what the rainforest is really about. We want to take the film not only to the Caribbean but internationally. We want to show what one can find in a rainforest besides hunting and adventure. We want to show the life taking place in a community that is perfectly at peace with itself and its landscape and show a way of life that everyone can learn from,” Gilkes explained.
Gilkes disclosed that the film is scheduled to starting production in November. Filming will be done on location in the Surama area of the Rupununi, in Iwokrama and at the Dadanawa Ranch. He disclosed that he and his team are waiting on funding that is vital to see this film come to fruition. The director declared that his team is a brilliant one, and is ready to get the cameras rolling because it is a project close to their hearts.
“The film will be used to not only entertain but to stir up a deepening understanding and concern for the preservation of our interior and the first peoples who live there. We are aiming at a figure of approx. US$186,000.00, which will allow us to produce a film of exemplary quality. We welcome sponsors, and their contributions will help us to make “Maira and the Jaguar People” a film all Guyanese as well as the entire region can be proud of. There is also the prospect of international screening for film when a projected series of 13 short films from across the Caribbean – “Growing up Caribbean” – of which Maira is the first, comes on stream in the near future,” he revealed.
Gilkes thanked sponsors Gafsons Industries Ltd., Trans Guyana Airways, Noble House Seafood, Cara Lodge, David Dabydeen, Ms. Joclyn Dow, Dr. Yesu Persaud, Toon Boom Animation and CEO Joan Vogelsang for their support thus far.
Additionally, Gilkes noted that the villagers in Surama will be building an entire village to make it appear as it was in the 1950s. The villagers have to be paid to get this done. After the film is completed, the village will be used as a museum or as a place where tourists can stay and experience firsthand what it is like to live in the rainforest. He noted that it will be an attraction which will help to bring in revenue for the villagers.
“These ones are the stewards of the interior and without them we won’t really have a rainforest. They know their survival is dependent upon the survival of the rainforest and so through the film we want to really help in developing their economy. We encourage sponsors to come on board and help to market Guyana not just for its beautiful landscape but also for its beautiful people,” Gilkes encouraged.
“Maira and the Jaguar People” is also produced by Penelope Hynam who has a 25-year career in Canada in film, television, arts administration and writing.
For more information on the film contact Gem Madhoo-Nascimento at gemmadhoo@gmail.com or call 226-0240, 225-53557, 624-8694, 600-5335. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)