'Santana' opens at Cinema 8
By Zahra Gordon
Story Created: Jan 26, 2012 at 10:59 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jan 26, 2012 at 10:59 PM ECT
On Wednesday January 25, the Lexo TV production I'm Santana the Movie premiered at Caribbean Cinema 8, Trincity Park Mall to a sold out theatre. I'm Santana the Movie is the first local film to use puppet animation and the first local film to be distributed at multiple locations simultaneously.
The film, which was created, written and directed by CCN/TV6 news cameraman, Roger Alexis, is a full length series based on his popular Santana Puppet Series of Shorts which have garnered more than 6 million views on its YouTube channel. Lexo TV is owned in partnership with Ian Pantin, executive producer of I'm Santana, and Alexis, who is also the voice of Santana.
The film opens at the Digicel IMAX tomorrow and National Cinema, San Fernando on Wednesday 1 February. Film production began in July 2011 and took approximately seven months to complete.
The comedic drama follows Santana, his ex-girlfriend Janice through a sordid love triangle. According to the production line notes, "the movie comically beings to life the institutions of domestic violence, kidnapping and infidelity and how it plays out in the struggles of day-to-day lives of this Caribbean grassroots Diaspora." "What we have done is we have raised social issues. Domestic abuse is a social ill in society that is usually ignored and we raised other issues like kidnapping. Its full of comedy and laughter and its all Trini. It gives you a Trini feel but it seems to have extended boundaries as people in the US and Europe are catching on to it and understanding it. Our language is becoming more universal. Not to mention its actually a love story," said Pantin.
Although the Sanatana character has become popular enough to receive a contract as a Stag brand representative, Pantin notes that the crew was disappointed by the response from corporate Trinidad, who he says "wanted nothing to do with the film." "We are relatively unsponsored. This is just a group of people who came together with small investments. It shows that we can be successful without large corporations who thought it was too dangerous to be part and parcel of the production. But the films that come from abroad have violence as well," said Pantin.
The film's small production team includes Michael Richards, special effects engineer; Kevin Maturine, sound engineer; Sheldon Buckmire, cinematographer. The cast included Karryssa Babwah as Janice, Maturine as Chang and Narine, Express reporter Gyasi Gonzales as Pastor Stewart and Miss Millie, Avis Holder as Patsy and Arlene Williams as Kizzy.
The film's soundtrack was launched in early January with 16 tracks featuring some of the top names in the local music industry such as Bunji Garlin, Farmer Nappy and Lil' Rick. The soundtrack also included an original song, "Soca Muppet Puppet" written by Jeronique Muhammad and Alexis and performed by Mimi and Santana.
I'm Santana the Movie will continue to play at cinemas for the next two weeks and producers note that there is the possibility of a part two.
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