The significance of such an industry is not lost on Celi Moss, Organizer of The Bahamas Film Festival and Chairman of the Bahamas Film Society. Celi has been hailed as a visionary among many Bahamians who view his innovations in the film industry as groundbreaking and relevant. "After all, everyone can't be doctors and lawyers", says one of Celi's not so young supporters who declines to be named. The Weekender caught up with Celi at the Rainforest Theatre on Cable Beach, where one of the film festival's featured guests, Don "DC" Curry, was appearing.
Weekender: So tell me, how did you get into the movie business?
Celi: Well I started out writing as a form of self expression. I wrote poetry and I was always a movie buff. I wrote movie scripts and so the next stage was bringing it to fruition. There was nothing available here at that time. The only thing available, at that time, here in the Bahamas was James Catalyn and Friends. I joined up with that group, did a lot of stuff on stage, directed some thing at the Dundas…but my thing was always the movies. So I did a couple of scripts and tried to get them made. I went to L.A., I tried to call everybody I saw on television and in the business to get them made. Finally, you realize that if you want to get something done you have to do it yourself. So then I went about the process of learning how to make a movie. I had this script I wanted to use, I found someone to do the shooting for me, and they left me by the wayside. It took me seven years to get that project-My Old Man- to fruition. I had all the tapes and everything so I had to go out there and learn how to edit and do all those stuff myself. Despite that I think it has been an empowering process.
Weekender: How do you come up with your stories?
Celi: Just life, for example the one I am using for the Film Festival, the short film Survivor, is about a guy who falls in love with a cancer survivor patient and then on the night that they are about to make love he finds out that she has no breasts. The question is where do you go from there? It's just everyday stuff. I like to do love stories. I think every story is a love story. If there is no love in the story, who cares about it? Even The Bible is a love story.
Weekender: Tell me how the film festival came about.
Celi: The film festival came about because now that you have made the movie what do you do with it? There are different components to making a movie, making the movie is just one part of it. Now you have to distribute and sell the movie, where do you go from there? That was the inspiration behind the film festival. In all the time I have been making movies, I have met other Bahamians trying to do the same. Many of these people who were very talented eventually fell by the wayside because in the Bahamas there is no infrastructure for that. People who have gone on to be successful have not really come back and put in place anything for others to utilise. They didn't leave the door open so others could follow. The film festival was actually a way to have an infrastructure in place so that people who have the dream have someplace where they could go and show their movies…What we are doing now in our third year is a two-pronged thing where we have local and international. We bring someone from abroad. Last year we had Bill Duke. This year we are bringing over Jeff Friday, the C. E.O. of the American Black Film Festival and the Black Movie Awards. Yes, we have made the product. Yes, we have a venue to show it to Bahamians, but we want to showcase it to the world as well.
This year's Film Festival will be held under the Patronage of Mrs. Bernadette Christie, wife of the Prime Minister and will be dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Kayla Lockhart-Edwards and hosted by Vivica "Mega B" Watkins. The festival will feature performances by Don "DC" Curry -better known from BET's Comic View-, Dexter Angry, Trey Luv, and many others.
The Film Festival categories are commercials, documentaries, short films, television shows, music videos and public service announcements. All enquiries and registrations forms are available at Sea Food Haven, Arawak Cay, the Corner Hotel Carmichael Road, The Juke Box Mall at Marathon, INVU Clothing Boutique, Shirley Street in The Standard Plumbing Plaza, Anastacia's Accessories East Street South and First Class Beauty Supplies, East Street South or you can call 525-5787.
By: Nadine Thomas-Brown, The Nassau Guardian
