Actor
Danny Glover is planning on making his directorial debut next year with an epic about Haitian independence hero
Toussaint-Louverture. Glover recently told the press that he had difficultly finding financiers to back the film because there were not enough “white heroes.” Glover told Paris’ AFP, "Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are the white heroes?'" That’s a bit of a strange request considering the film is about the liberation of Haiti, the worlds first free Black republic and the first country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery.
It was especially difficult to finding funding for the film in Europe, according to Glover, "I couldn't get the money here, I couldn't get the money in Britain. I went to everybody… The first question you get, is 'Is it a black film?’ All of them agree, it's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good in Japan.”
That’s where Venezuela’s
Hugo Chavez comes in. Glover received 18 of the 30 million dollars needed to fund the film from
Villa del Cine, a new government-funded studio outside of Caracas, which is part of Chavez’s effort to combat what he calls “the Hollywood film dictatorship.” Chavez hopes that
Toussaint will teach international audiences about imperialism and Western oppression and hegemony.
The film is set to star
Don Cheadle,
Mos Def,
Wesley Snipes and
Angela Bassett, and is being shot in Venezuela.
Many Venezuelan filmmakers and producers are not too excited about Villa del Cine’s $18 million investment in
Toussaint. In an open letter the
National Association of Film Makers and the
Venezuelan Chamber of Film Producers said "It is Mr. Glover who should be bringing dollars to Venezuela."
I hope the film gets made and has a decent release/distribution because it an extremely important but often overlooked part of history. I also hope that the film is able to generate money for the Venezuelan film industry and help establish it as a progressive media powerhouse. Keep an eye out for
Toussaint in 2009.
Props to
Playahata.com for putting me on to this story.
A Spanish trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s four and a half hour CHE bio-pic has just hit the internet. The trailer is in Spanish and super grainy, but it’s a great teaser. Soderbergh is having a hard time finding a Hollywood distributor for the film. Despite the difficulties findind a distributor Soderbergh is confident that by December audiences will be able to see Benicio Del Toro as CHE in the film’s first segment “El Argentino” and the second segment “Guerrilla” in February.
Actor Danny Glover is planning on making his directorial debut next year with an epic about Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture. Glover recently told the press that he had difficultly finding financiers to back the film because there were not enough “white heroes.” Glover told Paris’ AFP, "Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are the white heroes?'" That’s a bit of a strange request considering the film is about the liberation of Haiti, the worlds first free Black republic and the first country in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery.
That’s where Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez comes in. Glover received 18 of the 30 million dollars needed to fund the film from Villa del Cine, a new government-funded studio outside of Caracas, which is part of Chavez’s effort to combat what he calls “the Hollywood film dictatorship.” Chavez hopes that Toussaint will teach international audiences about imperialism and Western oppression and hegemony.
Posts
