A full house crammed the Central Bank Auditorium on Republic Day, for a screening of the groundbreaking 1970's local film, Bim. Seen in the audience were Ralph Maraj, producer Suzanne Nunez-Robertson, screenwriter Raoul Pantin, St Lucia-based musician Gene Lawrence, Christine Tanker and daughter Zo Marie, Pearl Eintou Springer, Verna St Rose and Robert Mayers.
The film's cast included Ralph Maraj, and deceased actors Errol Jones and Wilbert Holder.
Wednesday night's screening was the first of three being held under the auspices of the Lloyd Best Institute, and was introduced by Sunity Maharaj of the institute. The movie was last screened in T&T in 2007 at the T&T Film Festival.
Pantin said he is surprised that the movie, which was screened in 1975, is "still relevant 40 years later." He made the movie in collaboration with American director Hugh Robertson, his wife Suzanne and musical director Andre Tanker.
In the movie, the late Errol Jones played the role of an Afro-Trinidadian political leader in Port-of-Spain, with former parliamentarian/actor Ralph Maraj cast opposite him in the lead role as Bim.
This week, Pantin said one of the movie's profound exchanges between these two was Jones' character meeting Bim at a party at the governor's house and asking him to come out of canefields to join him in "town." Bim replied: "Niggers and coolies don't get together in politics in Trinidad."
Pantin reminisced: "The head of the Censors Board then was Police Commissioner Tony May and the board was livid over much of the movie's language and censored it. We protested outside the premises of the board, then located inside the police barracks. They wanted us to omit a lot of the expletives and what were termed 'racist phrases.' Eventually we did cut some of the obscene language."
Prior to Bim, Pantin had written four or five plays, one of them being the very popular comedy Radio Republic 555.
"I wrote Bim entirely out of my imagination," recalled Pantin. "The Robertsons approached me to write a screenplay based on the book The Murders of Boysie Singh, written by an Englishman. Hugh went off to England to negotiate for the rights of the book but that fell through. I told him that having a good knowledge of crime in Trinidad and badjohns of the era, and Boysie Singh, I could write a story in my sleep. That is how it all came about.
"Though named Bim, the character's name was actually Bheem Singh. But, when he came into Port-of-Spain it was creolised to Bim. I was playwright and was excited to be given the chance to write a screen script. This opportunity was something I wouldn't let pass."
Pantin said the idea of doing the movie was actually Suzanne Nunez-Robertson's idea as Robertson, being an American, wouldn't have known about Boysie Singh or crime and murders in Trinidad.
Pantin wrote a second screen script, Hans Boos' The Haunting of Avril. He said: "That one was renamed Obeah and for some reason was never shown in Trinidad."
Pantin said this week that he plans to reprise Radio Republic 555. Disclosing some of his trials, he said: "After my experience as a captive in TTT in the 1990 coup attempt I became a full-time alcoholic because that was my way of coping with the pressure. But, in 2005, I just stopped drinking alcohol and I have not had a drink since then. It's also been 13 months since I placed a cigarette in my mouth."
Pantin sounded crestfallen when he said that the local film industry has not progressed in the past four decades. He said: "The local film industry is virtually non-existent. How many feature films have we made in Trinidad since 1974? We have made documentaries, but no feature films. There is no tangible support in this country for a local film industry."
Veteran actor Ralph Maraj said his lead role in Bim was one of the benchmark achievements of his career. He recalls that in the 70s, actors were enthused by the move to do movies. He said: "It was a period of great optimism for us all. When we got the opportunity to do the script of that movie with Mr (Hugh) Robertson and Sharc Productions we were elated.
"I must pay special tribute to Raoul Pantin for the script. I think he deserves being recognised for his work, in addition to producers Suzanne and Hugh Robertson for their vision. I enjoyed working with Wilbert Holder, Hamilton Parris and the entire cast of Bim."
Speaking to the T&T Guardian from his home in San Fernando, Maraj said: "Back then, my optimism was high because I thought Bim would mark another step forward for the local film industry. We must also remember that it was Harbance Kumar who really produced the first movies � The Right and The Wrong and Caribbean Fox � for T&T. In those movies I acted with actors like Jasse Mc Donald, Angela Seukeran, Holly Betaudier and Tony Maharaj. So, that when Bim came along we assumed that the local film industry will be energised and moved forward. But, the government never actually facilitated our film industry, giving it no incentives. The government only got into the act during the last Patrick Manning admininstration by the establishment of the T&T Film Company which, in addition to giving tremendous support to the film festival, also helped in the development of film scripts and other areas, like training."
Like Pantin, Maraj bemaons the inertia of the local film industry for more than three decades. He said: "Sadly and tragically very little progress has been made before the advent of the T&T Film Company. The film company is now incubating a film industry in T&T. We lost over 30 years with virtually no progress being made in local film. Very little or nothing was done by successive governments for the local film industry."
Maraj feels a sense of pride with this weekend's reprise of Bim. He said: "I think that Bim is one of our cultural treasures. I want to heap praise on those responsible for its revival and that of the local film industry. I continue to feel honoured to be given the lead role in Bim. In addition to the plays I did with James Lee Wah as my director on stage, and my own works which I have revived, I consider doing the role of Bim as one of the highlights of my artistic career."