SSignal Productions set to launch 12th movie today

Dec 18, 2016 News

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Whether they are about love, envy, political affairs, religious conviction or even mythical creatures and theories, movies will forever hold us captive with their hypnotizing power and enthrallment.

Perhaps it is for this reason and more that SSignal Productions, which is owned by music and culture fanatics, Charmaine Blackman-Alves and her husband Bonny Alves, continues to churn out movies with a gripping tale to tell.
In fact, the duo is actually launching a 12th movie today at the National Library with the screening set to take place at 6: 30pm and a light cocktail reception scheduled an hour prior to the grand show.
The movie is called, “I wish I were my girlfriend’s cell phone.”
The writer, Alves, explained that the movie speaks to a man who is disgusted with his girlfriend’s obsession with her cell phone. Day after day, he longs for more attention from her. This leads him to wishing he were her cell phone for just one day.
As fate would have it, his wish is miraculously granted. But he was never prepared for what would happen next. The twist of course, is one patrons would have to be at the screening today to see, stated Alves.
His wife, who is the producer of the production, said that she is wound up about the project as it has a plot that is “riveting, convincing and to die for.”
Alves also explained that the film stars Ron Reynolds and Rodlyn Reynolds with a guest appearance by DJ Avalanche.
This is the second production for the company this year. The first was the captivating film, “Ole Higue.”
This ground-breaking local film—arguably the first in this genre—debuted to a small but appreciative audience last February at the National Cultural Centre.
By itself, the ‘Ole Higue’ legend is an intriguing one. The producers, though, put ‘new fangs’ into the ancient tale for their one of a kind movie.
According to talented writer, Andrew A. Monroe, the ‘Ole Higue’ is the Guyanese form of a human vampire, capable of shedding her skin and taking the form of a harmless old woman living in a community.

In his writings on this formidable creature, he says that at night, she transforms herself into a ball of fire, flies from her own house and lands on the roof of another house where there is a baby in a cradle whose blood she will suck.
“Then the community sets a trap. When the Ole Higue flies abroad another night, she finds that the baby in the cradle is clothed in a blue nightgown. There is a heap of rice grains near to the cot and the smell of asafetida.”
He said that these cast a spell on the Ole Higue who has to count the grains of rice, and if she loses her way, she has to start counting again. Monroe also states that the light of morning comes and the Ole Higue still has not finished counting the grains of rice.
“People burst into the room, pick up a cabbage broom and begin to belabour the Ole Higue. They beat her to death, with great emotion.”
But SSignal Productions does not follow this well-known script to the letter.
Set in the Agricola Community, the creative team noted that the movie opens with a girl, (Natoya) and her brother (Jaden) making their way home after school. Natoya is then lured by an aged, menacing woman crying out for help.
Here, we see Natoya struggling with her first battle. She is reminded by her brother that their mother always says that they should never speak to strangers. However, her mother who is played by Mariatha Causway also instilled in her to always be kind to the elderly. She follows the latter of the two instructions and is rewarded with a deadly curse, the curse of the Ole Higue.
Growing up, Natoya is tormented by the evil within and struggles with moments of fighting the urge to drink the blood of children in the neighbourhood. Meanwhile scenes are shown of residents who awake in the early hours of the morning, horrified at the sight of their pale and lifeless babies. It leaves you wondering whether it was really Natoya who was up to no good.
With the limited budget the film makers had to work with, Ole Higue was surely a most worthy and entertaining piece of Guyanese production. But it could have been much better had it received the necessary financial support from entities such as the Ministry of Education’s Department of Culture, and the Department of Tourism now under the purview of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications.
Limited financial resources were also a challenge for the company’s second production, “I wish I were my girlfriend’s cell phone.”
In this regard, the culture loving duo emphasized that the Government needs to do more for Guyana’s artistes in this regard.
“We are doing this because this is what we love. Making movies that capture the mood of the Guyanese people and their traditions is an absolutely priceless gift but we have to, in almost every instance, go into our own pockets to fund these ventures which will ultimately benefit the nation,” expressed Alves.
He continued, “As such, it is imperative that the government throws its support behind such ventures. It can only bode well for the intellectual and cultural development of the nation’s artistes and that of the cultural industry. There is so much more that could be done if only artistes like ourselves had the support of the government. We did not have it for this project or the previous production but it is time the Government steps up to the plate. “
But in spite of this, SSignal Productions said it has certainly produced a short movie of which they can be proud. They stated that it is one of their best films to date and with it have cemented their commitment to keep Guyana’s relatively small film industry alive.

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