Sexy slaves, bacchanal and lust

SHEREEN ALI

LOTS of potential was evident last week Thursday at the Big Black Box at the screening for three pilots for new Caribbean TV series. The pilot episodes for the TV shows BattleDream-Chronicle, Heat, and CaribbeanGrlNYC on March 1 proved that lively Caribbean TV offerings can dare to dip their toes in the field of pulp entertainment, and with time, the storytelling can only improve.

Produced by CaribbeanTales, the pilots will air exclusively on Flow’s flagship entertainment network, Flow 1, later this year across the Caribbean.

The first pilot shown, BattleDream-Chronicle, was an animated Afro-futurist action show with the strong feel of first-person-shooter video games, complete with combat scenes where you earn or lose points, or even your life. The characters, especially the young women, showed a loving attention to the visual modelling of the female form, with super-fit, voluptuous bodies clad in gossamer-thin, skin-tight bodysuits that will delight most teenage boys.

This TV pilot for a series was developed from the 2015 full-length, animated feature movie by the same name directed by Alain Bidard from Martinique. The plot centres on the empire of Mortemonde, which by the year 2100, has colonised most of planet Earth and reduced people to slavery. The new form of the plantation is a sinister video game called BattleDream, in which slaves must collect 1000XP every month in order to stay alive. In the pilot, the main character is Syanna, a young Martinican slave new to the game and learning quickly to survive: she is labelled slave #888.

The use of different Caribbean accents and appearances in the young , fit characters was appealing; and the touches of Caribbean humour in the dialogue lightened the rather grim, prison-like warehouse settings in which most of the action took place. The sci-fi basis of the plot was not explained too deeply; it was more of a stylised setting for violent combat (and possibly rebellion) than an exploration of lofty sci-fi ideas, at least so far.

The second pilot shown was called CaribbeanGrlNYC. It felt like a love child of Sex in the City, but done in reality-TV telenovela style, with a cast of sexy ,young Caribbean women all trying to thrive in the Big Bad Apple while dealing with personal issues. Billed as a “diasporic comedy”, there was lots of picong, high emotions, and characters who frequently paused to take “selfies” of themselves with their cellphones.

There were four lead characters: narcissistic Isabelle from Guadeloupe; grad school dropout Tilly from Trinidad; Jamaican law student Dana; and Kate from Barbados, a flirty, possibly lesbian computer coder who is also a talented singer. Directed by Mariette Monpierre, this pilot spanned the gamut of girl issues, from faked orgasms in a one-sided relationship to jealousy, insecurity, and steamy dancing to joyful zouk music. This show was thin, frothy, yet somehow entertaining: scandal with potential. And there was lots of eye candy, including a very handsome Haitian security guard.

The last pilot episode shown was the crime drama Heat, directed by Menelik Shabazz from Barbados. There were so many stereotypes in this show that you were sure to feel you had seen it all before, but done far, far, better by more imaginative storytellers. A wealthy, older, married white woman lusts after her young, muscular black driver: and her husband discovers her in the act, with heated results.

The storytelling was often awkward and predictable; but this may improve with future episodes. The character of the driver’s wife, played by Varia Williams, was interesting, with nuanced expressions, and well performed. What was positive about the pilot show was that it was unafraid to explore inter-racial relationships.

Flow is to be praised for its generous sponsorship of all three pilots. The three pilots are the result of a partnership between the CaribbeanTales Media Group and pay-TV provider Flow. Flow is a TV, broadband internet and home phone service provider whose parent company is the American firm Liberty Global (Liberty Latin America and Caribbean Group).

Jacinta Pinard-Thompson, brand communications manager speaking on behalf of Flow, said to Newsday: “Right now, what you’re seeing are the pilots. All three are currently in development… Flow last year went into partnership with CaribbeanTales for the Incubator Programme. We saw a need for development of Caribbean films. We sponsored the Incubator Programme, which is like a workshop and pitch (process); so while you are pitching to get your series made, you’re also learning from experts in production and other fields. The pitch happened last year and three winners were chosen. We funded the pilots you saw tonight.”

CaribbeanTales is a group of media companies founded by Frances-Anne Solomon that produces, markets, and exhibits Caribbean-themed films. The CaribbeanTales Incubator Programme is a year-round development and production hub for Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora producers that aims to “create strong, compelling and sustainable content for the global market. The ultimate goal of the CTI is to increase the pool of world-class indigenous film and television content so as to build the region’s audiovisual capacity,” says CaribbeanTales on its website. (http://www.caribbeantalesincubator.com/)