A POET TAKES HER VERSE TO THE PEOPLE WITH SLAM

To those who like to say that poetry is dead, Elizabeth Acevedo has a ready answer: poetry is by no means dead, it’s just constantly taking on new forms. And slam is one of these transmutations, where poets recite their work on stage, engaging directly with the audience.

Elizabeth Acevedo

“I see hundreds of young people at slam performances,” says Acevedo, a prize-winning writer and performer based in Washington, D.C. “But some people would like to dismiss this as just yelling. That makes me want to rebel.”

Acevedo was a member of the Beltway team that won the 2014 National Poetry Slam in the United States, by delivering impassioned, uncompromising verse. Since then she has been touring colleges, conducting workshops and giving lectures.

Currently on the road in Europe, she performed in Paris, Sevilla and Brussels in January, drawing attention to the ways in which slam has raised the concerns of women and ethnic minorities through poetry – and, along the way, ruffled establishment feathers.

“If you think of how marginalized people are criticized for being marginal, maybe the work that we’re doing is to get people to understand others’ experiences, to walk in others’ shoes,” Acevedo says. “Art can make people more empathetic.”

During a workshop in Paris, for instance, she recited a haunting poem about police shootings of African-American men, using imagery drawn from her own heritage as an “Afro-Latina”, as she calls herself, and mixing Spanish terms with the English.

Acevedo in performance.

Born in New York City of parents from the Dominican Republic, Acevedo (who turns 28 in February) says she grew up with a love of music and storytelling at home. She initially wanted to be a rap star but got into slam at age 14 because of a teacher who encouraged her to perform her poetry with other schoolmates.

“When I saw how seriously the students took the slam competition, it pushed me to see how I could stand out,” she told SWAN in an interview. But after a few years of contests, she withdrew to concentrate on her studies.

She was working on a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Maryland when she and a team went to the National Poetry Slam, an annual contest that had 72 competing groups in 2014. Acevedo performed an individual poem in each round and was one of about seven women among the final four teams of 16 to 20 contestants.

The team’s win made her realize this could be a career, and over the past year, she has visited some 50 colleges as a performer.

“I’m lucky to be able to make a living from these shows,” she says, adding that she’s sometimes surprised by the chord that her political work strikes. Still, she remains irked by the dismissal, especially among some academics, of slam as a paltry substitute for real poetry.

Acevedo at a Paris bookshop.
(Photo: McKenzie)

Some critics say that the sport-like competitiveness of slam events and the raw political nature of most recitations serve to diminish the art of poetry.

“I don’t think that the fact that it’s different makes it any less powerful,” Acevedo told SWAN. “I’ve seen people cry over a poem at some performances.”

She considers herself part of a growing tradition. It’s almost 26 years since the first National Poetry Slam took place in San Francisco in 1990, following the launch of the genre in 1984 by American poet Marc Smith.

The movement grew in Chicago and later spread to New York, with shows at the Nuyorican Poet's Café, hosted by poet and activist Bob Holman who championed poetry in various forms, particularly spoken word.

Slam’s popularity spread to other countries such as France and England, where many young poets have seized on the art form. In Paris, Acevedo was a guest of Paris Lit Up (PLU), a project that brings writers together and organizes multimedia literary events.

Jason Francis McGimsey, of PLU.

“From the beginning, Paris Lit Up has aimed to create open community spaces where writers can meet, share their work and inspire one another,” says PLU’s executive director, Jason Francis McGimsey. “We try to stress the social nature of writing and the importance of writing communities.”

For artists like Acevedo, one of the attractions of such projects is being able to speak directly to an audience as a writer and to bring poetry to people who might not necessarily read it, or who might have got turned off by the way it was taught in school.

Acevedo is also aware, however, that what sounds good on stage might not bear up under closer scrutiny or work as well on the page.

“How do you walk the line between a poem that’s equally as powerful when it’s performed as when it’s written down?” she muses. “That’s something I’ve been grappling with.”

A chapbook of her work will be published later this year and she’s working on other projects. But she thinks there’s no turning back from slam, despite disparagement of its artistic validity in some quarters.

“It feels sometimes as if we’re bulldozing our way,” she says. “But I’m also just trying to tell the stories I wish I’d been able to read.”  -  A.M.

You can follow SWAN on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale

AFRICAN DESIGNER NAMED A UNESCO ARTIST FOR PEACE

Alphadi flanked by models. (Photo: UNESCO/P.Chiang-Joo)

The acclaimed African fashion designer Sidahmed Alphadi Seidnaly, or Alphadi, was designated a UNESCO Artist for Peace on Jan. 25, in a ceremony at the Paris headquarters of the United Nation’s cultural agency.

UNESCO's director-general, Irina Bokova, said the honour was in recognition of Alphadi’s “commitment to culture and development at the service of peace, respect and human dignity, and for his contribution to the promotion of tolerance”.

Alphadi and UNESCO's Director General Irina Bokova.
(Photo courtesy of UNESCO/P.Chiang-Joo)

Alphadi’s work has had a huge impact on many designers of African origin, in France and elsewhere. The Paris-based stylist Vanessa Augris told SWAN that he has been an inspiration to her and a generation of other fashion creators.

“He is one of the most important African designers,” she said. “And his work has really helped to advance the appreciation of African fashion.”

Alphadi was born in Timbuktu, Mali, in 1957, and grew up in Niger. He studied in France and is a graduate of the Atelier Chardon Savard school of fashion and design, located in Paris. Admirers describe him as the “magician of the desert”, and he has been recognized by other internationally known designers such as Takada Kenzo, Paco Rabanne and the late Yves Saint Laurent.

One of his major accomplishments is the creation of the International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA), which he launched in 1998 in Niger’s Tiguidit area of the Sahara desert, under the auspices of UNESCO. 

One of Alphadi's designs shown at UNESCO

The Festival has since become a place of “exchange and dialogue between cultures from all over the world”, according to the UN agency.

As a UNESCO Artist for Peace, Alphadi will work to transform FIMA into an itinerant event so that the next editions may take place in other African countries, notably Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, UNESCO said. The designer intends to develop the festival’s educational function as well.

He has already created the Alphadi Foundation, which works to improve the lives of women and children in the Sahara and helps create and develop employment in the region, UNESCO added.

In a speech at his designation ceremony, Alphadi deplored the rise of intolerance and said he would work to boost peace, culture and development.

“We need to create a world of love and lasting peace,” he said. “I will use all my energies to build peace through fashion and the arts.”

He then presented a runway show that highlighted the designs for which he has become known: modern garments that combine striking colour, glamour and traditional influences.

A model shows off Alphadi's creativity. (Photo: UNESCO/P Chiang-Joo)

MUSEUM SHOWS IMPACT OF MASKS ON ARTISTS' WORK

The influence of African masks on the work of selected contemporary artists is being examined in a critically acclaimed show that runs until March 13 at the Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Bristle Disguise by Walter Oltmann,
a South African artist. (Photo: A. Pokroy)

The exhibition, “Disguise: Masks and Global African Art”, explores 21st-century artistic evocations of the African mask and contemporary forms of disguise, and it challenges viewers’ perceptions of identity, the curators say.

Organized in collaboration with the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), the show brings together contemporary artists working in Africa and America. For two years, SAM’s Curator of African and Oceanic Art Pamela McClusky, and Consultant Curator Erika Dalya Massaquoi, sought out artists who explore the idea of disguise in their work.

They selected 12 contemporary artists to represent the core themes of the show, and eight of those artists were commissioned to produce new visions and sounds specifically for the exhibition.

According to McClusky, the artists were encouraged to use SAM’s collection of African masks as a catalyst for creating fresh visions of masquerade.  The work they produced includes photography, drawing, video, performance, installation and sculpture.

Alongside their creations, examples of the same mask genres from the Fowler collection are on display during the exhibition - which the Fowler says goes beyond disguise, representing a “bold move” to bring masquerade into the museum.

“These contemporary artists use the notion of disguise to hide their identity and reveal issues of social, political or cultural import in their work,” according to the curators.

Neo Primitivism 2, by Brendan Fernandes, Kenya/Canada.
(Photo courtesy of the artist.)

“The act of altering or concealing one’s identity is at the core of traditional African masquerade, though with an important addition – an individual’s identity is not only concealed but entirely transformed,” they stated.

The 12 artists comprise six from continental Africa and six Americans of African heritage, who employ “artistic strategies of disguise" as well as "key visual and performative elements of traditional African masquerade in their work”.

The group includes British-Nigerian author, artist and filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa, who was born in Nigeria in 1976 and whose father – the writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa – was executed in 1995 in the Niger Delta.

Returning to the region in 2013, Zina Saro-Wiwa began a journey of cultural discovery, according to the show’s curators. “She went in search of masquerade culture in her indigenous Ogoni homeland and came across a modern form of masquerade started in the late 1980s called Ogele, a masquerade featuring a heavy, tiered mask that told stories about modern day politics as well as animist deities.

The Invisible Man by Zina Saro-Wiwa, US/UK/NIgeria.
(Photo courtesy of the artist)

“Inspired by this modern form of masquerade, Saro-Wiwa decided to create a mask and all-female masquerade group for herself. The mask she designed called ‘The Invisible Man’ explores her own personal demons. This neo-Ogoni mask is a document of loss. It depicts the men that have disappeared in her life – her activist father who was murdered and her brother among them. Through this exploration she wants to bring African masks to life in a completely fresh way,” the curators added.

A selection of the Fowler’s Ogoni masks is shown beside her work as inspiration. “I want to bridge the gap I always feel when I go and see African masks in museums. I want emotional connection,” Saro-Wiwa has said.

Curator McClusky told SWAN that all the artists have taken an old art form to produce contemporary and “entirely new masquerades” to challenge viewers ideas of disguise and identity.

“It’s a common fact of life that we disguise what we’re thinking and feeling, and masks force us to realize this,” she said.

Marla Berns, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler (a position named after major funders), added that disguise in African masquerade can be a tool for facilitating transformation but that the featured artists use it to “comment on the challenges and complexities” of our increasingly digital and globalized lives.

“The artists meld carved wooden sculptural forms with new electronic media; they create spaces for women in masking traditions formerly dominated by men; they challenge our understandings of what constitutes authenticity in African masks; and they stimulate questions about the heritage of African masquerade and the invention of modern Western art,” Berns said.

To accompany the exhibition, the Seattle Art Museum and Yale University Press have co-published an illustrated catalog containing artists’ statements, an essay by McClusky, and an interview with Dalya Massaquoi. 

(The Fowler is part of UCLA Arts and is located on the university's campus.) 

CARLTON RARA: MIXING GENRES, SINGING NEW SONGS

Seeing eclectic singer-songwriter Carlton Rara in concert is like watching a chef who picks familiar ingredients from all over the world to create an original, unusual-tasting brew.

Carlton Rara (Photo: SGT)

Born in Lourdes, France, to a Haitian mother and French father, Rara grew up listening to American and Caribbean music, and he mixes genres from one song to the next, moving from jazz to blues to reggae. Fans never quite know what to expect at his concerts, and the same is true of his recorded music.

His third album, Raw Sides (2015), starts with the jazzy “A woman is watching me” and takes listeners to Haiti along the way with the traditional “Papa Danbala”. Although he seems at his most authentic when singing Caribbean-influenced songs, Rara dislikes being categorized and thinks an artist should be free to produce whatever he or she feels.

In an interview with SWAN, after a concert in Paris, he spoke about his music.

SWAN: How did you start singing?

Carlton Rara: I started singing when I was about 12, listening to Michael Jackson's songs. There was like some sort of magic and madness about this man, we all wanted to sing his way. Singing is a very intimate way to express feelings, and the MJ experience pushed me to sing out and dance in front of an audience as a street performer.

Rara in concert (Photo: Ina Boulange)

SWAN: Can you tell us more about your background, how you got to this space?

CR: I spent a lot of my time when I was a young boy in a theatre where my dad used to work. There we could attend shows of all kinds: music, drama plays, comedies, dancing, and art performances. We could see many international artists (people like Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Keith Jarret, Carolyn Carlson, Mercedes Sosa, Lucky Peterson, Israel Galvan, Django Edwards and so on). To me it was just like daydreaming and that was my first school of entertainment. Then as I started playing percussion, first as a self-taught musician, I picked up many things from various musicians. Then the Haitian traditional music started to be a great source of inspiration too. Singing came naturally as I started to compose my first tunes.

SWAN: Your songs about Haiti are beautiful and evocative of history, of place. What is the inspiration for them?

CR:  Haiti is a country with a very strong identity and cultural background. The African roots are deep and strong but that is a land that was first inhabited by native Indians and then has been mixed up with influences from all around the world over the ages. You can find all themes about people's life and experiences throughout history in the voodoo rites and music, about their relations with nature and spirits but also about conflicts, pain and suffering. Haiti is also a place where very particular human things have happened in history. Haitians have to accept that their identity is complex and that they have to reconcile with themselves in a way.

The cover of Raw Sides (Photo: SGT)

SWAN: You perform such a wide range of music – do you have a preference in genre?

CR: I have no preferences. Each song comes out with its energy and style, you just have to feel it and get into it as deeply as you can. Whatever the genre, I try to remain 100 percent Carlton Rara. People remain free to see me the way they want to, to sort me out according to their cultural background, to what they think they know or feel,  there is actually nothing I can do about it, that is not my responsibility.

SWAN: How would you define yourself as a performer?

CR: I am Carlton Rara as you are who you are – as unique as we can be in the universe. Defining myself would be too much and not enough at the same time. Thinking of it, I would say "universal" but as I said this definition could fit anyone.

SWAN: Are there particular stories behind the songs on the new album? 

CR: There is this a capella song "Left Alone" that deals with the idea that humanity is quite the same everywhere on earth, people live the same things, suffer the same. It is obvious that humans everywhere are much more alike than different from one another. "Why Worry" is just a love song. "Wvayaj" is about all the changes we go through within a lifetime, meaning that life is like a route on which we have to walk our way.

SWAN: How do you see your music evolving?

CR: My music remains a free space where I am trying to be as close as what I feel like, free as I try to be. I sing in Creole and English, I can play blues, I can be jazz, I can be pop, I can be soul, I do spoken words and act too, the sky is not even the limit. I am now working on a new album full of suprises that will be in a hip hop jazz and blues fusion groovy funky soul mood, believe it or not.

SWAN: When are the next concerts?

CR: I am now working on preparing my album, no shows on the schedule for the moment...I will be back on the Raw Sides Tour next spring and summer. We will see on the road.

  

JAMAICAN SINGERS LEND VOICE FOR CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

For long-time reporters of environmental issues, it was something of a surprise to see the massive mobilisation of artists, and people from all sectors of society, at COP 21 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place in Paris, France, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

Sean Paul at COP 21. (Photo: UNFCCC)

Artists from a host of countries participated in discussions on the sidelines of the official talks, giving support to civil society groups and to national delegations. Jamaican rapper-singer and songwriter Sean Paul was there, for instance, as was Aaron Silk who belted out at the Caribbean Pavilion that we need “1.5 to stay alive”.

This figure refers to the appeal from small island states to limit the rise of average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius or below. Previous to COP 21, the goal had been 2 degrees Celsius, but faced with the inexorable rise in sea levels and the increase in extreme weather conditions, island nations have pushed for the lower target.

The 196 state parties in Paris finally agreed on the aim of keeping the average global temperature rise this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Throughout the conference, which was extended an extra day, artists sang and took part in debates. One evening, at a meeting of delegations from islands around the world – Palau to Curaçao – Silk joined two guitarists from Oceania to perform Bob Marley hits including “Redemption Song”. As everyone crooned along, a delegate from Curaçao remarked that we have more that links us than divides us, and that we all need to be in the fight together.

Jamaican singer Aaron Silk (centre) performs at an
"island" event at COP 21. (Photo: McKenzie)

Sean Paul arrived at the climate conference on Dec. 10, the day before it was scheduled to end, dressed mostly in black and wearing dark glasses.

Flanked by UN representatives and environmental activists, he took part in a press conference, telling journalists and fans that governments need to take greater action on combating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“In Jamaica, we are known for our athletes, but they need clean air when they’re training,” he said. “I’m a singer, and I have asthma, so I need clean air for my lungs.”

Paul said he was concerned about the burning of a huge garbage dump (called Riverton) in Kingston this year, which covered large parts of the city with choking smoke, and he urged action on getting man-made disasters such as this under control.

He told listeners that he was in Paris to learn more about environmental issues and that apart from using his music to raise awareness, he was trying to set an example by his own behaviour: using solar panels to provide electricity in a house he’s building, for example.

Sean Paul discusses climate change. (Photo: McKenzie)

Later, at a packed UN event to recognize developers of innovative solutions for climate change, Paul performed “Love Song to the Earth”, alongside the recorded images of fellow artists Paul McCartney, Leona Lewis and others.

Available for download from iTunes and Apple Music, the track, which Sean co-wrote, will help to raise funds for environmental group Friends of the Earth US and the UN Foundation, officials said.

Paul was probably the most high-profile Caribbean artist at COP 21, but the conference also heard the voices of singers, writers and actors from other regions, with personalities such as Angelique Kidjo, Alec Baldwin and Robert Redford giving their support to indigenous peoples, small island states and other vulnerable communities.

“Success for this conference will be action,” said Benin-born singer Kidjo, who participated in a symposium titled Earth to Paris that comprised participants and coalitions from all over the world. (See previous article.)

It’s anyone’s guess how much of an effect artist-activists had on the final Paris Agreement, and there’s always a measure of cynicism among the public when “stars” get involved in certain issues. But, as Paul said, “celebrities have influence, and they can use their influence to raise awareness.” – A.M. (Follow us on Twitter @mckenzie_ale)

Paris' Eiffel Tower sends a message at the end of the climate change talks. (Photo: McKenzie)

ARTISTS CALL FOR LESS TALK, MORE ACTION ON CLIMATE

Artists have been out in force, making their voices heard at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) which began Nov. 30 in Paris, France, and runs until Dec. 11.

Singer Angelique Kidjo (photo: McKenzie)

Urging governments to take effective action and reach a global accord, personalities such as Angelique Kidjo, Alec Baldwin, Robert Redford and Adrian Grenier have spoken out at various events, giving their support to indigenous peoples, small island states and other vulnerable communities.

“Success for this conference will be action,” said Benin-born singer Kidjo, who participated in a high-profile symposium titled Earth to Paris that gathered diverse global coalitions.

“Talk is cheap,” she added. “When I go back to my continent, I see how the farmers are struggling. I see the effects of climate change. People aren’t able to produce or eat what they used to.”

Kidjo told SWAN that for her, art and activism are linked. “Before you’re an artist, you’re a human being, and what happens around you affects your art,” she said. “For me to speak about climate change and the rights of children and women is a natural thing.”

Actor Alec Baldwin (left) with Maya activist Christine Coc
and United Nations rep Aaron Sherinian (photo: McKenzie)

She said that art and activism “nourish and enrich each other”.

American actor Alec Baldwin also spoke at Earth to Paris, alongside indigenous activist Christine Coc of Belize, who described the struggles of the Maya people to get recognition for their culture, traditions, lands and ecological achievements.

“Earth is our mother, and you don’t destroy your mother, you don’t sell your mother,” said Coc, who received the Equator Prize in Paris -  an award to recognize those who work to advance innovative solutions for people, nature and resilient communities.

“No amount of money in this world can give us back clean water when it's poisoned. No amount of money in this world can give us back clean air when we need to breathe and live," Coc said. "Our struggle is for our children, for the future generation."

Baldwin, joking that he would campaign for Coc as president, said it was important for artists to learn about global issues and to use their art to help educate and inform others. "I want the awareness to spread," he said.

Actor Robert Redford at UNESCO (photo: McKenzie)

Earlier, legendary American actor Robert Redford discussed his environmental activism at a separate, public event, held at the Paris headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

In an onstage conversation with Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which co-organized the event with UNESCO, Redford said that “effective storytelling can overcome cynicism” and help to change minds.

He joined indigenous peoples’ representatives Mundiya Kepenga of Papua New Guinea, Mina Setra of Indonesia, and poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner of the Marshall Islands to send a message that the rights of these groups should be taken into account when governments agree on the binding document to combat climate change and limit global warming.

Activists from indigenous groups and small island states
speak at UNESCO

“I’m not a politician,” Redford said. “I think I can classify myself as a storyteller. Telling stories and supporting other people to tell stories is the core of what I do. One of the reasons why I am in Paris is to draw attention to indigenous cultures and to their values; to say why we need to pay attention to them, why we need to recognize how vulnerable they are because of climate change. They are probably the most vulnerable of all. They need our help now and fast.”

Although Redford was supposed to be the star of the UNESCO event, traditional leader Kepenga stole the show, presenting his own “little film” - as he termed it - about the ravages of climate change and industry-led deforestation on his community.

Setra, a long-time campaigner, meanwhile gave an emotional account of how monoculture plantations have affected the lives of indigenous people, and Jetnil-Kijiner performed poetry that highlighted the stakes of a half-degree rise in global temperatures.

Small island states, at risk of rising sea levels, would particularly like to see an agreement to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, in contrast to the previous goal of keeping such temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Actor and activist Adrian Greier (photo: McKenzie)

On the waste front, actor and filmmaker Adrian Grenier issued a call for individuals to reduce their waste and to help protect the oceans. “I would like to see name tags on the waste that people generate, so that when you see all those plastic bottles popping up in the ocean it would have the names of the people responsible,” Grenier said at Earth to Paris.

Shortly before arriving in the French city, the actor launched his Lonely Whale Foundation, to promote education and awareness about issues affecting marine life and the “health” of the world’s oceans. Grenier said the creation of the foundation was inspired by the story of the 52 Hertz Whale, a mammal that has spent its whole life alone. 

One of the high points of the various COP side events, including Earth to Paris, was hearing Kidjo sing. At the request of UNICEF’s Executive Director Tony Lake, Kidjo - a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador - performed a short a cappella song, to the delight of participants in the Earth to Paris conference.

“Music is a way of speaking up,” she told SWAN afterwards. “Music is a weapon of peace.” – A.M.

ARTIST USES EIFFEL TOWER TO SEND CLIMATE MESSAGE

On the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, the city's iconic Eiffel Tower was used to transmit an urgent message calling for climate solutions.

The installation, created by the Paris-based Belgian-Tunisian artist Naziha Mestaoui, uses 3D mapping techniques projected onto the tower. It “celebrates the power of natural energy sources and potential for a global shift to 100% renewable energy”, says project partner Here Now - a “movement lab” working to heighten public mobilization on climate, clean energy and sustainable solutions.

The launch of the artwork coincided with climate marches around the world, as environmental campaigners called for forest protection and a 100% renewable energy future.

Although marches in France were banned because of security concerns following the Nov. 13 attacks in the city that killed 130 people, some activists still took to the streets, and clashes between demonstrators and the police occurred in the French capital.

But artists have been urging peace alongside calls for climate justice. Mestaoui incorporated messages of unity and the hashtag #NousSommesUnis (We Are United) in her work. The aim is to engage citizens to help drive an ambitious global deal on climate change, as world leaders gather for the conference.

Artists are increasingly among those at the forefront of the movement pushing for an international accord that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming below 2°C.

“The arts can make us act”, says Saint Lucian poet Kendel Hippolyte, one of the leading campaigners in the Caribbean. “We need action in response to the threats, the realities of climate change.”

Scientists say that global warming of more than 2°C could have serious consequences for the planet, such as an increase in the number of extreme climate events including typhoons and floods.

Mestaoui's installation “1 Heart 1 Tree” will run until Dec 4, during the first week of the climate talks. Her work merges space, imagery and technological advances to create innovative immersive and sensory experiences, according to Here Now.

The lights reflect a “virtual forest” and viewers around the world are being asked to plant a virtual tree, which will be transformed into a real tree in one of seven reforestation programs.

“1 Heart 1 Tree” ambassadors include Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard, and French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot. 

REVIEW: 'SAND DOLLARS' SHOWS POISONED PARADISE

By Dimitri Keramitas

Sand Dollars, directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, is an assured, lushly filmed story set in the Dominican Republic, and one can see why it won the Best Fiction Feature prize at the recent 2015 trinidad+tobago film festival, an annual event in the Caribbean.

Noeli and Anne - actors Mojica and Chaplin

But despite the cinematography, this is a story of inequality and sexual exploitation, even if the setting seems unspoiled.

The movie, loosely based on a book by French author Jean-Noël Pancrazi, portrays the taut relationship between a Western, cosmopolitan grandmother (one of those upper-class seniors who remain svelte and well-coiffed) and a young local woman who’s sensual, though still rather coltish.

The exploitation may seem mutual and consenting - the girl, Noeli (Yanet Mojica) can be manipulative, while the older woman Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) appears vulnerable and well meaning. But the power relationship framing the couple is one-sided: Anne is a wealthy French citizen who can afford a plush Caribbean vacation house and domestic, while Noeli’s one prized possession is a motor scooter. Her dream is to move to France, with the aid of her lover. 

Noeli and boyfriend Yeremi.

The movie spells things out even further: it opens with a scene in which Noeli parts from another Westerner, once more a gentle senior, but this time a man. He leaves her money, but also a necklace as a sentimental gift. The necklace promptly finds its way into a pawnshop. The directors also provide glimpses of her life with Yeremi (Ricardo Ariel Toribio), her young boyfriend. At first he seems to be little more than a pimp, but it turns out that Yeremi is an aspiring percussionist.

Despite what might seem like a stark situation, the movie is something of a pastoral. The Dominican setting doesn’t seem poverty-mired, but a tropical paradise by the sea. Even the poverty we do glimpse seems mellow, like exotic fruit (just as the Spanish spoken by the locals sounds oddly Brazilian with its languid phonemes).

Inequality summed up in a greathouse.

The classic pastoral typically featured innocent youths and animals such as sheep and goats. Here, adults including Anne are portrayed as childlike. (Geraldine Chaplin still does that funny eye thing - a half-yearning, half-empathetic gaze - that she’s been doing since Dr. Zhivago a half-century ago). There’s even a lovely shot of a pair of horses on the idyllic grounds of a beach house.

This dreamy, soft-focus approach is effective for showing the seductive nature of the local environment. Cárdenas and Guzmán film nature beautifully and imaginatively. But the theme is defanged in the process. We get the idea of sexual exploitation but there’s no actual sex to drive home what is at stake.

Geraldine Chaplin is an excellent actress who gives a knock-out performance, but we don’t really believe her as a lesbian. She seems to have more of a mentor relationship with Noeli. The directors shoot Chaplin’s body in a way that brings out her age, wrinkles and all, but is it plausible that such a worldly woman would never have recourse to make-up? It’s ultimately an affectation. It may be that Anne is a cunning manipulator, but this remains vague, like so much in the movie

Noeli and her prized possession - a scooter.

We never see Noeli making love with Yeremi, either. While Mojica and Toribio give marvellous natural performances in their first acting roles, both seem pre-sexual (except in the scenes where Noeli is dancing - but she’s most erotic when dancing alone). There’s no real electricity between them. When Noeli finds out that she’s pregnant we almost take it as a virgin birth. Even her boyfriend is surprised.

At least the pregnancy serves as a catalyst to upset the casual triangular romance that’s been playing out. Noeli decides that she will have the baby, and she gets serious about going to Europe, while her boyfriend wants to keep her at home. Anne, after temporarily rejecting Noeli when she sees her cavorting in a dance club, does all she can to help her. But though there’s talk about continuing their relationship in France, Anne seems more motherly and mentor-like than ever.

The movie poster, in French.

What’s particularly strange in the story of Noeli and Anne is that they’re supposed to have been together for three years. In the case of Noeli this would mean that at the beginning she was very young, with Anne’s attentions bordering on paedophilia. But again, we don’t have a sense of Anne as a genuinely sexual being. And we aren’t given any information about how the relationship has evolved, an inkling, perhaps, that all passion has been spent.

The story of this triangular relationship is interrupted by the arrival of an old friend of Anne’s, a man who brings along a young woman. They are both vaguely Eurotrash. The man seems to be American but speaks with finishing school intonations. The young woman speaks (and sings in one sequence) with just enough of an accent to be off (like Geraldine Chaplin trying to speak American), but not enough to identify her with a real place. From some of the talk, we get the idea of a seedy set that systematically exploits locals for sex (the word-play of the title has already given us the idea), but this is muffled with the usual vagueness.

A work that uses the pastoral form, but within the real world, should at least bring input from that real world, through exposition, description, flashback. Anne has had issues with her 42-year-old son, which has made them estranged. But we get no more than a teasing hint. It may be true that both exploiters and exploited use indirection as an emotional survival tool, or even a weapon. But we expect more from the filmmakers. The directors may think they’re being ambiguous and oblique, but in the end all that vagueness makes the film itself a kind of a tease.

Pancrazi and Chaplin in Paris. Photo: Espagnolas en Paris.

In explaining their aim, the directors have in fact said that they wanted to “depict a world full of contradictions: pay to have company, pay too for the happiness of those who accompany one … and feel the powerlessness that comes with always being a foreigner”. They refer to the story as one of “impossible love”.

Sand Dollars (Dólares de Arena / Les Dollars des Sables) doesn’t really begin or end, however. Like a pastoral, it just starts and stops. The directors frame the film with footage of an elderly singer named Ramon Cordero crooning about his mournful but passionate love. We feel the passion in his voice, and see the results on his face and in his eyes. It’s not pastoral fantasy but life, and this alone is worth the price of admission.

Photos are by courtesy of the filmmakers, unless otherwise indicated. Production: Canana Films/Rei Cine/Foprocine/Conaculta. Distribution: Tucuman Films. Pancrazi’s book (published by Gallimard) has been re-issued in French with a picture from the film on the front cover.