''Garifuna in Peril'' is a low-budget independent fiction

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) and ...

feature film directed, written, and produced by Alí Allié and Rubén Reyes. The film depicts historical and contemporary issues within the

Garinagu The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creol ...

(plural of Garifuna)

Afro-Honduran Afro-Hondurans or Black Hondurans are Hondurans of Sub-Saharan African descent. The CIA world factbook regards their population to be around 2% of the country's population, while other sources estimate the percentage of Afro-Hondurans as being 10 ...

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

community and features a cast of actors from

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

and

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. The film was shot in

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, and is notable for being one of the first, if only, contemporary feature films shot in the

Garifuna language Garifuna (Karif) is a minority language widely spoken in villages of Garifuna people in the western part of the northern coast of Central America. It is a member of the Arawakan language family but an atypical one since it is spoken outside ...

. The

and culture depicted in the film is also noteworthy as it was proclaimed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 2001 as a

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and t ...

, under threat of extinction as at that time there was almost no surviving record of the language and it was not formally taught outside of the countries of Honduras and

. The language and this film features music that is an oral tradition of storytelling of song and dance that is a unique blend of

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

cultures that are often quite

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

in nature.

Plot

The movie follows the journey of a

teacher Ricardo, played by co-director Rubén Reyes, in Los Angeles as he struggles to be a good father, husband, and brother while taking responsibility to preserve his native language, traditional culture and community lands against the expansion of tourism. Ricardo's plans to build a Garifuna language school on the north coast of

become complicated by the expansion plans of a tourist resort in the area. Personal betrayal pushes him to travel to Honduras and directly confront land issues in tandem with his educational mission. Meanwhile, Ricardo's son Elijah, played by E.J. Mejia Jr., rehearses a theater play dramatizing an episode from the life of Garifuna Paramount Chief

Joseph Chatoyer Joseph Chatoyer, also known as Satuye (died 14 March 1795), was a Garifuna ('' Carib'') chief who led a revolt against the British colonial government of Saint Vincent in 1795. Killed that year, he is now considered a national hero of Saint Vin ...

/ Satuyé and his last stand against the British on the island of

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

, the same historical events dramatized in William A. Brown’s now-lost play ''

The Drama of King Shotaway ''The Drama of King Shotaway, founded on Facts taken from the Insurrection of the Caravs on the Island of St. Vincent, written from Experience by Mr. Brown'' (1823) was a play believed to be by William Henry Brown. The first known play by a black ...

,'' a play that is credited as being the first

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

play in the United States. Ricardo's daughter Helena, a teenager also must deal with her parents' disapproval of her relations with a man considerably older than her.

Cast

* Rubén Reyes as Ricardo, a

teacher who lives in Los Angeles * Julián Castillo as Miguel, Ricardo's brother who has business dealings in Honduras, where the brothers are trying to build a school to teach Garifuna * Gloria Garnett as Becky, Ricardo's wife * Etsil Arnold as Jimmy * E.J. Mejía Jr. as Elijah / Elías, Ricardo's son who portrays Garifuna Paramount Chief Joseph Satuye, also known as

, in the play-within-the-play featured in the film * Yessica Álvarez as Helena, Becky and Ricardo's daughter, who is dating Gabriel * Luisito Martínez as Gabriel, Helena's boyfriend, of whom her parents do not approve * Arleny Escobar as Vera * Aubrey Wakeling as Richard * Bill Flores as Hillbuck, who writes the play-within-the-play, ''Garinagu in Peril,'' that is featured in the film * Araceli Núñez as Yanisi * Saira Amaya as Wendy

Production and development

Originally part of a trilogy called the ''Garifuna Film Trilogy,'' the film was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and

Triunfo de la Cruz Tela is a town, with a population of 38,030 (2020 calculation), and a municipality in Honduras on the northern Caribbean coast. It is located in the department of Atlantida. History Colonial era Tela was founded by the Spanish conquistad ...

after being in development for over 10 years. The project began after Alí Allié and Rubén Reyes met at the 1999

Pan-African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an a ...

in Los Angeles. Co-director, co-writer, co-producer, and cinematographer Alí Allié is an American filmmaker who is known for his work directing the 1999 independent film, ''Spirit of My Mother'' ('' El Espíritu de mi Mamá''), a Spanish-language film distributed by Vanguard Cinema about a Garifuna woman from

. Co-director, co-writer, co-producer, and actor Rubén Reyes is a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and expert on the history and culture of the

Garifuna people The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creol ...

, who created the world's first tri-lingual dictionary of Garifuna, ''Garudia: Garifuna Trilingual Dictionary (Garifuna-English-Spanish).'' Bill Flores, a co-writer of the film, wrote the initial play of the same name upon which the film was based and is a member of the Garifuna Writers Group that is based in Los Angeles. The traditional Garifuna dance was choreographed by Georgette Lambey. The film had both a grassroots base of investors as well as 11 private investors, many from the Garifuna community in Los Angeles, with the Garifuna Coalition USA Inc in New York City providing assistance and guidance with publicity and marketing while the Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United (GAHFU) organization of Los Angeles helped outreach for casting of the film. All members of the cast and crew had jobs, so the film was scheduled around their jobs and was dependent upon funding streams. As the filmmakers began to cast the film, they faced the realities of a language in decline. Co-director Alí Allié said that they were "shocked that there was almost no one under 18 years old who spoke the language, and that was something we were kind of in denial about. And that’s when the film took on more urgency, and that’s when we came up with the title, ''Garifuna in Peril.''" All of the cast members were of

descent from

and

, with the film being their first time performing for the majority of the cast. The film is unique in that it is one of the first narrative fictional films to tell the story of a little known ethnic group with Caribbean origins with the filmmakers attempting to use film to preserve and rescue what was a critically fast-fading culture. The film dramatizes and highlights the challenges indigenous people across the world face as they fight "to keep their lands against larger economic interests while struggling to preserve their culture amid globalization and migration."

Critical reception

Response to the film was positive. Film critic Mark Bell of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' noted that ''Garifuna in Peril'' has a "unique and distinct vibe." When writing about the strength of the film's characterizations, performances and film-making he explains that, "there’s something matter-of-fact about the movie that makes it feel natural...the scenes play out as if they would in real life, if we were suddenly interrupting a moment." Journalist Steve Furay of the ''

Michigan Citizen ''The Michigan Citizen'' (sometimes called just ''Michigan Citizen'') was a weekly newspaper distributed in Detroit, Michigan. ''The Michigan Citizen'' has been published on Sundays since November 1978. Charles D. Kelly (1932-2006) was the newspaper ...

'' called ''Garifuna in Peril'' provocative. Co-director Alí Allié described audience responses during screenings: "It's 'Garifuna in Peril''related to indigenous cultures. At different screenings we’ve had people stand up and make comments. We’ve had a Native American woman stand up and say ‘thank you for telling this story; this is my story.’ Mayan women in Honduras said ‘this is also our story.’ It's specific to Garifuna in one sense, but these are the issues — the cultural loss, the economic problems and the land grab — really relevant to all indigenous peoples." According to co-director (and lead of the film) Rubén Reyes the film speaks to a matter that is timely, the Garifuna people, "are now facing imminent danger. We could eventually lose our land, our culture, our identity and just become simple workers."

Awards

* 2013:

Arizona International Film Festival The Arizona International Film Festival is the oldest and longest running independent film festival in Arizona. Taking place yearly, film programs include a mix of shorts, children's films, feature-length films, documentaries and animation films. ...

– Best Narrative Feature * 2013:

Boston International Film Festival The Boston International Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Boston, Massachusetts which showcases over 90 films annually. Established in 2003 by film producer Patrick Jerome, the festival features independent films from ...

– Indie Spirit Special Recognition Award * 2013: WorldFest Houston – Golden Remi for Docu-Drama * 2013: Festival de Cinema Latino American di Trieste – Audience Choice

Release and distribution

After the film's premier at the London Latin American Film Festival on November 25, 2012, the film was self-distributed, and was mostly shown at many international film festivals that had themes and focus on the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

and

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

culture, which highlighted the difficulty of distributing an independent film about Garifuna history. The film was further screened as part of a film tour of Central America focusing on villages and towns with Garifuna populations in

(as part of the

Belize International Film Festival The Belize International Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Belize City, Belize since 2003 (In 2015, it was hosted on the tropical peninsula, Placencia). It focuses on Central American and Caribbean films, as well as ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, and

. It was also screened in universities in both the United States and Central America. An American on-demand theatrical distribution platform called TUGG was used to screen the film in select U.S. cities. * London Latin American Film Festival in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(November 25, 2012) * New York African Diaspora Film Festival in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(December 2 and 5, 2012) *

Santa Fe Film Festival The Santa Fe Film Festival is a non-profit organization which presents important world cinema that represents aesthetic, critical, and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film. The organization partners with educational groups, schools, ...

(December 8, 2012) in Santa Fe,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

* African Diaspora International Film Festival in

(January 18, 2013) * San Diego Black Film Festival in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

(February 3, 2013) * Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival in

(February 16, 2013) *

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

(April 13, 2013 and April 28, 2013) * Athens International Film + Video Festival in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

(April 14, 2013) *

Chicago Latino Film Festival The Chicago Latino Film Festival is a U.S. film festival, focusing on Latin America and Latinos. Held annually in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

(April 14, 2013 and April 16, 2013) * Festival International du Film Panafricain in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

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(April 19, 2013) * Langston Hughes African American Film Festival in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

(April 19, 2013) *

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

(April 20, 2013) * Worldfest Houston (April 21, 2013) * Berlin Black Cinema International in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(May 11, 2013) * Garifuna Film Festival International in

(May 25 and 26, 2013) *

Zanzibar International Film Festival The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania and one of the largest cultural events in East Africa. ZIFF is a non-governmental organization esta ...

(July 4, 2013) * Caribbean Tales Toronto Showcase in

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(September 11, 2013) * Capital City Black Film Festival in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

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(September 27, 2013) * Cine+Mas San Francisco Latino Film Festival in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

(September 27, 2013) * New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

(October 3, 2013) * Festival de Cine de Bogotá in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

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(October 16, 2013 through October 24, 2013) * Festival de Cinema Latino American di Trieste in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

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(October 25, 2013) * Englewood International Film Festival in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(October 26, 2013) * Uptown Film Festival in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

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(November 9, 2013) * BronzeLens Film Festival in

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(November 9, 2013) * Festival Cine//B in

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(November 28, 2013) *

Bahamas International Film Festival The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a non-profit film festival held in the Bahamas. Open to both locals and international visitors, the festival was founded by Leslie Vanderpool in 2004. BIFF also hosts a youth film workshop that a ...

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

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(December 5, 2013 and December 6, 2013)

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=tt2265315, title=Garifuna in Peril 2012 films American docufiction films Films shot in Central America Films shot in Los Angeles Garifuna 2010s Spanish-language films Indigenous cinema in Latin America Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity 2010s English-language films 2010s American films