Tag Archives: CBC

Book of Negroes, Featured

Recap: Book of Negroes Episode 1

To begin I must put this review into context. I have not read The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. This will be my review untainted by previous knowledge of the story. That said…

This is the first of six episodes, featured on CBC in Canada and later this year on BET in the US, directed by Clement Virgo, and produced by Conquering Lion Pictures and Out Of Africa Entertainment. In it we will learn the story of Aminata Diallo and her life as both a slave and a loyalist to Britain during the Revolutionary War.

We open in 1807 in the House of Parliament in England. Aminata Diallo (Aunjanue Ellis) is waiting to testify on behalf of the Abolitionists petitioning the Court to end slavery. Her testimony is our story; Aminata is our Djeli (storyteller).

The elder Aminata transports us back to the time of Aminata’s youth (Shailyn Pierre-Dixon) in the village of Bayo and we learn she is raised as a Muslim by newly reverted parents. Her mother is a renowned baby catcher who travels freely from village to village and Aminata learns the same skills at her mother’s knee. Her father is the only member of her village who owns a Qur’an. As her story unfolds, we are told that the Man Stealers are targeting the local villages and so as a precaution Aminata’s father accompanies his wife and daughter to a birthing in one of the nearby villages. Coincidentally, it is on this very journey that the young family is ambushed on their way. Aminata is captured and shackled, her parents are left to die in the jungle, and Aminata’s village is set to fire.

The remainder of this episode deals with the treacheries Aminata was subjected to during her journey across land and water, from her village of Bayo (present day Segou, Mali, Africa) to Port Charles Town NC. Coffled to her fellow captives, she makes the long journey across the arid African landscape to where the river meets the sky (Atlantic Ocean) and the awaiting slaver. Along her journey, Aminata is befriended by one of her captors Chekura Tiano (Siya Xaba), who as it happens is also a captive. He had been sold to the leader by his uncle following the deaths of his own parents. Chekura shares his food and water, and unshackles Aminata for her journey – finding favour with her captors I think will be a theme throughout the story as we see this happen in a couple of instances throughout this episode.

The captives reach the shore and are imprisoned at the major slave trading operation located on Bance Island, branded, and then herded onto the slaver. The lead Man Stealer, no longer in need of Chekura sends him to the ship to be traded. Once on the filthy ship Aminata once again finds favour (and value), this time with “Medicine Man” Tom (Nick Boraine). Tom learns that Aminata is not only fluent in many of the tribal languages but she is a capable midwife. An agreement is struck; Aminata assists the Medicine Man, he will in turn help her.

Aminata’s strength of character is evident during this voyage. She avoids Tom’s advances and refuses his attempts to rename her “Mary”. With her position as The Medicine Man’s Assistant, and her assumed innocence of youth, Aminata is granted freedom from her chains and is allowed to move about the ship unencumbered. This freedom leads us to the climax of this installment. Aminata is able to secretly gather weapons and supplies them to her fellow captives. The slaves then orchestrate an ambush using the women in their midst to distract the sailors. Aminata takes refuge behind the ship’s wheel with Chekura providing extra protection from the bloody fight. Ultimately though, their meagre weapons prove fruitless to the well-armed crew. However, Tom the Medicine Man dies in the fight and a woman (Fanta, played by Nondumiso Tembe) who also hails from Aminata’s village is executed for her role in murdering him.

At long last the journey ends and we arrive at Port Charles Town, North Carolina in 1761. It is here that Aminata is sold to Robertson Appleby (Greg Bryk) for five pounds sterling and taken to his plantation. The episode closes with young Aminata falling into a deep sleep in the first comfortable bed she has seen in months and we are instantly transported years ahead with the young adult Aminata (Tenika Davis) being roused from her sleep to go “catch a baby”.

So far I have only a couple minor complaints. I am a stickler for small details and I find that even though they may seem minor, I find them highly unnerving. Early on we see Aminata with her father as she practises her writing. I have to wonder, why is it that a man who knows how to read Arabic is teaching his daughter to write Arabic words in the Latin alphabet? Further, the scene in which Aminata is praying is a very poor representation for Islamic prayers (no female would have situated herself for prayers with her back to a man, at the very least even in the situation as a captive she would have likely positioned herself closer to the vegetation to preserve some sense of modesty).

All in all though, this was a great opening episode and I cannot wait to see what unfolds next. Let me know what you think or perhaps what you are most looking forward to in the next episode in the comments below.

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Dragons' Den

Dragons’ Den announces auditions for 10th season

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From CBC:

It’s time for aspiring entrepreneurs from across the country to put their pitches to the test, as they fight to be a part of DRAGONS’ DEN’s landmark 10th season!  Next month producers will hit the road, visiting cities from coast to coast in a quest to find Canada’s next great batch of entrepreneurs.  

The audition tour is open to the public and launches in Toronto in the CBC atrium (25 John Street) on Feb. 7.  Complete audition dates and locations are listed below and audition venues will be announced in the coming weeks. Tour dates will continue to be updated on the website at www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/auditions.

The audition tour welcomes participants of all ages, with businesses at any stage of development. Aspiring entrepreneurs should be prepared to pitch their concept to the DRAGONS’ DEN producers in five minutes or less. If they show the producers they have what it takes to pitch in the Den, they could be invited to Toronto to face the Dragons. Prospective pitchers are encouraged to apply online and bring a completed application form to the audition. 

Online auditions begin this month and continue in-person throughout February and March across the country. Producers will be on the lookout for entrepreneurs in the following cities:

  • February 7 – Toronto, ON

  • February 12 – Windsor, ON

  • February 13 – Sarnia, ON

  • February 14 – London, ON

  • February  14 – Montreal, QC

  • February 14– Vancouver, BC

  • February  18– Peterborough, ON

  • February  18– Regina, SK

  • February  18– Surrey, BC

  • February  19– Calgary, AB

  • February  20– Nanaimo, BC

  • February  20– Saskatoon, SK

  • February  20– Edmonton, AB

  • February  21 – Winnipeg, MB

  • February  21 – Victoria, BC

  • February  25 – Burlington, ON

  • February  25 – Collingwood, ON

  • February  27– Kingston, ON

  • February  27– Sudbury, ON

  • February  28 – Barrie, ON

  • February  28 – Ottawa, ON

  • February  28 – Prince George, BC

  • February  28 – Thunder Bay, ON

  • March 4 – Kelowna, BC

  • March  4 – Oshawa, ON

  • March  4 – Saint John, NB

  • March  6 – Abbotsford, BC

  • March  6 – Charlottetown, PEI

  • March  6 – Quebec City, QC

  • March  6 – Waterloo, ON

  • March  7 – Halifax, NS

  • March  7 – Montreal, QC

  • March  7 – Vancouver, BC

  • March  12 – Niagara, ON

  • March  13 – Medicine Hat, AB

  • March  14 – Calgary, AB

  • March  14 – Hamilton, ON

  • March  28 – Toronto, ON

For more information and full details, please visit the website at www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/auditions.

 

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Featured

Preview: Sutherland’s magical Pirate’s Passage sails onto the small screen

There’s no better way to learn about history than to be immersed in it. Literally. That’s what young Jim learns when Captain Charles Johnson sails into his life in Pirate’s Passage.

Based on the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning novel of the same name by William Gilkerson of Mahone Bay, N.S., CBC’s Sunday night animated TV-movie was produced, co-written and voiced by Donald Sutherland. Sutherland and Brad Peyton (Republic of Doyle) have weaved an entertaining story and, paired with exceptional animation from Sheridan College grads Jamie Gallant and Mike Barth, created one heck of a good time. (Check out the teaser below.)

Sutherland voices Captain Charles Johnson, a scallywag who magically jumps from the 18th century to 1952 Grey Rocks, N.S., where he sails ashore and befriends 12-year-old Jim (Gage Munroe, PAW Patrol). Jim has been assigned a school project on pirates, so Capt. Johnson’s arrival is fortuitous. Jim learns first-hand about pirates through the old codger’s stories, detailed adventures that not only entertain Jim (and viewers) but also educate via a stop amid the Vikings and a visit with Calico Jack (Paul Gross, Slings & Arrows). (Jim does, after all, have to learn enough to win over his teacher.) He’s also educated in how to handle bullies. Jim’s mother, Kerstin (Carrie-Anne Moss), learns that too; she’s battling with the town’s most powerful man, Roy Moehner (Kim Coates, Sons of Anarchy), who wants to buy her ramshackle inn and turn it into a luxury location.

Other Canadian actors voicing characters in Pirate’s Passage include Gordon Pinsent as the town barber, Megan Follows as saucy Meg O’Leary and Colm Feore as Jim’s father.

The A-list talent is almost outperformed by the animation, which takes on the effect–to me at least–of watercolour paintings on the move. Flying snow and seagulls a blurred shapes in the sky and piles of melting snow are smears of white on top of green grass. The characters move amid a cool palette of colour highlighted by stunning greys the make up the churning sea off the coast of fictional Grey Rocks.

I’ve never read Gilkerson’s book, but thanks to Sunday’s flick, I’m going to.

Pirate’s Passage airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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Book of Negroes

Link: An unknown Canadian story brings Book of Negroes to TV

From Jane Taber:

On a bitterly raw day last April, with the cold north wind whipping up the seas along the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton, Lawrence Hill watched his story, The Book of Negroes, come to life.

This was no Hollywood soundstage – Hill was bundled up against the almost hurricane-like winds blowing through the Fortress of Louisbourg, a national historic site and tourist destination in the summer, which on this day was dressed up to look like lower Manhattan in the late 18th century, when the victorious rebel Americans vanquished the occupying British. Continue reading.

 

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Uncategorized

Link: Donald Sutherland fell for ‘Pirate’s Passage’

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From Victoria Ahearn:

It was Matthew McConaughey and a long chain of acquaintances who brought Donald Sutherland to his new passion project, “Pirate’s Passage,” which he says captures his youth in Nova Scotia.

The animated film, debuting Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on CBC-TV, is based on the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning novel by William Gilkerson of Mahone Bay, N.S.

Sutherland, who produced, co-wrote and voiced the lead character for the film, says he hadn’t heard of the book until he was in Australia making the 2008 film “Fool’s Gold” with McConaughey. Continue reading.

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