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West Coast Premiere of Machetero Wed JUNE 4 @ 3PM
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF MACHETERO AT
THE HOLLYWOOD BLACK FILM FESTIVAL JUNE 4th @ 3PM
Laemmle Music Hall (Theater 1)
9036 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills CA 90211
The highly controversial political film MACHETERO written and directed by vagabond will have its West Coast Premiere at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. The film is an exploration into the use of violence as a means towards liberation using the specific example of the island nation of Puerto Rico as springboard to delve into the broader and more complex implications of ongoing struggles against colonialism in general. The micro budget film stars Issach de Bankolé, (The Keeper, Ghost Dog, Manderlay) Not4Prophet (of the Puerto Punk band RICANSTRUCTION and Hip-Hop group X-VANDALS), Kelvin Fernandez, (in his frost starring role) and Dylcia Pagan (who served 20 years in US prisons for trying to free her country Puerto Rico) and features a completely improvised score by RICANSTRUCTION.
“It didn’t come as a surprise to me that MACHETERO, a film about the Puerto Rican struggle for independence, would be accepted by a Black Film Festival”, said vagabond on news of the films acceptance into the festival. “Puerto Ricans and African-Americans have more in common with one another than many would think and the film makes connections to the Black experience both in this country and abroad. Besides, Puerto Ricans are a mixed people and some of that mixture is African.”
This is vagabond’s first feature film and its revolutionary subject matter seems to have dictated the way the film was made and structured. MACHETERO is a restless film that refuses to be boxed in and defined by a single genre or form. It’s a drama but it’s also a musical. It’s a feature film but it uses elements of the music video form. It’s an art film that isn’t pandering to an art house audience and doesn’t ostracize any other audience. “The theme of revolution couldn’t exist solely within the confines of the plot but had to inform every decision of the filmmaking process” says vagabond, “the structure of the film, the casting, the musical score, the utilization of songs as narrative voice, the use of voiceover dialogue and the application of text within the film were devices that are all used to tell the story in a new way.”
SYNOPSIS
Post 9/11 definitions, ideas and notions of terrorism are challenged in this highly controversial and experimental film. Machetero is an allegorical narrative that follows French journalist Jean Dumont, played by Isaach de Bankolé to a New York prison where he interviews Pedro Taino, a so-called "Puerto Rican Terrorist" played by Not4Prophet. Pedro is a self-described Machetero fighting to free Puerto Rico from the yoke of United States colonialism. He is obsessed with freedom, freedom for his country, his people and for himself. Jean questions Pedro about his decisions to use violence as a means to achieve that freedom. Jean utilizes a global perspective in questioning Pedro, referencing examples of achieving his goals through more peaceful means. However Jean soon finds that Pedro is well versed in liberation struggles from around the world and their debate over the use of violence as a catalyst for change escalates.
As Jean and Pedro speak, another story unfolds. A ghetto youth played by Kelvin Fernandez, grows up in the streets doing what he has to do to survive. The ghetto youth crosses paths with Pedro who sees the potential in him. Pedro tries to provide the means for him to grow into the next generation of Machetero by giving him a pamphlet he wrote called the Anti-Manifesto. The ghetto youth reads the Anti- Manifesto and it reawakens a revolutionary spirit instilled in him from childhood by a mentor in Puerto Rico. The ghetto youth develops into a young rebel driven by the cause to liberate his people. As Jean and Pedro’s debate rages on, the cycle of violence that begins in the exploitation and subjugation of imperialism becomes complete in the life of another ghetto youth turned revolutionary.
The structure of Machetero is built around songs from “Liberation Day”, a concept album centered on the liberation struggle of Puerto Rico, written and preformed by RICANSTRUCTION. The songs in the film took on the quality of a narrative voice becoming a modern day Greek chorus. RICANSTRUCTION also provides a completely improvised original score that moves from hardcore be-bop punk to layered haunting and abstract Afro-Rican rhythms.
Machetero is about terrorism and terrorists, how they are defined and by whom. It's a film that asks us to challenge the way in which we view the events that play out in the world. It's a film about the cyclical nature of violence that is perpetuated by those who choose to oppress and those who no longer wish to be oppressed.
www.machetero-movie.com
www.ricanstruction.net
MACHETERO MOVIE STILLS
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