It will be a history-making event on Friday night, 16 Feb., when “The Sweetest Mango” premieres at the Cathedral Cultural Centre. Antigua & Barbuda’s first full-length feature film will open in a much-anticipated red-carpet event that has the cultured and the curious desperate for invitations and tickets.  The former were handed out very discriminatingly while the latter, in the last two days before the big night, seem to have become the “must-have” Valentine’s gift. Persons involved and those who are simply close to the players – cast and crew – have reported symptoms that range from the high of excitement to “flutterings in my stomach.”

Howard and Mitzi Allen. (Photo by Thaddeus Price)

To hear them tell it, it feels like Oscar night rather than opening night, and the talk about outfits and hair-dos only underscore it.

Much is at stake here; for instance, the reputation of HAMA Productions, whose partners, Mitzi and Howard Allen, produced and directed the film, respectively. The husband-and-wife team has made a name for itself as consummate professionals whose radio, television, and host productions have become the local benchmark by which others are measured.

Jermilla Kirwan. (Photo by Ken Maguire)

Having sunk their “dream house savings” into this venture and having persuaded a number of other talents into catching the dream, the Allens know they cannot fail.  So from casting call to cocktail party, everything is getting that keen going over for which Mitzi is famous. Equally famous for his cool, Howard continues to fine tune the film, displaying a technological versatility that is amazing and enviable for it ability to marry practicality and creativity.

The trailer has been airing on the local ABS-TV for a couple of weeks now, and a mini-documentary on the making of the movie played to wide viewership and even wider acclaim about two weeks ago.  A huge billboard now looms on Independence Avenue.

Simply put, it’s a story about “love,” literally and figuratively, since the lead character is named Lovelyanne and called “Love” for short.

In this role, Jermilla Kirwan, a past Carnival and Caribbean queen, puts out an effort that makes a lie of her petite five-foot frame.  Talk about “throwing the book at her,” this young woman appears in nearly every scene and had hundreds of lines to memorize on her first outing before the camera.

Members of the production crew report that Jermilla pulled it off with aplomb, convincingly playing a 30-year-old Antiguan returning home after spending two decades in Canada. 

Love is looking for a place to belong to, even as she searches for herself, and she is aided by Richard Warren, a graphic artist who has his sights on a musical career. Omar Mathurin, one of popular jam band El A Kru’s front men, makes Richard believable, and his smile is sure to recall the old movie term “heartthrob.”  “I just wanted to put him in my purse and take him home,” is the way one woman close to the production described Omar’s appeal.

Omar Mathurin. (Photo by Thaddeus Price)

Fleshing out the cast are sports icon Mervyn Richards of local football and cricket renown, who plays dashing Deke, Love and Richard’s boss; Julie Hewlett, an Antiguan actress recently returned from spending years in England; and former Carnival queen runner-up Janil Greenaway, who plays Love’s very much grounded god-sister and sidekick.

Denise Francis, Centelia Brown, Berni Isaac, and Johnny King round out the supporting cast, and there are dozens of other extras who capitalized on the chance to be part of this signature event. 

Cameo appearances are made by Dread & The Baldhead’s Davidson “Bankers” Benjamin; clothing designer and ex-model Calvin Southwell; calypsonian Barry “Scorpion” Edwards; artist Heather Doram; former boxing champion Maurice Hope; Senator Gwendolyn Tonge; community activist “Auntie Esther” Henry; pannist Lacu Samuel; and “Jean” of The Nook fame.

Throughout the film, like a vain woman knowing she is being watched, Antigua wears her best face.  From the rugged East’s Devil’s Bridge, where slaves reportedly threw themselves into the sea in search of another kind of freedom, to the lush South, the breadbasket of Antigua, where the mango groves display their sensual sweetness, the island is seen in a light that too many take for granted.

And the discerning viewer will clearly see that this film is also a story about love of a country “where land and sea [truly] make beauty.”

D.Gisele Isaac, already known for another love story, “Considering Venus,” a novel released in 1998, wrote the script, which she describes as “simple dialogue between complex characters.”  Also a returned native, this time from New York, Isaac said she understands very well the yearning for home and roots.

Associate producer Joanne Hillhouse has already made her mark on the local media and now writes for regional publications; she is also awaiting publication of her first book, “The Boy from Willow Bend.”  Hillhouse was responsible for continuity in the movie, among a list of other responsibilities, and is gratified that two of her dreams – novel and film -- are coming true.

Music man Andrew Dorsett penned the torch song “Be My Love,” now being belted by Omar over the local airways,” and is responsible for the movie’s soon-to-be-released soundtrack.  Dorsett added an international dimension to the movie production by collaborating from the United States, where he recently relocated.

Drama coach Annette Nias was one of only a few non-Antiguans involved in the making of this Antiguan film.  But while the movie is peculiar to this location, it is essentially a universal story of understanding what home is and listening to one’s heart.  And in this instance, they are truly one and the same.

As such, the film is sure to resonate with the romantic at heart, the patriotic at home, and the homesick abroad. 

The calibre of the production, the crew reassures, is high enough to make Antiguans sit taller in their seats, and the quality of the acting, coming from a cast dominated by amateurs, will be a boost to the people’s collective ego.

The Allens hope that “Mango’s” seed will fall on fertile ground and that this film will be only the first of many.  Public opinion is that if anyone can create a film industry in this cricket-dominated climate, HAMA can.

In the meantime, the mango ripens; on Friday night, we taste …

Antigua Nice Ltd would like to thank
D. Gisele Isaac & HAMA productions for their help in bringing you this feature.