Rockin' Steady...

Far away from the fabricated metropolis of Toronto, we find ourselves taking a plunge back into the natural world. Away from the fantasy land that disguises exploitation as paradise, we have delved into the realm of the Ital: the organic way of life that the fishermen of Treasure Beach, Jamaica adhere to in order to sustain themselves and their children's' children. Though two weeks immersed in their culture, their simplistic yet benevolent lifestyle, is hardly enough to gather a holistic account of the teachings and understandings that ensure their posterity, our accomplishments have surpassed our expectations.

The remote, southern coastal tropical community of Treasure Beach, comprised of four fishermen villages is hardly your typical Jamaican tourist destination. Unlike the resort plagued city of Montego Bay, or the war-torn ghettoes of Kingston, Treasure Beach is one of few remaining places in Jamaica where inhabitants have maintained an intimate connection to the land they inhabit, acknowledging its preservation as paramount to their longevity. Their land is one of abundance: mango, guava, coconut, tamarind, and sea grapes flourish while the oceanic tides of the Caribbean Sea bring with them snapper, flounder, shrimp, lobster and other underwater delicacies.

Our stay, however short lived, was spent with a remarkable family who together as a family uphold their appreciation, spiritually, mentally, and physically, for the gifts that nature has bestowed upon them. This family is a living example of community solidarity, maintaining a strong bond of support amongst themselves as well as an active voice that speaks on behalf of the land that they occupy. Cultivating the land, gathering plants and the fruits that they yield, and harvesting medicines are this family's primary source of sustenance and we were honored with the privilege of having been able to accompany them on their day-to-day mission to preserve what they have inherited from their ancestors.


Throughout the duration of our trip we were able to initiate, develop, and strengthen a relationship with this community. This relationship became one based on a shared concern for the world's ever distancing relationship with themselves, as a global family, and their environment, the most fundamental component of existence. By exchanging stories we were able to gain the family's support on our mission to locate, learn, and share those understandings that people of the land the world over have always acknowledged. Hence, a collaboration with the community was soon underway.

We were able to accumulate an archive of footage demonstrating the practices and insights that this culture has to contribute to the re-imagining of humanity's relationship to their environment: a glance into the Ital mentality, which is based on embracing the natural and rejecting the artificial. This footage will be distributed alongside our proposal for the seven-film series that has been underway for the last two years as a promotional trailer with which we will be seeking to secure funding for a prolonged, full-length production featuring the Ital of Treasure Beach.

After our visit to Jamaica we flew to Miami to reconnect with Lucho Condor, who we met at the 2009 International Indigeneous Leadership Gathering in the St'at'imc Nation, in order to hand deliver footage that he had requested from last year's event. A Columbian healer and teacher, Lucho has been performing ceremony, directing his energy towards the cleansing of the oil-ridden Gulf of Mexico. Lucho was delighted to host us at his home for a number of days, throughout which we took part in one of these meditation ceremonies, became introduced to the spiritual community of Miami, hosted an ocean front screening of our first film, Il Ngwesi, and partook in a series of in-depth conversations discussing our potential role in his film project, Prophecy: The Last Message. This experience film that is 13 years in the works seeks to tell the story of the fulfillment of the ancient Eagle and Condor Prophecies foretold by Kogi and Hopi elders centuries ago. These prophecies predicted a time of immense social, environmental, and psychological unrest from which mother Earth would ultimately be cleansed. Our participation as film crew on the project would involve a number of weeks spent in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and ultimately, India. This journey would also provide the opportunity to film, as part of our proposed series, the Kogi peoples of the Sierra Nevada. We look forward to maintaining a direct line of communication with Lucho throughout the forthcoming months.


Having arrived back in Toronto it is now time to devote ourselves towards the intensive endeavour of producing: four trailers, four photo albums, and one soundtrack that will accompany the business plan we will be using to attract investment for the proposed series of seven films. We will be on a very tight and hectic schedule until the 25th of June, by which time all of these components shall have been completed. This will ensure that Apo Calypso Productions is in a comfortable position to begin attracting large-scale funding before we depart on our long awaited and highly anticipated return to Kenya. Having obtained the means to complete the mission that we have undertaken, the time will have come to return full circle and pay homage to our beginnings in the Rift Valley by showcasing our first film to the community that inspired it all.

Onward and Upward,

Apo Calypso Production

When a Fish Outgrows its Cage, the Cage breaks.

Apo Calypso Productions is shifting its lenses throughout the far reaching crannies, corners, and nooks of the earth in search of those few remaining communities who continue to live according to the cycles of nature. As our odyssey progresses, our footage accumulates like raindrops in puddles and our international network of people of the land branches like roots, further harnessing us to the land.

It has, from the beginning of its foundation, been Apo Calypso's plan to develop a series of cultural Immersion films, each documenting a distinct group of peoples who have demonstrated a profound capacity to live in balance with their environments. Using Il Ngwesi as our original model and template, we hope to produce a number of films that will inevitably be released as a collection of films that reconnect people, through these various cultures, to the land upon which they depend. Having already acquired the footage for three of these films, we are now, with evidence of our capability and potential, in the process of developing a coherent Business proposal that will articulate our vision for the project and the way we will go about realizing it.

In light of our need to buckle down to complete this essential document, we have decided to remove ourselves from the distractions that the world of convenience often provides. Far away. In fact, we will be spending the next two weeks in Treasure Beach, an isolated paradise along the southern coast of Jamaica. This location is one of the places least frequented by tourists, and subsequently one of few remaining areas where grass roots fishermen communities continue to prosper. This will grant us the chance to, while working on our proposal, simultaneously acquire footage for our fourth film of the series.

The fishermen of Jamaica are a unique peoples who have been forced to adapt to a land that they do not consider as home. Violently uprooted from their motherland, the fishermen long for Zion in a land that, despite its natural beauty and abundance, is sprawled with social and environmental decay. Observing this destruction from afar, the fishermen choose to maintain their original pact with the creator to maintain the land they have been bestowed. While not technically an indigenous peoples, the fishermen of Great Bay, Jamaica maintain a deep connection to their surroundings, for which they continually give thanks. These people have a particular relationship to water: a sacred resource that directly feeds entire communities. For the fishermen, the ebb and flow of the ocean's tides also quenches a spiritual thirst as a microcosm of a larger universal cycle, by which they are contained. For a brief visual meditation of their cultural way of life accompanied by the soothing reggae sounds of the Congos, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JhTM0Lar3Q

Following our immersion into the ways of life of the fishermen villages of Treasure Beach, we will be making a brief stop-over in Miami, where we will spend the weekend with Lucho Condor. Lucho is a member of the Humanitarian Leaders, a founder of Tribal Link News, a yoga teacher, and a spiritual healer. Over the course of seven years he has developed a very intimate relationship with the mysterious Kogi peoples of the Sierra Nevada in Northern Colombia: so close that the Kogi, who are very sensitive to the unseen forces that surround us, recognize Lucho as having lived amongst them in a past life. During the course of our stay we will be expressing our hopes to visit the Kogi in their homeland in October, and will be learning more about Lucho's latest film project, entitled Prophecy: The Last Message. We will be discussing what kind of role we will be able to serve in this film that seeks to document the collaboration between Kogi and Hopi spiritual leaders who are bound by their shared prophecy of the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the South. The film will be a very fulfillment of the prophecy as both groups meet in Colombia to perform ceremony at sacred sites before embarking on a nation-wide tour through out the United States to share their prophecies and teachings. This tour will conclude at the United Nations in New York City, where these medicine men will deliver their final message to the western world. For more information about Lucho's project, visit his blog at: http://tribalinknews.blogspot.com/.

Upon our return to Toronto on the 25th of May we will be putting the final touches upon the series proposal. Once completed, the proposal will be distributed alongside the Final cut of Il Ngwesi, three film trailers for British Columbia, Indonesia, and Jamaica, respectively, four photo albums, and a demonstration of the diverse cultural songs and chants we have acquired thus far. This package will serve to help us to secure funding and investment required to complete the task at hand.

Once we have finished this proposal, we will begin development of a Beta HTML website that will serve as a platform for sharing information regarding the series that is currently underway. This should be up and running within the forthcoming months.

Furthermore, we will also be hosting a number of fundraising gallery, screening, and party events throughout the month of June. We will keep you updated as these events present themselves.

While our intention to visit the Bedouins of Jordan this summer has been postponed due to logistics and the emergence of these new opportunities, we look forward to connecting with them at a later date, as our contact base in Jordan Strengthens and grows. Instead, we will be embarking upon a long-awaited return to Kenya, the birthplace of humanity, and the starting point of Apo Calypso Productions. Here, with the help of the Cultural Video Foundation in Nairobi, and Saaya Tema in Il Ngwesi, we will be hosting two free screenings of our first film:IL Ngwesi: People of Wildlife. The first screening will give street children and slum dwellers in Kibera, Nairobi(A slum of a million people) the opportunity to immerse themselves in a way of life that, though exists only in their own backyard, is rarely accessible to them. The second screening will be hosted in the community of Il Ngwesi itself. Projected in natural surroundings amongst the wild backdrop of the Rift Valley, this screening will give Masai a chance to see themselves on the big screen, as we ask for their blessing. This visit will ensure that our connection to the community will never be forgotten and bring our model for films-for-development full circle.

We are thankful for the path that lies before us, and ask for guidance and protection as we embark on this mission that doesn't quite ever end.


Onwards and Upwards,
Apo Calypso Productions