As the cast and crew are concluding the first leg of filming the movie ‘A Bittter Lime’ in Los Angles the excitement is building for the final leg to be shot in Guyana which commences on Sunday, September 14th and runs for three weeks.
In Los Angles, as part of the crew is Guyanese Melissa” Vanilla” Roberts who is the production manager. She flew to los Angles to lend her expertise to the production and to garner invaluable knowledge about the film industry. Roberts who is a top graduating student of the University of the West Indies (Barbados) in film production is elated to be part of the team which is spare headed by Australian director Max De Bowen. Just over two months ago he was in Guyana scouting for locations and casting of supporting roles for the film which is a relationship-based drama with a main focus on escapism; a couple who shares a fantasy of escaping life’s problems by leaving their life in America to an exotic faraway place (Guyana) only to realize that the problems lie within them.
Apart from the production team that will be coming from Canada, L.A and Singapore, the Guyanese cast and crew will feature actors Kirwyn Mars, Mark Kazim, Michael Ignatius, Chris Gopaul, Leon Cummings, Shameeza Wong, Vanya Persaud, Gerrard Gilkes, Zoya Moore, Abeena Gomes, Kijana Lewis, Mdala Richmond, dancers Meleesa Payne and Fiano Spencer, Miss Guyana World 2013 Ruqayyah Boyer, popular Guyanese artistes Tennicia De Freitas and Ossie Nedd, Make-up by Renee Chester-Thompson (Bromeliad.rnc), wardrobe by Keisha Edwards (ShaSha Designs), set designer Neilson Nurse and hair stylist Carmalita Flue.
The inspiration of the film was garnered from classic mid-century Noir Films (e.g. Too Late For Tears, Kiss Me Deadly, etc.), 80’s Thrillers (e.g. Body Heat, Blow Out, etc.) and Psychological Thrillers (e.g. Birdy, Straw Dogs) and twisting the concept in a contemporary world—starting with cold, formal American scenery and moving into an exotic jungle city (Georgetown, Guyana) virtually never seen in film before.
A Bitter Lime also shows a diverse world- simultaneously beautiful and insane. This will be one of many films to be shot in Guyana over the past three years.
The production team would like to extend sincere gratitude to the Minister of Tourism Hon. Irfaan Ali, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry of Culture, Banks DIH Ltd. And the Guyana Police Force. The team is very excited to head to Guyana to taste the food and meet the people.