Category — Film

[Photo: Ronnie Youssefzadeh]

Actor Earl Cameron is a remarkable man.

Not the least of the remarkable things about the man is that he is 90 and still castable in films. He’s recently appeared in The Interpreter and The Queen. He has an extraordinary screen presence, and yet when you meet him in the flesh, he’s a warm, balanced, loving and genuinely humble individual. Here’s what Screenonline has to say:

From the moment he first appeared on screen, as a young Jamaican in Ealing Studios’ underrated Pool of London (d. Basil Dearden, 1951), Earl Cameron brought a breath of fresh air to the British film industry’s stuffy depictions of race relations. Often cast as a sensitive outsider, Cameron gave his characters a grace and moral authority that often surpassed the films’ compromised liberal agendas.

He pioneered the way for other black actors to take roles that respected them as people rather than depicting their characters as racial stereotypes. But he also pioneered in another way. As a Baha’i he was moved to abandon show business and to “pioneer” (to use the Baha’i term) to the Solomon Islands to help support the development of the Baha’i community there. He and his family spent 15 years there. During this time of pioneering his wife, Audrey, passed away and he returned to Britain to rebuild his life here. He resumed his acting career in the 1990s.

I had the great privilege of taking part in a reception at the UK National Baha’i Centre in London last night to honour Earl. This was quite an event, attended by five senior people from Transport for London including their Head of Policy and Strategy, the Chair of the Faith Staff Network Group, the Chair of the Black and Ethnic Minority Group and the Marketing Communications Manager of London Underground (who has recently declared her faith as a Baha’i). We had the US Deputy Cultural Attache and his wife, the Head of Diversity and Diversity officer from the UK Film Council, numerous actor and movie industry colleagues of Earl’s, and others including his family.

The highlight of the evening was a 12-minute film tribute to Earl, including clips from some of his movies (The Messenger, Thunderball, The Interpreter, and The Queen) intercut with a moving tribute to Earl from his good friend Sidney Poitier. Marcia Williams, Diversity Officer from the UK Film Council introduced a wonderful new photo portrait of Earl that will soon be on display publicly.

Earl stood to speak, seemingly bemused by the attention that was being paid to him. He spoke briefly about how he came to the UK from his native Bermuda and how he got into acting. He talked of his faith as a Baha’i and explained why he and his family had gone to the Solomon Islands. As he remembered the passing of his first wife, Audrey, he was moved to tears. Later, his present wife, Barbara, comforted him.

Earl, who became a Baha’i in London in 1963, has always placed his faith above his acting career. His faith is what makes him what he is, someone who promotes interracial unity and harmony, whose life is based on his belief in the oneness of God and the oneness of humankind. I’ve known Earl for years - as a Baha’i. We young Baha’is of the 1960s knew, of course, that he was an actor, but for us he was part of our community. Last night I saw him in a different light, as a distinguished and pioneering actor being honoured by friends and colleagues. But, for all the honours, he remains primarily a family man with a big heart, strong faith and a generous spirit.

You can read more about Earl here and here.

Confession time: I took some pics of the event last night on my mobile phone, but failed to store them properly. So no pics. Sorry!

Technorati Tags: Earl Cameron, Bermuda, London, black actors, film, Baha’i, Bahai

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This is a promo video for a film by Ahmed Ezzat about the the dilemma faced by the Baha’is in Egypt, who are legally required to have ID cards but who are denied them by the Egyptian authorities because they will not claim to be Muslims, Jews or Christians - the only three religious categories allowed under the Egyptian ID card system.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, ID cards, freedom of religion

Canadian film producer Jack Lenz is working on a new project, a film called “Mona’s Dream“.

Baha’is who were around in the mid-1980s (like me) will remember the sickening shock of learning of the hanging of ten Baha’i women in the Iranian city of Shiraz in 1983. These brave women were executed just because they were Baha’is.

The youngest of the ten women was Mona Mahmudnizhad, whose only “crime” was to teach young Baha’i children about their faith. Mona was 16 when she died.

In 1985 Jack Lenz made a video called “Mona And The Children”, based around a song by Doug Cameron. We watched the video avidly and repeatedly and we wept every time. Even now, when I hear the song I feel a constriction in my throat.

Now Jack Lenz is calling on Baha’i youth to create and sustain service projects in Mona’s name. You can find out more by visiting the Mona’s Dream website.

The picture of Mona is copyright (c) the Baha’i International Community

Technorati Tags: film, Mona’s Dream, Baha’i, Iran, Shiraz, Mona Mahmudnizhad

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Erica and I spent much of the day in Northampton yesterday, visiting Alex and Charlie. We took A and C and Tom (Vicky was working) out to lunch at a pub in Moulton.

Ethan was at school and Emily was at nursery. Charlie went to fetch Emily and arrived back just after 3.00pm. As soon as Emily saw Erica and me she rushed to give us hugs and kisses.

Alex, Erica and I then went to fetch Ethan from school - a 5 minute walk from the house. We crowded into the school playground with all the other parents and the kids pouring out of class. Ethan came out and had words with another little boy, who complained to Alex. Alex told Ethan he had to say sorry and that he should be nice to the other children. Where was his coat? Ethan went back in to get his coat. Came out again, suddenly twigged that grandpa and grandma were there and rushed over to hug my knees.

We all went to see Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at The Vue cinema in the centre of Northampton. Another of Aardman Animations masterpieces, although I?m not sure that it works so well on the big screen as on TV. Anyway, it was a wonderful pastiche of various film genres (werewolf movies, King Kong, horror movies, upper-crust English costume dramas and others); it was full of knowing jokes, witty asides, funny touches. The funniest - for me anyway - came near the end of the film when Wallace, apparently dead, is revived by the whiff of some ?Stinking Bishop? cheese; he is naked (having just reverted from were-rabbit to his ?human? form) and Lady (?call me Totty?) Tottington (Helena Bonham-Carter of course) finds a cardboard box to cover his embarrassment; Wallace holds the box over his nether regions and there, in the strategic place, is a label saying ?May contain nuts?. Childish, I know, but, hey, I was with my grandchildren. (Not that they would have understood that particular joke: Ethan is just learning to read, Emily is 3 and not yet reading; and, anyway, they?re too young to get it.)

Read the reviews. Go see it. Enjoy ?Woppit and Groppit? (Emily?s rendition of the film title).

Technorati Tags: animation, cinema, film, aardman, wallaceandgromit