Wednesday, January 18, 2012
ESTHER ANDERSON THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF THE LOST FOOTAGE
On the eve of the film's work-in-progress
screening at the BFI in London, BBC Journalist
Ron Bhola wrote on 15 March: "A
film charting the rise of Bob Marley and the Wailers to international stardom
is set to get its first public viewing this weekend. The footage, taken in the
early 1970's, was lost for almost 30 years, and only returned to its rightful
owner in the year 2000. The BBC World Service went along to meet the film's creator, esther Anderson and to
take a look at some of the footage as well as her photographs."
LONDON EVENING STANDARD REVIEW
The Evening
Standard's Londoner's diary reviewed
the launch of the trailer at the Frontline
Club in Paddington on 27 January: "Rastaleaks and capturing the full Bob
Marley story: It will show the true story of how Chris Blackwell and I launched
the career of Bob Marley. (...) Audience treated to previously unseen footage
of the reggae singer. "As it's being shown at the Frontline Club, where
the Wikileaks boss Julian Assange was staying, I call it my Rastaleaks,"
says Anderson, who first met the reggae star when, aged 29, she had just starred
with sidney Poitier in A Warm December. Anderson, who previously went out with
Marlon Brando, is the narrator of the film. esther assisted Marley with the
lyrics of many of his songs, including Get up stand up, and I Shot the
Sheriff."
Sunday, January 15, 2012
ReggaeNews 24/7: (UPDATE) - THE NEW PAGE - BOB MARLEY: THE MAKING O...
ReggaeNews 24/7: (UPDATE) - THE NEW PAGE - BOB MARLEY: THE MAKING O...: Recently Esther & Gian created their new BOB MARLEY: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND page on Google +. They thought to do this because they were gett...
BOB MARLEY: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND
Again, John
Masouri, author and journalist
quotes Esther Anderson in Echoes
Magazine in May 2011: “I’m not telling the Bob Marley story or
even the Chris Blackwell story,” says the lady who knows them better than most.
“I’m just telling the story of a period in all of our lives when two artists
came together and created something special. Both Bob and I were the same age.
We were musicians and artists who wanted to change the world and we wanted more
than anything else to make it a better place for our own people. That was very
important to us, and both of us tried to do that in our own way. Whether we
succeeded in is another matter but in the meantime, this is a film of how we
went about trying to make it happen...”
JOHN MASOURI REVIEW of BOB MARLEY: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND
John Masouri, author and journalist reviews the film in Echoes Magazine in May 2011: "Ms. Anderson’s film doesn’t consist
of the usual parade of archive footage and talking heads but revolves around
priceless, early footage of the Wailers she shot in Jamaica during 1973, when
Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston were still in the group and Marley had just
delivered the groundbreaking Catch A Fire album to Island Records. To watch all
three Wailers frolic in the waters of Cane River Falls or rehearse at 56 Hope
Road prior to them visiting England for their first-ever overseas’ tour is to
witness reggae history at a crucial point in its development. It’s a revelation
in truth – one of immense interest to Marley fans and anyone else sharing a
love of Jamaican music and the cultural heritage from which it springs since
we’re treated to plenty of historical input, as well as a fabulous soundtrack
and previously unseen footage. (...) Essentially, her film should have appeared
just as he began to take roots reggae music international. Its impact would
have been sensational, confirming both of them as major talents in their
respective fields. Instead, Esther’s talents would go largely unheralded, and
an entire generation of Marley fans will be denied the most personal and
intimate glimpse of him ever seen, or at least until now. The finished version
of her film has been made in collaboration with Gian Godoy, and weaves the
original seventies’ footage into a cinematic self-portrait inspired by the work
of filmmaker Robert Bresson and the Mexican artist Frida Khalo."
REGGAE'S LENNON AND McCARTNEY
The South
London Press reviewed
the presentation of the trailer at the Brixton
Library on January 27: "A clip from a documentary Esther
Anderson is helping make called The Making of a Legend will be shown at the
library. The exclusive scenes shot 38 years ago are being used in the film
about Marley's first two solo albums and where his music came from. Ms Anderson
who now lives in West London, said: " We started making the film just
before Christmas after showing the BFI some of the clips. They are the first
video clips ever shot of Bob Marley and some of The Wailers, long before he had
dreads and when he looked like Jimi Hendrix. He was quite an innocent very kind
and helpful person. He used to be a welder and was good at fixing things. He
was very close with his male friends. I think because he never had a father he
felt the brotherhood of men very strongly. We built a house together in Jamaica
in 1974, which is also in the film, and some of the footage are the only shots
of Peter Tosh and Bob Marley spending relaxed time together. To me they were
definitely close friends, despite what other people may say. They were like
reggae's Lennon and Mc Cartney."
MY JAMAICAN FRIEND ESTHER ANDERSON
James Hughes-Onslow wrote on 15 March issue
of The Lady: "My
Jamaican friend Esther Anderson is in London finishing a film about Bob Marley,
who was once her lover. It will be shown at the NFT. She took the iconic
picture of the reggae king that appears on all his albums."
Saturday, January 14, 2012
GIAN GODOY
Gian
Godoy, director-writer
Born in
Santiago, Chile, Gian Godoy studied arquitecture in Barcelona with Enric
Miralles and at Architectural Association London. Co-author of the film The Three Dumas in
collaboration with Esther Anderson, exploring the life and career of Alexandre
Dumas. The grandson of an enslaved African and a Marquess from Normandy, he
overcame all the obstacles of prejudice to create the first modern superhero,
The Count of Monte Cristo. An Official Selection at the Portobello Film
Festival, The Three Dumas opened the new London
Sugar and Slavery gallery at the Museum of London in
Docklands. It was officially screened internationally during the commemorations
of the 200 years of the Aboliton ot the Atlantic Slave Trade Act 1807-2007. His
latest film Hain was
premiered at the AVIFF festival in Cannes in May 2011, an HD animation
exploring the shamanic heritage of the Selknam nation from Tierra del Fuego,
Patagonia, based on the works by anthropologist Martin Gusinde in 1928.
ESTHER ANDERSON
Esther Anderson, director-writer-producer
Born in the Parish of St. Mary, Jamaica, Esther Anderson studied drama at the Actor's Studio in London and played roles in movies -Henry Levin's Genghis Khan for Columbia Pictures, Robert Freeman's The Touchables for Twentieth Century Fox, Ted Kotcheff's Two Gentlemen Sharing, Jerry Lewis's One More Time for United Artists, and Sidney Poitier's A Warm December for First Artists. This role of an African princess won her a NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in 1973. Esther then helped to develop the then-fledgling Jamaican music label, Island Records, from the early 1960's, promoting and managing jamaican artists like Millie Small, Jimmy Cliff, and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Acting as an associate producer of The Harder They Come, she chose and coached Jimmy cliff for the lead role and committed Chris Blackwell to the Her iconic photographs of Bob Marley and their lyrical collaboration launched his international career in 1973 with the groundbreaking albums Catch a Fire, Burnin' and Natty Dread. Her film Short Ends was selected by Linda Myles for the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1976. Her latest film was The Three Dumas, about the French writer Alexandre Dumas and his African ancestros. It was premiered in London as part of the commemoration of the 200 years of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 2007. It also premiered in Canada, France and the US in 2008. She did it in collaboration with Gian Godoy in Paris, with Maria Schneider as the mother of Dumas, and the voice of his Haitian grandmother.
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