Word: toussaint
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...Chavez watchers aren't sure what to make of his latest media role: movie mogul. Venezuela's government confirms that it has approved almost $18 million to finance a movie about Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the epic 1791 slave uprising that helped make Haiti the first black nation to throw off the yoke of European colonialism. It's hardly unusual that Chavez would want to promote such an anti-imperialist story - nor is it surprising that the man who will make the film is African-American Hollywood star and civil rights activist Danny Glover, a close friend of Chavez...
...deterred by such comments: He is, after all, a Telesur advisory board member and a vocal Bush Administration critic who argues that Chavez has been portrayed unfairly in the U.S. At the same time, Aristide, who blames the U.S. for his downfall, likens his own story to that of Toussaint, who was later betrayed and died in France in 1803. But Glover insisted this week that Toussaint, for which he has been pursuing production funding for almost 10 years, won't be left-wing revisionism but rather a critical piece of the hemisphere's past that has been "essentially wiped...
...Glover will direct Toussaint, which will be shot in Venezuela and co-produced by the Villa del Cine, a state-funded film and TV foundation. A Chavez adviser says the project is simply meant to help jump-start Venezuela's dormant film industry - and notes that Venezuela's is hardly the first government to subsidize moviemaking. It's common in many European nations as well as Latin American countries like Brazil and Mexico. "For a country like Venezuela, it's really the only way to build a cinema infrastructure," says the adviser. As for the built-in politics...
...mashed-up "House of the Rising Sun," with "Superdome" substituting for the titular brothel, and a version of the U2 hit "Beautiful Day." Former president George H.W. Bush was on hand for the opening coin toss, and New Orleans rhythm and blues singer Irma Thomas, backed by Allan Toussaint on piano, turned in a rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," the final lines drowned out by deafening cheers...
...Toussaint and Ducas will move to New Jersey over the summer, where Toussaint will commute to a job at Merrill Lynch in New York City and Ducas will apply to graduate schools in the area...