It’s only March and our Bahamian talents are already killing it internationally, especially in TV and movies!
Who remembers being ran out of the room when you were younger as your parents watched their fave shows on HBO? No one else? Only me? Ok then! Well guess who is woman now and will be plastered in front of the screen watching HBO as Bahamian filmmaker and writer Kenrick Prince’s ‘Gema’ airs?
The son of a Bahamian radio personality and TV producer Kenrick says he was pretty much born for show biz!
“One day they needed an actor for a few Borden Dairy commercials,” he told eLIFE242 in an interview. “They couldn’t find
any kids for the role, so at the last minute my father suggested I skip school and come to set. I was seven years old and this was the first time I saw lights and cameras. I don’t remember a whole lot from those shoots, but I do remember being in hair and makeup and thinking, ‘this feels right.’
“After that I worked with my father in television, most notably Teen Scene, a show that gave local talent an opportunity to compete and display their skills. It was like an America’s Got Talent but for The Bahamas. Being on sets and telling stories really felt natural to me, so I decided that once I graduated high school I would go off to college to study film seriously.”
Kenrick says he got so serious about filmmaking that he sought out mentorship from the best in the business, including fellow Bahamian and film pioneer Sir Sidney Poitier.
“I’ve been mentored by some of the best, but Sidney Poitier was THE BEST,” Kenrick says. “Having grown up in The Bahamas watching his work and knowing he was also from The Bahamas, gave me such a boost of confidence to reach for the sky. I read somewhere that the best teachers send you back to yourself and let me tell you, he definitely taught me what real and lasting power was — that I would have to take responsibility for my own life and be the captain of my ship. I’m so grateful to have met him on my journey and have him a part of my life!”
Clearly something from Sir Sidney rubbed off on Kenrick as he was able to land the role of a lifetime: his show “Gema” was picked up by one of the biggest TV networks in the world!
“…Sir Sidney Poitier made a film in 1967 called Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. I was so moved by that film and what it did to start a conversation around race, that I decided to pay homage and write a script that I thought could cause similar conversation,” he adds. “I’ve always been drawn to characters who are obscure and this is due in part to my own experiences growing up queer in The Bahamas, where as you know, there are virtually no LGBTQ rights. I felt so alone and misunderstood, even within my own family.
“Eventually I came out and really started rediscovering who I was, not just in terms of sexuality but also gender identity. I wore skirts, beat my face, painted my nails (still do) and did all the things society wouldn’t expect from a man. For the first time I truly felt alive. However, exploring my gender in this way came with resistance. I was scowled at, mocked and was back to feeling how I felt growing up in The Bahamas — unsafe. With this new state of awareness, I really began to empathize with the trans community, a community that I feel very much a part of. I realized that if people could do this to me, then I couldn’t even imagine what my trans sisters and brothers were going through.”
With this reality in mind, Kenrick says he revisited this script he wrote and started to work through his own feelings in this body of work.
“I changed the main character to a trans woman and gave much thought to how I could get people to see who she was before realizing her gender journey. At the end of the story, I wanted to get across that we all just want to be seen, heard and loved for who really are.”
Kenrick, we’re happy for you and we’re gonna let you finish but…you’re a Bahamian with a frickin’ show on HBO! How does that feel?!
“It’s been truly wonderful,” he says. “As a filmmaker, you have no idea who’s going to respond to your work or if you’ll find an audience, but GEMA has had immense support. Every year at the American Black Film Festival, HBO picks 5 black filmmakers to compete and last year I was one of the five. Of course, we couldn’t tell anyone until it was official, so the first couple of weeks were really hard for me. I HATE secrets, but I understand that some things you have to keep to yourself. Eventually I told my mom, then the rest of the crew and they were overjoyed. Who knew?
“I think (this accomplishment) means to The Bahamas that you can be from a small place and still do big things. Never feel limited by your surroundings. It means that for other LGBTQ Bahamians, you can be rejected there but it’s possible to find acceptance and belonging elsewhere. It is my sincere hope that with every stride I make, with every accomplishment and award, I help change the narrative around what it means to be queer, so that other people coming up may find more acceptance.”
GEMA premiered on HBO last month and is now available on HBO GO, HBO NOW, and On Demand.
One last word from Kenrick.
There’s a lot happening all over the world right now, but I am particularly concerned about The Bahamas. So much of the battle is rooted in what I believe is a lack of opportunity and people feeling like they can’t reach their highest potential, no matter how hard they try, that really is tragic, but things can change. I firmly believe that our freedoms as a people are connected, in the same way that our struggles are connected. If you want freedom, you have to allow other people to be free. If you want safety, you have to actively create safe spaces for others. If you want opportunity, you can’t deny that for someone else. It begins and ends with us and we can change things for the better.