Ithaca College

Mark Book '05 and Emma Rasmussen '04, both cinema and photography majors, spent the summer as interns on a feature film in Antigua and Barbuda. They worked in every aspect of the project with Howard and Mitzi Allen of HAMA Productions.

The Allens, native Antiguans who conducted master classes at the Park School this past spring, are producing and shooting a film about Calypso music, the Caribbean art form that provides social commentary on political and economic issues, as well as relationships between Caribbean men and women. HAMA's first two films -- The Sweetest Mango and No Seed -- had their North American premieres at Ithaca College in April.

The IC interns will receive movie credit for their work, which included some rewriting of the screenplay for Calypso. Book and Rasmussen also played key roles as location scouts, camera operators, and editors for several other HAMA projects. These included commercial shoots for a cellular telephone company and an Antiguan resort, and two episodes of Pet Playhouse, a half-hour television program aimed at helping children become responsible pet owners. Broadcast throughout the Caribbean, Pet Playhouse is underwritten by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

Examples of the students' work will be shown on campus later this fall. The internship is part of a developing relationship between the College and HAMA productions and the government of Antigua and Barbuda, which are trying to create new career opportunities for young people in the Caribbean by establishing a film-making industry based in the island nation.

Contributed by Antoinette Di Ciaccio