Cheenee means sugar in Hindi. Indentured labourers from India were told that Trinidad – “Cheenee-dad” – was the land of milk and honey. Leaving their homes in areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal, they sought a better life here.
Taking inspiration from this experience, two lecturers from UWI St Augustine have been working on a documentary to record and investigate the culture and ethnography of the indentured Indians and their descendants. Cheenee, the film, includes interviews with people across the country to learn about the East Indian experience using food, dance, song, architecture, history and movement.
Currently in post-production, Cheenee (2022) is the work of Greek filmmaker Andreas Antonopoulos and Deboleena Paul, a choreographer and performer from India. Both accomplished artists in their fields, they are also seasoned academics, Antonopoulos is a lecturer in the UWI Film programme and Paul is the coordinator of the Dance Unit at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA).
“While the documentary does not seek to tell the viewer a specific narrative,” says Paul, “it speaks overall to the Indian culture in TT and how it differs from India.”
Cheenee, says Paul, “focuses on the history of arrival and the transformation of a unique culture.”
The film was made with a research grant from The UWI and is a collaborative project that includes dance. “The film is not the traditional documentary approach of talking heads,” she says.
They spoke to people from multiple cross sections of the country such as dancers, architects, people whose families laboured in the cane fields, and teachers. They even spoke to a 107-year-old woman and four generations of her family. A descendant of indentured labourers, she shared the story of her parents’ struggles adapting to the country, especially since they spoke Bhojpuri.
“Cheenee has no leading plot or voice overs,” says Antonopoulos. “It is made up of full interviews where the speaker tells their story and the viewer makes their own conclusions. Dance and space tell their own story.”
The film, he says, is an ethnographic work: “Cheenee is about a group of people we see as a historical group. We want to demystify the idea of nationality by understanding that there is no race; there is movement, cultural and historical representation.”
He adds, “So if I understand how Trinidad works, it is easy to understand how the world was made by the random movement of people. So maybe we can demystify the differences in countries around the world to show that difference is perceived more like construction on what has been made and retained by political and economic motivation.”
Though the film is set in Trinidad, he says that type of conversation about cultural differences can be had in bigger countries like the US, but it was easier to do because Trinidad was so small.
One thing he was keenly fastidious about was historical accuracy. If an interviewee said something that was not historically accurate, it was left out.
The music was composed in India by tabla player Debasish Dass in collaboration with UWI DCFA music lecturer Khion De Las. De Las composed and recorded music in Trinidad, which was then sent to India.
Music and movement are essential components of the film. Paul says the dance sequences “evolve in parallel to the narrative of the people”, specifically the challenges they faced in the new world. She also likes the idea of traditions being continued in their new home and the sharing and mixing of music and architecture. Cheenee, says Paul, is about the many origin stories of people and how they express themselves. It’s also about survival:
“The buildings themselves speak about the hardships and disparity between classes. The dances speak of the energy, effort and desire to survive. The cultural expressions speak of their origins. The overall effect is to inform the viewer and make them think about the sacrifices and challenges that people can overcome.”
Antonopoulos has been living in TT for two and a half years and believes TT is a great place to produce film work because there is quite a bit of land to explore, but is small enough to be able to see everything, and getting permission to film in historic sites is easier than in larger countries. In one instance, the documentary crew went to a dilapidated sugar cane factory and he was happy that there was no red tape needed to get permission to film there.However, like almost all work, the filmmaking was affected by COVID-19. They have been working on Cheenee for a year, and filming was postponed a few times because of the pandemic.
“I’m grateful for the trust my interviewees gave by letting us into their homes and telling their stories,” he says.
Both Antonopoulos and Paul are interested in exploring Caribbean aesthetics in film and dance. They mix their views in art with what they experience in Trinidad. They are also engaged in radical filmmaking and dance to examine new aspects of culture and history. Paul points out, however, that it is vital to have a firm grounding in traditional forms before embarking on the new.
“That’s why I focus on proper techniques,” she says. “If you do anything new, anything explorative, you have to have a knowledge of proper technique. To explore and experiment with dancing technique, one should be well versed in the classical art form.”
Cheenee is now in post-production and still needs editing. Antonopoulos says that working on the sound and colour will take months to finish. He is hoping to complete the film by 2022 and premiere it in international festivals. It’s been a major undertaking, consisting of many weeks of hard, creative work. Fitting for a project that focuses on a people that brought and shared their labour and culture with Trinidad and Tobago so many years ago.
