The locally produced film “The Convert”, generated to capture the issue of men implicated in domestic violence made its debut on Sunday last at the Side Walk Café, Georgetown.Local Producer, Bonny AlvesThe film, which was written, directed and produced, by renowned local Music Composer Bonny Alves is part of his personal effort to tackle domestic violence from the male standpoint.The production is aimed at positively impacting men and women, who may be abusers or subjected to abuse by their partners.The role of the film is to highlight serious social malaise in the country, the abuse of women by men they give their love and service to, at times for decades and even a lifetime.“It is our hope in making the movie “The Convert,” that we would positively change the perception of some male that has abused his partner or vice versa, thus assisting in stopping the carnage of domestic violence portrayed in our society today. If we can reach one man, we’ve accomplished our goal,” Alves explained.“Violence against women has reached alarming proportions in Guyana and we wanted to capture and address it, using the method of film.”“The storyline is based on a man who regularly ill-treats his wife … he goes on the road one day and sees another man beating and displaying the same cruelty towards his woman and it leaves him thinking…. just when he promises in his heart to change, he goes home, but wife has already packed her bags; she has determined in her heart to leave him…”The screen play includes the work of local actors, Gerard Gilkes, Sharon Taylor, Max Massiah, Jasmine Woeng and Aewah Accra.“We wish to gain the attention of men from various sections of society to bring about positive change in this regard,” he added.“It’s a personal project completely funded by myself and my wife Charmaine Blackman,Manchester City Fc Store, and we are willing to share it with other agencies that are involved in the struggle against domestic violence,” Alves said of the film, which was completed in about 10 weeks.As Director of Signal Productions, Alves has illustrated positive films, such as “The unbelieving man”, “King of Drums” and “Where is Everybody?”“The Covert” is the tenth film production by Alves.
