The Subraj Foundation and Red Lock Media officially launched their first film, The Tenants… Rent’s Due, a movie written, directed and produced by Guyanese. The film will be screened at Caribbean Cinemas in July.
The film’s plot revolves around the character Matt, played by Nick Radu, who lives in a rundown apartment building. Down on his luck, Matt finds himself behind rent and is locked out of his apartment. His landlord, played by R. Kholi, a super sleazy individual, rents his apartment to two college girls. Matt finally comes up with the money to pay his rent and reluctantly takes the keys from his landlord meant for another tenant. As the film progresses, identities are mistaken and a bag of money goes missing. This leads to multiple kidnappings and brings together tenants, who fight for their property.
At the official launch of the film at the Caribbean Cinemas Party Hall, Giftland Mall, screenwriter and director, Richard Mahase, announced that the film is a semi-autobiography of the late George Subraj, a well-known Guyanese philanthropist.
“This movie called The Tenants is about the business of renting an apartment in New York… At the starting of this project in 2015 [Mr Subraj] told me I can use the basis of his business to create the screenplay that would reflect his business and the struggles of people who come from all over the world to rent an apartment,” Mahase said.
Mahase further explained that Subraj wanted people to know about the business aspects of his life.
“He [Subraj] is considered an iconic businessman in New York for apartments and he wanted a movie based on this. He is known as a health man in Guyana, the man who is charitable, but he wanted also for people to be able to see him, exactly what he did as a businessman,” Mahase related.
The movie is set and filmed in New York at different apartment buildings owned by Zara Realty. The film was produced Subraj just before he passed away in 2016.
Mahase, at the launching, said the film is of US-quality production and features US-based actors from different parts of the world.
He noted that since they wanted to capture the diversity of persons in New York seeking apartments, it was a bit difficult to find a cast at first.
“Casting was a challenge, each day you [get] 100-1000 people looking for apartments. We wanted to reflect that in the movie and that is why we have different ethnicities representing the melting pot. It wasn’t very easy to get a cast we were looking for because persons were always looking for high-end production with high end budget that can pay higher… a lot of these persons came forward after reading the script and they liked it because they could identify [themselves] with the problem,” Mahase related.
The film, which is 111 minutes long, will premiere in Guyana on July 20 and begin showing at the Caribbean Cinemas on July 25, with four shows daily for a week.
Asked if the film will be taken to different countries, Mahase said that is their intention. He noted that they are presently working on screenings for New York and hopefully they will be able to move to Canada and Florida.
Mahase added that actors from the different countries also signaled their interest in having the film shown in their home country.
Also speaking at the launch was country manager of Caribbean Cinemas, Sherwin Bart. Bart said he was elated to assist in getting the film on the big screen.
“This is a proud moment in our history where a film is produced by Guyanese to American standard and I hope all of us can see the importance of it being played on local screen,” he stated.
Subraj’s daughter, Jasmine Subraj, who spoke on behalf of Zara Realty, said, “This film was a passion project of my father for several years and to see his dream come to life that incorporates his professional and life experiences as Guyanese-American from this very area of Bel , and [as a] business owner, is truly awe inspiring.”
She, along with others from the Subraj Foundation, urged Guyanese to watch and support the film.
