+ As a child, filmmaker, Amanda Wilson, played in Guyana’s Square of the Revolution, under the shadow of the striking 1763 Monument, a masterpiece statue of freedom fighter Cuffy by the late sculptor Philip Moore.
Her mother told her the story of the 1763 Rebellion in Berbice, a former Dutch colony on the Berbice and Canje Rivers, and she never forgot the name of its leader – Cuffy, Guyana’s only national hero.
How could she? Moore’s imposing 1976 West African-influenced bronze sculpture of Cuffy, stands 15 feet high on top of an 18 feet tall concrete plinth. It towers over the Brickdam-Homestretch landscape in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown – defiant and proud.
The Square of the Revolution represents Cuffy’s dream of nationhood. And it celebrates Guyana’s 1970 republic status – a permanent breakaway from its colonial past.
In 2013, on the 250th anniversary of the Berbice Rebellion, Wilson, who had spent more than a decade working as a reporter, editor and broadcaster in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, returned home to Guyana to celebrate the milestone, and her latest film was born.
– Wilson, CEO of Green Mango Media company, is at the vanguard of a new generation of Caribbean documentary makers seeking to reclaim the region’s history for modern audiences. She currently lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
If you study Guyanese history, then you most likely know who Cuffy is, but do you know the whole story?
