Serenata de Amor

Originally published on May 12, 2013
moved to SPIA channel 12/20/2013 starting views @ 11,790

Serenata de Amor (SPIA Media Productions, Inc., USA 15" ©2013)
http://www.serenatadeamorthemovie.com/
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Serenata de Amor is a period piece, set in the 1940s on the island of Brava, Cape Verde, and is a tribute and homage to the morna of Cape Verde. Brava is the island renowned for legendary composers of the morna, including Eugenio Tavares who is widely considered the Mozart of Cape Verdean music. Serenata de Amor is about unrequited love, the hope of love, forbidden love, and the triumph of love. Told in song, the story of Serenata revolves around a young man arriving at a villa in Brava with a group of musicians to serenade the woman of his dreams. The serenade was very much a part of the tradition of courtship and romance in Brava, with elaborate protocol and etiquette, but also often fraught with peril because of class divisions. Serenata de Amor is based on an original screenplay by Claire Andrade-Watkins, Benny S. Ambush and Gardenia Benros. Dr. Andrade-Watkins, a filmmaker and historian, is the executive producer. She is also an Associate Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College. Benny S. Ambush is Senior Distinguished Producing Director-in-residence at Emerson College; this is his directorial debut in film. Ms. Benros, who is of Brava descent, is one of the featured Cape Verdean vocalists in Serenata de Amor and follows in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother who were both acclaimed singers of the morna. The musicians who play the other roles in Serenata, including, Jose Luis Spencer, Benvindo Cruz, and John, Napolean, and Emmanuel Miranda, and their nephews Domenick DeAndrade and Craig Andrade are equally distinguished heirs of the musical legacy of Cape Verde. Brava native, Anna Joia Barros, a valued resource for her knowledge of Cape Verdean culture, language and traditions plays the part of the grandmother.

Serenata de Amor is a SPIA Media Productions, Inc.creative, cultural, community collaboration pilot project bringing together the CV community and the resources and talent of Emerson College faculty, students, staff and alum. All the cast, crew, SPIA, did this project on a volunteer, pro bono basis.