This is a marketing tool for three audiences. I am trying to attract producers and directors who are looking for great stories. The positive response to the publication of Allensworth: Murder in a California Paradise gave me the idea to present all of my screenplays and a list of dream movies. Film students can use this book to study the relationship between the novel and the screenplay. College and high school students who face the dilemma of reading and writing papers on multicultural literature may use this as an introduction to the best authors of the last twenty years.
Here are my dream movies, films Id pay to see, and if I had millions Id write, produce, and direct myself, my films to be found.
1. The Taino Murder Mystery by T.G. Henrikson Incomplete genocide
The idea for this screenplay came from my feuding Dominican and Puerto Rican students and a newspaper article about three surviving, pureblooded Taino women living in the Western Mountains near Caguana.
2. To Die in Rome by T.G. Henrikson What only the priests used to know about the Catacombs.
I first entered the catacombs of Rome over forty years ago, wrote an erotic travelogue novella, In the Hollow, and now at the suggestion of a producer it is a film to be found.
3. Allensworth by T.G. Henrikson Murder in a California paradise.
This bio-pic is based on the lives of two slaves who battle for freedom in Civil War Kentucky, become famous educators, and found a paradise community in California where Allen is murdered. For an overview and preview go to buybooksontheweb.com. /keyword: Allensworth.
4. The Narrative of Frederick Douglass adapted by T.G.H. Slaves learned to read by any means necessary.
A producer who was considering my screenplay, Allensworth, asked me to adapt the life of Frederick Douglass, as I had traced the tragic lives of Allen and Josephine Allensworth.
5. If Beale Street Could Talk adapted by T.G.H. The policeman is not your friend.
Four years ago I taught a high school English course, which took a novel and converted it into a screenplay. James Baldwins tragic insight into urban racism is impressive and timely.
6. Desiring Women Desiring Men by T.G. Henrikson Children know the lost secrets of their estranged mothers.
When I met my wife, she had a friend named Angelica who disappeared after disapproving of me. Alina and I have a son named Luke who plays with a boy along the East River, and I wonder if Dan might be Angelicas son.
7. Jasmine adapted by T.G.H. Murderess with secret becomes of loving woman.
The theme, which pervades multicultural feminine literature, is the strong, often violent nature of revolutionary women.
8. I, Rigoberta Menchu, An Indian Woman in Guatemala Nobel Peace Prize winner rebuked
Rigoberta Menchu was born in 1959 and awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1992. Her autobiography, published in 1983, covers the first twenty-two years of her life. She is a revolutionary freedom fighter, whose integrity is seriously contested by even her own people.
9. Almanac of the Dead adapted by T.G.H. Women warriors fulfill Aztec prophecy.
If I were adapting another novel along the lines of Jasmine, it would be Leslie Marmon Silkos complex and controversial apocalyptic novel, which centers around the lives of two American Indian women who join armies of native peoples, as a new millennium ushers in global anarchy.
10. The Beautiful and the Dangerous adapted by T.G.H. Zuni pueblo is a paradox.
There are many secret, arcane places, which I have visited, but Barbara Tedlock captures one that intrigues and brings all of my journeys together--Zuni, home of kachina, Shalako, and berdache, brilliantly.
11. Light in the Crevice Never Seen by Haunani-Kay Trask Whites are unwelcome on native land.
Even though my wife and I were married in Hawaii and my late uncle and aunt, and my cousin and his family have lived for half a century there, I feel uncomfortable about exploring the secrets of Hawaii, because I felt unwelcome in the sacred lands of peoples who wish to left alone in peace.
12. Uluru essay by T. G. Henrikson Do not climb our sacred mountain like ants.
In addition to catacombs of Rome by night alone, the most mysterious place on earth for me is the Red Center of Australia, west of Alice Springs. My dream film would set completely within the boundaries of Uluru National Park. The first women who continue to portray their dreaming in literature and art impress me.
13. Abiku, the African Ghost Child essay by T. G. Henrikson Children reenter the world by choosing their parents.
West African tradition holds that children choose their parents by observing their loving nature while floating above the world below.
14. Possessing the Secret of Joy essay by T. G. Henrikson We are guilty when we defy our ancestors.
Alice Walker writes non-fiction and fiction on the issue of the ritual circumcision of women. 15. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings adapted by T.G.H. Introduction to Female Adolescent Psychology
I teach an introductory psychology class to second year high school students. Using Erik Eriksons Childhood and Society, I trace the stages of life from conception to leaving home. My female adolescent students respond to the final chapters of Maya Angelous autobiography more than the early ones portrayed in the 1979 film. My suggestion is to film the wonder years beginning with Chapter 25.
16. Four Early Hemingway Stories adapted by TGH Introduction to Male Adolescent Psychology
While on the subject of adolescent psychology, Hemingway works for young men as Maya Angelou works for women. In addition to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I use four very short stories Hemingway wrote in his twenties. Indian Camp (1922) deals with suicide and adolescent-parent relationships. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (1933) is written from the perspective of an adolescent viewing adult life. Up in Michigan (1921) addresses first sex. Hills Like White Elephants (1927) is a dialogue between two lost lovers.
17. Surfacing essay by T.G. Henrikson Secrets of the past lie deep underwater.
In 1998 Anchor Books reissued this pre-feminist classic search for identity by Margaret Atwood. The setting in the Canadian wilderness, the characters, and the multicultural revelations of lost secrets make this story a great candidate on my list of films to be found.
18. The Winnebago Trickster essay by T.G. Henrikson A wandering storyteller teaches secrets to children.
I was born in Winnebago County, Illinois, mostly Swedish-American, slightly Indian, according to my Grandmother Starkweather and Aunt Tuttie. I would combine Paul Radins storytelling skills and Gerald Vizenors tragicomic vision.
Please address all inquiries to: tgeneh@hotmail.com
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