Netherlands,
1990, 100 min
Shown in 1991
CREDITS
- dir
-
Felix de Rooy
- scr
-
Norman de Palm
- cam
-
Ernest Dickerson
- editor
-
Ton de Graaff
- cast
-
Nashaira Esbarida, Cliff San-A-Jong, Carol Brown Winkel
- source
-
Cosmic Illusion Productions
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Shown as part of Ernest Dickerson tribute. Ernest Dickerson in person.
OTHER
A NYU film-school comrade of cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, Dutch Antillean director Felix DeRooy, has brought the cameraman's sensual use of color and movement to play in two features shot in Curaçao, Almacita di Desolato (SFIFF 1987), with themes of magic and mythology, and Ava and Gabriel, A Love Story. This latest work captures the tradition and culture of ’40s Curaçao in all its complexity. An artist, Gabriel, creates an uproar when he paints a controversial mural of the Virgin Mary and falls in love with the model, the beautiful Ava who is betrothed to the white chief of police. A parable with historical roots, Ava and Gabriel suggests that this director/cinematographer collaboration could prove to be as fruitful and innovative as Dickerson's work with Spike Lee.
—Alicia Springer
FACTOID #123
San Francisco native Mervyn LeRoy, director of the Hollywood classics Little Caesar and Goldiggers of 1933, was honored with the Festival’s first tribute October 22, 1965.
