“No Bois Man No Fraid” a feature documentary directed by acclaimed Trinidad and Tobago director Christopher Laird will journey to Guadeloupe for the 20th anniversary of FEMI, the Guadeloupe International Film Festival, and premiere in the French island on Saturday February 1st, 2014.
The film which opened the 2013 CaribbeanTales Film Festival to wide critical applause, profiles tha traditional martial art of stick fighting or “Kalinda”, through the eyes of Benj and Keegan, two young, internationally certified martial artists who re-discover their roots in the arena of the “Gayelle”, a special battle ground upon which warriors from villages assemble to meet in combat with hand crafted sticks,
“Kalinda” is a dance-like sport brought to the Caribbean slave plantations from the Congo and Angola. One lineage which transitioned from Africa still resides in the village of Moruga, which has its own special history and style of stick-fighting.
This extraordinary documentary was filmed over 2 years and features some of the living legends of the Warrior art form including Congo Bara, King David, Kali, King Stokely, Mother Marva and King Tony, as they mentor and challenge Keegan and Benji to enter the potentially lethal arena, which to them becomes a ring of liberation.