Documentary on 1763 rebellion to debut on TV today

A 30-minute documentary of the 1763 Slave Rebellion, which was led by Coffy will be aired for the first time on national television today.

Guyanese university lecturer Sherwood Lowe and David Granger, a local historian and researcher, collaborated to produce the first-ever video documentary of this great historic event. The project is part of the events held to commemorate this year’s emancipation.

It will be aired today at 4 pm on HBTV Channel 9; 6.30 pm on GWTV Channel 2 and tomorrow at 4 pm on HGTV Channel 16/Cable 67.

In a press release, Lowe said that while the story of the 1763 rebellion is well documented in several written works Guyanese have not read them. Few, the release said, are aware of the “enormity and greatness” of this event beyond the fact that it was led by Coffy. It was this lack of knowledge which inspired the creation of the documentary.

The documentary will trace the main stages in the rebellion from its inception in February 1763 to its conclusion during the first half of 1764. It will describe what occurred and provide an analysis of why events occurred that way, Lowe said.

Artwork, from the archive of well-known Guyanese artist Barrington Braithwaite, enhanced using panning and zooming camera effects were used along with inserts from an interview with Anna Benjamin, one of the foremost Guy-anese researchers on the 1763 Berbice rebellion.