COOLIE HISTORICAL SERIES
SET IN 19TH CENTURY CUBA
Although it still does not have a broadcaster or a streamer,
Cathay Film Company has unveiled cast for
Arvin Chen directed eight part series
COOLIE set on 19th century Cuba. In the mid-1800s, when the African slave trade was outlawed throughout the Americas, plantation owners in Cuba instead began trafficking indentured servants from China and other parts of
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Mauricio Henao, Louise Wong and Joseph Chang will lead the cast
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Asia. These, so-called coolies were often treated as slaves, but some integrated into Cuban society and joined the country’s fight for independence from Spain. The provided a low-cost workforce for farms, restaurants, factories and were instrumental in setting up Chinatowns across the world. With
Louise Wong in the lead role as a young woman who departs from southern China to marry a political exile working on a sugarcane plantation in Cuba, the
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Sian Chiong and Camila Arteche will also star in the series
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narrative sees her join forces with servants and African slaves seeking freedom. But the plantation owner’s spurned wife and her ex-lover conspire against them, triggering a series of scheming and retaliatory moves that leave Cuba’s fate in the balance. As Variety reports, the cast will also have
Joseph Chang, Colombian actor
Mauricio Henao and Cuban actors
Camila Arteche and
Sian Chiong.
This sounds fascinating. Chao, in Warrior, had been a slave in Cuba
ReplyDeleteI remember that they came from all over the place in Warrior. I am on episode 3, so far it has lost its mojo, the only thing that makes me happy in it is Tom Weston Jones. I feel Ah Toya's character has been ruined and the Irish gangster has too much screen time.
DeleteA gorgeous cast, indeed! Cuba has always been on my bucket list. We were supposed to go and had it mapped out, but that's the year Leah came to live with us and we had to change our plans to NY. Then they closed the ports to Americans shortly after. It's open again, but now I have no time or monies to go. *sobs*
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can visit some of their fairs with your goodies as a foreign exhibitor?
DeleteOh, no. They are not like that there. In order to visit, you must have a local guide with you at all times and I believe you have to state that you are there for educational purposes on your visa. They do not allow debit cards from American banks, so I would have to take all cash with me to exchange for their currency. The tumultuous relationship between our government and theirs over the years makes it more difficult for US citizens to travel there. It's a shame too, because their people are so lovely. And their food is yum. When we were in Florida last year, I made it a mission to only eat at authentic Cuban restaurants when we drove to the Keys since that's where many of them stay when they come here. We don't have many authentic Cuban restaurants in the US, so I was happy to get my fried plantain fix last winter.
DeleteThey are very nice people, lots of our people go there for cancer treatment.
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