HAMA (Howard and Mitzi Allen)

Howard Allen

Mitzi Allen

HAMA, the husband and wife team of Howard Allen and Mitzi Allen, has been called the most prolific filmmakers in the Eastern Caribbean producing four feature films in ten years. In 2001, HAMAfilms became the first indigenous company in the Eastern Caribbean to produce a feature length film with the release of “The Sweetest Mango” a romantic comedy, based on how the couple met and fell in love.  The film has been embraced throughout the Caribbean Diaspora. “The Sweetest Mango” is now a part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox Film Reference Library in Toronto, Canada. The Film Reference Library maintains the world’s largest resource of English-language Canadian film and film-related materials as well as a wide range of local, national and international film resources.

In 2002, HAMA released their second film “No Seed” a political drama. Both films have since made their world television premiere on CaribVision, the Caribbean Media Corporation’s (CMC) cable channel, which is seen in 21 countries in the Caribbean and on DirecTV in the US. Their third film “Diablesse” based on Caribbean Folklore was released in 2005. In 2011, HAMA released its fourth film, “The Skin” a supernatural thriller based on Caribbean mythology. It has been screened with tremendous success at film festivals in Toronto, Washington, Trinidad & Tobago, and Belize.

Howard, who started out as a video engineer with a cable company in Antigua and Barbuda and Mitzi as a broadcast journalist in Toronto, Canada, teamed up as independent film and television producers in 1992. Howard the “storyteller” produces, writes and directs. Mitzi is the managing director and producer.

HAMA has worked with several non-governmental organizations producing television programmes and documentaries dealing with environmental, social and community development issues such as HIV/AIDS, and people living with disabilities. A strong component of HAMA’s independent work deals with cultural awareness and development. Their children’s television programme “Pet Playhouse” which was produced for the Antigua & Barbuda Humane Society was funded by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the UNICEF funded teen programme “Teen Talk” was produced by HAMA for the Antigua and Barbuda AIDS Secretariat.

HAMA’s flagship television programme, the drama series Paradise View is the first of its kind for Antigua & Barbuda. Paradise View was produced with the support of a Small Project Award for the development of HIV/AIDS programming from the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV (CBMP/HIV). The funding and management support for the CBMP/HIV small projects awards programme was provided by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Paradise View is distributed across the Caribbean by the CBMP.

HAMA is committed to the development of film and television in Antigua & Barbuda and by extension the Caribbean. They hope that it becomes just as important to the Caribbean creative and cultural expression as calypso and the steel pan.