BELIZE TEVE TEVEBIOGRAPHY
Bringing to light the extraordinary men and women who make Belize a better country, and this a better world.
We are surrounded by, literally, bad news. Whenever we turn on the TV or read the newspapers, we find the most revolting stories featured on the frontpage. From gruesome, unexplicable murders to degrading rapes, violent robberies and assaults, accidents and morbid articles, we are basically surrounded by negative, deppressing, chaotic energy.
The sad part is that whenever we look for the good, we find nothing. We may find politics, dealing with power and ambition; economy, dealing with money and materialism; crime and violence, dealing with the rotten side of society. We may find much about the superficial, hollow and inmoral system we have become; and find exposed our lack of conscience and loss of values. After half-an- hour of this, we may conclude that there is nothing good around us, that there is only tragedy and vile worth sending to press.
But where are the great people who have made this nation a land of the free? Hardly ever we see stories of our every day heroes, the hard-working, tenacious, honorable men and women who may be our neighbours, our acquaintances, even our relatives, that probably never will make it to the headlines. Barely ever, if ever, we get stories about the men and women with great hearts and spirit, who have contributed in silence to writing the history of Belize.
"That is how the idea of Tevebiography was born", explains its executive producer, Sara Martinez. "There are extraordinary people out there whom nobody is talking about. Men and women with great stories, dusted by time and routine." Stories that will be forgotten if no one tells them. "Tevebiography was inspired by a man really loved in his community. He used to be a football star, a Belizean athlete who had the opportunity to an international career in Honduras but decided to return to Belize for love of his country. Mr. Alwin Smith", she adds.
The need for "good stories" hit the producer as she was watching Mr. Smith display his enticing good humor, while having a nice time at Hode's Place in San Ignacio, Cayo. "He was telling us about his life, his memories", she says, "and he was radiant. He joked and made us all laugh. He told us about his time of fame, about the early days when there was no Hawksworth Bridge, about life in Cayo a long time ago. It was a magic time, a moment to remember and cherish. A moment that made you feel good and alive. I felt thankful for the man he was and the man he had been, and I thought, 'why can't we have stories like this on TV'?
Now that the idea was born, the next thing was to find the perfect host. "It wasn't hard", shares the producer. "I knew the perfect person. She is the most positive, beaming person I have ever met, a great woman and a dear friend: Macarena Rose. When I told her, she loved the idea and she inmediately said yes".
Tevebiography has featured a number of great characters, including Mr. Alwin Smith, Senator Hector Silva, Don. Heriberto Cucum, Ms. Beatrice Waight, Ms. Merdith Sanz, Mr. John and Mrs. Carolyn Carr, Archeologist Pedro Cruz and Mr. Daniel Silva, among others. And there are many more to come. "Because there are plenty stories to unearth and much good to tell", says Martinez. "And Macarena is the right person to do it. After all, she is also one of these great people".
We are surrounded by, literally, bad news. Whenever we turn on the TV or read the newspapers, we find the most revolting stories featured on the frontpage. From gruesome, unexplicable murders to degrading rapes, violent robberies and assaults, accidents and morbid articles, we are basically surrounded by negative, deppressing, chaotic energy.
The sad part is that whenever we look for the good, we find nothing. We may find politics, dealing with power and ambition; economy, dealing with money and materialism; crime and violence, dealing with the rotten side of society. We may find much about the superficial, hollow and inmoral system we have become; and find exposed our lack of conscience and loss of values. After half-an- hour of this, we may conclude that there is nothing good around us, that there is only tragedy and vile worth sending to press.
But where are the great people who have made this nation a land of the free? Hardly ever we see stories of our every day heroes, the hard-working, tenacious, honorable men and women who may be our neighbours, our acquaintances, even our relatives, that probably never will make it to the headlines. Barely ever, if ever, we get stories about the men and women with great hearts and spirit, who have contributed in silence to writing the history of Belize.
"That is how the idea of Tevebiography was born", explains its executive producer, Sara Martinez. "There are extraordinary people out there whom nobody is talking about. Men and women with great stories, dusted by time and routine." Stories that will be forgotten if no one tells them. "Tevebiography was inspired by a man really loved in his community. He used to be a football star, a Belizean athlete who had the opportunity to an international career in Honduras but decided to return to Belize for love of his country. Mr. Alwin Smith", she adds.
The need for "good stories" hit the producer as she was watching Mr. Smith display his enticing good humor, while having a nice time at Hode's Place in San Ignacio, Cayo. "He was telling us about his life, his memories", she says, "and he was radiant. He joked and made us all laugh. He told us about his time of fame, about the early days when there was no Hawksworth Bridge, about life in Cayo a long time ago. It was a magic time, a moment to remember and cherish. A moment that made you feel good and alive. I felt thankful for the man he was and the man he had been, and I thought, 'why can't we have stories like this on TV'?
Now that the idea was born, the next thing was to find the perfect host. "It wasn't hard", shares the producer. "I knew the perfect person. She is the most positive, beaming person I have ever met, a great woman and a dear friend: Macarena Rose. When I told her, she loved the idea and she inmediately said yes".
Tevebiography has featured a number of great characters, including Mr. Alwin Smith, Senator Hector Silva, Don. Heriberto Cucum, Ms. Beatrice Waight, Ms. Merdith Sanz, Mr. John and Mrs. Carolyn Carr, Archeologist Pedro Cruz and Mr. Daniel Silva, among others. And there are many more to come. "Because there are plenty stories to unearth and much good to tell", says Martinez. "And Macarena is the right person to do it. After all, she is also one of these great people".
