AS a budding film-maker in the 1990s, Donovan Howard was fascinated by the flamboyance of ‘gangsta’ flicks from the 1970s, commonly referred to as Blaxpoitation movies.

Howard, born in Kingston and raised in New York City, hails his Blaxploitation heroes in Artifice, a movie he plans to release this year.

The 47-year-old director describes the film as “a dark satire exposing the rarely seen underbelly of Caribbean-organised crime with a spiritual twist”.

Its plot and characters strongly resemble Hell up in Harlem and Uptown Saturday Night, popular black-produced films that earned the Blaxploitation era a lasting audience.

However, those are not the only similarities.

“Cinematically, the way how the film was shot is a direct influence of the ’70s genre. The director of photography, Kenny Dixon, used older Nikon lenses to give that distinctive look,” Howard said in an interview with the Splash.

Shot in New York City, Artifice stars Marty Robinson and Nardo Ranks as rival gangsters Billy Fungus and Albamarle. Nardo Ranks, a deejay, is best known for the 1990s hit song, Dem a Bleach.

Both kingpins live in NYC and have Caribbean heritage. They agree to a ceasefire between their gangs but one goes back on his word by recruiting an Obeah woman to gain territorial control.

Typical of ‘indie’ films, Artifice is produced on a shoestring budget. Howard started work on the project four years ago and shot scenes whenever money was available.

Artifice is a joint production between NuMedia Production LLC, the company he started in 2003. It also produced The Real Show, a 2004 comedy which marked his debut as a movie director.

Howard migrated to NYC in 1978. He started in the film industry in 1995 working for director Spike Lee’s company 40 Acres and a Mule as an apprentice editor on movies like GirI 6 and Get On The Bus.

Independent film-makers like Lee struggled initially to find funding for their movies. Howard thinks things have improved significantly since the 1990s for the small film producer.

“It’s 100 times easier due directly to technology changes. Producers can produce films for considerably less money than before,” he said. “Twenty years ago, much of your production budget would be wrapped up in the purchase of film stock, 35 or 16 millimetre, then once the film is shot you had to worry about having the money to develop the film at a lab.” Howard continued:

“Now, all of that has changed. Producers don’t have to go through that process anymore, everything is digital, just shoot then edit. Marketing film has changed and also distribution. All in the favour of independent producers and directors.”