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A film celebrating the life of Jamaican folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley, popularly known as Miss Lou, is still on the cards for producer Lennie Little-White.

The filmmaker said he is currently on the hunt for funding to execute the production tentatively titled Looking Back, Travelling Forward.

“This film on Miss Lou is definitely still on the cards for me,” Little-White told the Jamaica Observer yesterday, which marked the 10th anniversary of her passing.

“I would love to see it done as soon as possible, but I have so far done everything out of pocket and so I am still seeking sponsors to fund the remainder of the project,” he continued.

According to Little-White, the major part of the film was shot when he and his team conducted an in-depth interview with Miss Lou during her visit to Jamaica back in 2003, three years before she died in Toronto, Canada, at 86.

Little-White hopes to add some of the dramatic works penned by Miss Lou being performed by some local theatre practitioners as well as comments from other entertainers, including Rastafarian dub poet Mutabaruka who recorded with her.

Looking Back, Travelling Forward would be the final instalment in a trilogy on personalities in the arts that Little-White has envisioned. The first two focused on the work of dancer and academic Professor Rex Nettleford (Rex — The Renaissance Man and Long Live the King) and master painter Barrington Watson (They Call Me Barrington).

Jamaica’s premier folklorist, poet, entertainer and comedienne, Miss Lou rose to prominence with her creative use of the dialect (patois) in poetry, songs and stories. She performed in several pantomimes and travelled across the world lecturing and performing Jamaican folklore.

In August 2003, she was given a National Honour by the Jamaican government for her indelible contribution to the island’s cultural history.

— Richard Johnson