HipCinema

Harmony Image Productions (HIPCINEMA) is a film production and arts consulting company based in Philadelphia PA. Principle partners are Marlene Patterson CEO and Nadine Patterson COO. Since 1995 Harmony Image Productions has produced award-winning documentaries for the American public television market. Serving 2.2 million people in the greater metropolitan area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, our company has access to the 4th largest media market in the United States.

Contact us at hipcinema23@yahoo.com for more information.

PRODUCTION SLATE 2010 to 2012
The goal is to produce three programs with diverse casts for youth, young adults, adults and seniors. All productions will be shot on High Definition. Each involves the use of music, dance, literature, or historical events to tell the story.

TANGO MACBETH: A CONTEMPORARY RETELLING OF SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH
Conception and Direction by Nadine Patterson
Choreography by Zane Booker
Music by Lenny Seidman
Producing Entity: Harmony Image Productions
Total Running Time: 118 minutes
Current Stage: Development

Sia Kpakiwa as Lady Macbeth

What happens when you have the original Shakespearean text, add the modern world of corporate greed, and the glamorous yet deadly dancing duo of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? A sexy tale of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. With choreography by Zane Booker, the 400 year old play (first performed in 1610-1611) is set in the globetrotting world of investment bankers, arms dealers, and the media elite. This piece will serve as an introduction to the younger generation of Shakespeare’s legacy, and will be a great point of departure for discussion about personal choice, morality, material excess, and the concepts of power and fate. [photo by Vera Juliusdottir]

TOUCHING BASS: DRAMATIC FEATURE FILM

Writer/Director: Nadine Patterson

Composer/Bassist: Warren Oree
Starring: Sia Kpakiwa, Toni Nash, and Johnnie Hobbs, Jr.
Producing entity: Harmony Image Productions
Total Running Time: 88 minutes
Current Stage: Development; short segment funded by MiND TV as part of Philadelphia Stories

Ancestral echoes of the Middle Passage reverberate through the upright bass handed down through three generations of the Montgomery family. Each generation deals with conflicts between dreams deferred, and the unfinished business of the past. Grandmom Mozelle was a pioneer in an all women’s band in the 1940’s, but she gave up her musical passion to raise her family in a segregated America. Her son Casey became a revolutionary of the 60’s and 70’s and used music to voice the ideals of the Black Power Movement. Upon his passing his daughter Zera finds herself ill at ease in London, struggling with her own issues of family, career and music, but also being pulled by something else. Where does this music come from?  Whose cries do we hear across time and space? Do we dare to listen?

SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT: A CROSS CULTURAL DOCUMENTARY

Writer/Director: Nadine Patterson
Producing Entity: Harmony Image Productions
Total Running Time: 58 minutes
Current Stage: Development

Swing Low Sweet Chariot is known as an old Negro Spiritual in the United States.  When I lived in London, I was surprised to hear it being sung by a crowd of rugby fans at Leicester Square.  How did this song make the journey from 19th century America to 21st century Britain?

Origins: Negro Spiritual/Folk Song USA: Author Uncertain, Before 1862— mid 1800’s. Enslaved Africans sung it to provide hope in a desperate situation.

Hidden Meaning: a song with information on how to navigate The Underground Railroad (the network for Blacks to travel North to freedom).  After slavery Black Americans in churches, public events, and on the concert circuit sang it during the 19th and 20th centuries. It reminds many of the struggles of their ancestors during slavery, and how far we have come. Noted soprano Kathleen Battle and the Boys Choir of Harlem do a moving version.

Crossing Cultures: Most likely first brought to the United Kingdom on a European tour in 1873 by The Fisk Jubilee Singers. They performed for Queen Victoria and other British luminaries.

Today  in the UK: In 1988 during the Six Nations Championship rugby fans sung it to celebrate the goals scored by Chris Oti, a black player making his Twickingham debut. A group from the Benedictine school Douai sung the song. It was one of their rugby club favorites, and some of the rest of the crowd joined in. Popularized by rugby fans then recorded by UB40, China Black & Ladysmith Black Mamboza. Hidden Meaning: Rugby fans accompany with specific gestures, some of which are of a sexual nature.

Global reach of song: The song still inspires and touches people in many countries USA, UK, Zaire.  By learning more about it, we learn more about our history and ourselves.