Episode 429: In The Seats With....Jaques De Silva, Shamilla Miller,, John Barker and 'The Umbrella Men'

Sometimes the music just has to move you in many different ways....On this episode we're still playing catch up from TIFF as we dive into the joyous brilliant adventures of 'The Umbrella Men'.Reluctantly returning to Cape Town to bury his estranged father, Jerome (Jaques De Silva) learns he’s been bequeathed the Goema Club, home to his father’s beloved minstrel troupe. The Umbrella Men are a mainstay band in the historic Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, celebrated every year since the early 19th century on January 2, marking the only day off Dutch colonists gave their enslaved captives from across the Indian Ocean (including South and Southeast Asia, Madagascar and Mozambique). Along with the club, though, Jerome inherits his father’s enemies — chief among them rival troupe leader Tariq Cupido (Abduragman Adams) — as well as a million-ZAR debt to the bank. With the threat of the club’s foreclosure only weeks away, a desperate Jerome decides a bank heist, using the annual carnival as cover, is the only way to save the club — and his father’s legacy.The Umbrella Men is one of those films that perfectly encapsulates why we go to film festivals in the first place.  It was just fun and we got to have some more fun talking with writer/director John Barker and stars Jaques De Silva and Shamilla Miller about the origins of the film and so very much more