Conquest of an Empire

Conquest of an Empire 

If you knew there was a book that told of an incredible apocalyptic victory that one would think was pure fiction, (but really happened) would you be interested?

If the story was told through the eyes of an elderly woman who was a young princess in Montezumas Court (but now lives in a Spanish Monastery) would you be intrigued?

This story goes from the intimate to an epic through flashbacks as she tells her story (her song) to a Spanish priest on the last days of her life!

Please read on...

 

A short Synopsis of Song of the Hummingbird by Graciela Limon

 

We would like your help in locating an interested party (either an agent or producer) to help mount a movie based on Graciela Limon's wonderful book, Song of the Hummingbird. We have the option to produce a film on this epic story on the Conquest of Mexico by Cortez in the years 1519-1521.

 

Hummingbird tells this story from the eyes of the conquered and can be the next Latino Braveheart, with an all Latino cast. This is an intimate tale told through the eyes of a woman who tells her story to a Spanish Priest. Her story flashes back many years and expands to the epic tale of how Cortez conquered a civilization (in many ways advanced beyond anything imagined in Europe). Hummingbird is the role of a lifetime for a Latino actress who can play the older woman and through flashbacks to the beautiful, vivacious Princess in Montezuma's Court. The following is a short summary of the story:

Two completely different worlds meet face to face for the very first time. The result: war, pestilence, revenge, murder, and then love, understanding, and forgiveness. Hummingbird, on the last day of her life, decides to confess her sins to a young Spanish Priest. However, her true intention is to draw the priest into her web and make him see and feel the opposite of what he was taught and acknowledged to be true about Cortez's Conquest of Tenochtitlan (one of the grandest cities in the world at the time). Her story or song is told to the priest in a convent in 1583. This was once her father's house!!, a beautiful palace. Now being robbed of everything, she sits alone a frail old woman with one eye telling her tale or Song. And what a Song it is. Hummingbird relates her affair with her cousin, her arranged marriage to a brute of man, her abortion, her crime of murder (she kills her lover-a conquistador) and most importantly the arrival of Cortez and the indecision in Montezuma's Court as to dealing with this invasion (bribe the Spaniards, kill them, or take them in as guests of the city). The mistake of trusting the Conquistadors and welcoming them as guests cost hundreds of thousands of lives. As Hummingbird tells her tale through flashbacks, the priest (Father Benito) begins to question everything he has learned and starts to feel warmth for this once sensual and beautiful woman. Father Benito starts out wanting to hear her confession and offer her absolution which she really doesn't want. In an ironic twist, through telling her story, Hummingbird draws the priest into her world and forces him to see the Conquest through her eyes-the eyes of the conquered. In the end, he begs her for forgiveness for what his people did.
This is a story whose time has come to be told. We have the book and a first class script.

We can send this out via a flash drive or the actual hard copy.

Regards,
 

Bruce and Doreen for Gordon Productions
732-446-3666

Cell: 732-407-4516
bgdg27@optimum.net

 

The Washington Post described the book, Song of the Hummingbird as "hypnotic."

 

 

 

New York International Latino Film Festival

Song of the Hummingbird
Two completely different worlds meet face-to-face for the very first time. passion, understanding... Forgiveness.
The result: war, rape, pestilence, starvation, revenge, murder... Love, compassion,understanding...forgiveness.

The story of the Conquest of Mexico is one of the greatest epics never told by a hollywood studio.

And Song of the Hummingbird takes this big concept Conquest film and transforms it into an intimate tale, full of passion, suspense and intrigue.

Hummingbird, or Huitzitzilin in her native Nahuati, is an Aztec princess who falls in love with her cousin Zintle, an Aztec prince.

But despite her love for cousin, Hummingbird is forced to marry Tetla, one of Moctezuma's generals, who beats her within an inch of her life when he discovers that she is not a virgin on their wedding night.

While recovering from her injuries, she is taken in by her dear friend, Yani, Moctezuma's wife.

And it is while living in Moctezuma's court that Hummingbird is able to witness the wondrous arrival of Cortez and his Spanish Conquistadores, bearded and armored men who descend from their galleons on horseback to brutally devastate her land and her people.

 

Told as a series of flash backs to Father Benito, a young priest, on the last day of her life, Hummingbird mournfully recounts the savage battles which lead to the fall of the once-great city of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec capital, along with the suffering she feels upon losing her identity, her traditions, and even her ancestral gods.

She tells of Cortez's grand entrance into Tenochtitlan and the massacre in the temple square. She challenges Father Benito's teachings about the history of events such as La Noche Triste and The Final Siege of Tenochtitlan.

In an ironic twist, after relating her epic story, Hummingbird is able to convert Father Benito, making him see the Conquest through the eyes of the conquered for the first time. And he concludes by leaving the priesthood and asking for Hummingbird's forgiveness for all of the atrocities committed against her people.

 

Image below of Technotitlan in the year 1519