EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED IN 2012 - Jamaican Reggae Film Festival News

WHAT’S IN STORE – REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL 2012 

Guests of the 2012 Reggae Film Festival can expect the the event to surpass previous presentations, with the world premiere of a Hollywood movie, the presence of a well-known African-American producer/director/actor and the award of Fifty Thousand Dollars and a trip to the Trinidad &Tobago Film Festival for the winner of the RBC Make A Film In 24 Hours competition, among the highlights.

The film festival, which takes place April 17-21, will be held at Red Bones Blue Cafe in New Kingston with 3 days of film screenings, seminars and awards. Films from Jamaica, Britain, Canada and the USA will join films from Iran, Serbia and Ethiopia

African-American actor Giancarlo Esposito, star of several Spike Lee films and recently lauded for his role as ‘Gus’ in the acclaimed ABC-TV series ‘Breaking Bad‘, will bring the feature film “Gospel Hill’ starring Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Danny Glover and himself which he produced and directed for his Quiet Hands film production company.

A first for the Reggae Film Festival, will be the world premiere of a Hollywood ‘horror’ movie starring Ryan O’Neal and Tom Sizemore that features a reggae soundtrack. Director Rebekah Chaney and Jamaican filmmaker/musician Wayne Jobson who composed reggae music for the soundtrack, will be among several members of the production team who will accompany the film to Jamaica for the premiere.

Cameron Bailey, deputy director of the Toronto International Film Festival, will act as chief judge of the RBC Make A Film In 24 Hours competition, which this year will present the winner with $50,000 and a trip to the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival , with prizes of $30,000 and $20,000 for second and third place winners. Competition is expected to be keen, as amateur and professional Jamaican film makers participate in the film festival and showcase their film making skills.

Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival director Annabelle Alcazar will bring a programme of 7 award-winning Caribbean films to the Jamaican festival to be be shown in a special programme at UWI, Mona hosted by Prof. Rachelle Moseley-Wood of the Department of Humanities in English.

Jamaican feature films include “Blind Shotta‘, an urban comedy by Diavallan Fearon whose Jamaican premiere is highly anticipated, and Julian Henriques 1990′s feature“We The Ragamuffin‘ set in London’s Jamaican community, with a cameo role by reggae artist Mikey General. Several documentaries are featured including ‘Studio Drummie One and the History of RockSteady Music” and 'The Invitation‘, an unusual entry from Iran made by escaping refugees and filmed on cellphone. Another outstanding documentary is ‘With Fidel, Whatever Happens” an inside look at Cuba by noted Serbian director Goran Radovanovic who will come to Jamaica with his film.


Seminars on Scriptwriting, Acting and Production are scheduled, as well as a Children’s programme of Jamaican films starring Elise Kelly, Freddie McGregor, Judy Mowatt and Storm Saulter. A Jamaica50 Retrospective will honour filmmaker Chris Browne with screenings of his early short films, and the films ‘The Harder They Come’ and ‘Life and Debt‘

The Reggae Film Festival is presented by the Jamaica Film Academy, a member of the Universal Film Festival Organization. JFA Directors are Carl Bradshaw, Chairman; Barbara Blake-Hannah, Festival Director; Peter Gittins, Cordel Green, Rick Elgood, George Tait and Kevin Jackson.

Reggae film festival(Best Of) launched on February 18th, 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - Article from Jamaican Observer
Selections from last year's award winners were shown including Mustapha Khan's Rocksteady, starring Grammy award winner, David 'Steel Pulse' Hinds. Rocksteady won Best International Feature Film in 2011. It featured BC Cook (Cedric Sanders), the son of Jamaican immigrants, who was left to support his mother in rural New York after the death of his father. In a unique coming of age story, his avid love for car racing provides lessons of patience, success, inner-growth and self-discovery.



‘ANIMATED’ DUO: Winner of the Digicel Animation Award, Reinardo ‘Mental’ Chung (left) and his brother Peter, are seen at the February 18 launch of the Reggae Film Festival at RedBones Blues Café. The latest episode of Chung’s film Dutty Bwoy was a part of the evening’s programme. The 2012 Reggae Film Festival runs April 17-21. (Photo: Paul G Slowley)



In keeping with the dynamic developments in film technology, Reinardo 'Mental' Chung floored judges with his eight-minute 3D computer animated film Bad Influence, which won the Digicel Animation Award in 2011. Chung's newest episode from his popular series Dutty Bwoy was shown much to the delight of the audience, receiving positive reviews all around.

"This is the next entertainment step for dancehall," noted Chung. "As animation deals with all the issues surrounding this genre in an interesting and entertaining way."

Selections from the RBC Bank sponsored 'Make a Film in 24 Hours' competition, including The Spirit of Life is in the Music by former Miss Jamaica, Regina Beavers, What If by Vanessa Phillips and Stay Firm by 'Amaziyah the Great' were also a part of the night's line-up.

The 2012 festival also promises the guest screening of an international film starring well-known Academy Award-winning actors and actresses. The Best of the Reggae Film Festival 2012 is a good opportunity to see films... that make you proud to be Jamaican" remarks Barbara Blake-Hannah, Reggae Film Festival Director.

Film festival's 'best of' event piques interest

Published in Gleaner: Tuesday | February 21, 2012

Reinardo Chung's animated movie 'Bad Influence'

Garfene Grandison, Gleaner Writer

Saturday saw the launch of the Jamaica Reggae Film Festival 2012 at RedBones Blues Café in New Kingston. The event celebrated last year's award winners with the theme: The Best of the Reggae Film Festival 2011.

Carl Bradshaw, chairman of the Jamaica Film Academy, also heralded this year's event, scheduled for April 17-21.

The selections from last year's winners were screened in the Movie Garden of RedBones Blues Café. These selections included: Mustapha Khan's Rocksteady, which won last year's Best International Film award; and Steven Riley's Fire in Babylon, a brilliant documentary which snagged the Best Documentary and Outstanding Film awards at last year's show. Man Free, 2010's Best Documentary winner, directed by Kinsey Beck with comments by Perry Henzell, was also among the films shown that night.

Attendees also viewed selections from the 'Make a Film in 24 Hours' competition.

Part of the night's screenings was the latest episode from Reinardo 'Mental' Chung's popular series, Dutty Bwoy. Chung wowed judges last year with Bad Influence - an eight-minute 3D computer-animated film which took home the Digicel Animation Award.

Animation has always been a field of interest for Chung, especially 3D animation. It was this interest that prompted him to learn the art of animation and also gave him the zeal to practise and hone his craft.

His series, Dutty Bwoy, has become an online sensation. It focuses on dancehall culture and also features animated versions of dancehall celebrities. The series is about three "street youths" who always seem to find themselves in some humorous situations with different dancehall artistes.

Chung described the response from both corporate Jamaica and the wider public as simply "tremendous".

He said that the feedback has been great and he has even received scripts from fans for future episodes. Chung is grateful for the Reggae Film Festival, as he believes it is increasing the awareness about films being made in Jamaica and the filmmakers who produce them.

He believes that the Jamaican film industry has the potential to become an international phenomenon, much like our music.

Gaining a bit of viewership in January on Flow's channel 100 which led to a small following was the miniseries, Red, Amber, Green, written, directed and produced by young actor, model and dancer Christopher Byfield.

Byfield is no stranger to the set. He's been involved in the filming process since the tender age of 16.

"It has been a journey," he emphasised. He shared about making the transition from in front of the camera to behind it. Byfield entered the Reggae Film Festival's 'Make a Film in 24 hours' competition last year with a film titled What I Am ... What I Became ... What I Remain, which placed third.

Red, Amber, Green is Byfield's debut film from his company Christopher Byfield Films. He, too, believes that the Reggae Film Festival has increased awareness of films and filmmakers in Jamaica.

He believes it is a great avenue for filmmakers to premiere their work and believes it plays an integral part in the development of the Jamaican film industry.

According to a correspondence, "Saturday's show was just the beginning of the vibrant cultural line-up that the Jamaica Film Academy has planned for April's staging of the 2012 Reggae Film Festival, where there will be a guest screening of an international film starring well-known Aca-demy Award-winning actors and actresses."

Best of The Jamaican Reggae Film Festival 18th Feb. Kingston , JA

For those of you in Jamaica, don't miss The Best of The Reggae Film Festival event in Kingston tomorrow night 18th Feb.2012, they will be showing all kinds of great films from previous festivals along with special guests.

The main Reggae Film Festival event takes place from 17th-21st April, tomorrow evening is a warm up to this main event which will also celebrate 50yrs of Jamaican indepedence and show some films to comeorate this occasion.

This years Make a Film in 24hrs competition has a really nice first prize for any budding film makers out there so if your in Jamaica in April don;t miss the event, anyone can be part of the 24hr film competition. See the official website for more details: http://www.reggaefilmfestival.com/

 

The official festival website will be updated soon with details of the comming festival.... all enquiries about the festival to main website.

NEW JAMAICAN FILM FOR RFF2012

'RED, AMBER, GREEN' TACKLES UNUSUAL TOPIC

A new Jamaican film "Red, Amber, Green" tackles an unusual topic as it depicts the lives of three Jamaican teenage boys struggling to make ends meet on the difficult streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Making a living primarily as vehicle window washers when cars stop for traffic lights, they hustle to take advantage of every opportunity, including entertainment.
These friends, using the ebb and flow of the traffic lights at busy intersections to provide their 'bread and butter', have incorporated these colors into their lives as a quick reminder of how to deal with their daily struggles. They grow and learn from each other, even finding a way to help those less fortunate.

Written, directed and produced by Christopher Byfield -- third place winner in the 2011 Reggae Film Festival's Make A Film in 24 Hours competition sponsored by RBC Bank -- the film is a bold step into the Jamaican film industry by a young and intensely committed film maker.

FIRST FILM ENTERED IN 2012 REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL

'HOME, SWEET HARLESDEN is the first film entered in the 2012 REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL, a documentary recording the oral histories of some of the earliest Caribbean immigrants to Britain.

The film's producer ANTON PHILLIPS is a Jamaican actor who was born in Kingston and attended Manchester High before his family moved to Washington DC, where he graduated high school. He then moved to England in the 1960s and attended the famous Rose Bruford College Drama School, whose Jamaican students also included Trevor Rhone and Yvonne Brewster.

After drama school Anton Phillips began an acting career in Britain that broke many racial barriers, appearing as the first Black actor in many TV series including General Hospital, The Saint, The Bill, and becoming best known as a cast member of the popular TV series Space 1999. As a pioneer in his field, his professional life has been dedicated to the promotion of Black theater and to that end Phillips started a number of projects that significantly changed the profile of Black and Asian theater in Britain. Those included the Carib Theater Company, the Black Theater Season, and the Black Theater Forum, companies that were responsible for giving opportunities to many Black and Asian writers, actors and technical theater workers

Under his direction, Carib Theater’s production of 'The Amen Corner', by James Baldwin, was the first Black produced and directed play to transfer to the West End of London. In addition to other major productions such as 'Remembrance' by Derek Walcott, and 'Sitting in Limbo' – a play written by his wife, actress Judy Hepburn, about the Grenada revolution which played in London and toured to Jamaica. Carib Theater also specialized in Theater in Education and toured schools across London for several years, playing to some 30,000 children.

The Black Theater Season significantly changed the profile of Black and Asian theater in Britain. Before the first Season, which started in 1983 at the Arts Theater in London’s West End, Black theater was largely relegated to drafty church halls and rooms in community centers on the outskirts of cities. However, for the first time, Black and Asian plays were presented in legitimate theaters with all their facilities of sound, light and comfort. As Season followed Season for seven years, companies, writers and actors were accorded prominence and respect within the profession and the wider society.

Anton Phillips has also worked for the British Council in Ghana, where he directed Trevor Rhone's 'Old Story Time” as the first major production at the newly built National Theater. He also lectured at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana and for three years was a consultant for the British Council on a special project in Tanzania to create a company of performers and teach them the principals and practice of Theater in Education. He has directed theater in Germany, Holland and France and, attended performances in Mexico, Cuba, the USA, Trinidad, Jamaica and Tunisia. He has also managed a 60-strong company of singers, dancers, and musicians from South Africa on a touring tribute to Oliver Tambo that was presented at the Barbican Center and Salisbury Cathedral, England.

Inspired by the Area Youth Foundation of Kingston, Jamaica, Anton Phillips founded the Stonebridge Area Youth Project (SAY), a performance-based project for disaffected young people between the ages of 14 and 24 based in the Stonebridge, London, Housing Estate. Through performing arts workshops, SAY encouraged youths to re-engage with society by going back into education and learning life-skills to help them into employment. This project lasted for four years. He also directed Oliver Samuels, the Jamaican comic actor, in London’s Blue Mountain Theater for three years of plays that drew massive black audiences of up to 3,000 at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater.

As well as being an actor, director and producer, Anton Phillips has also contributed to magazines and newspapers, usually writing about the state of Black arts in the UK. He has an extensive collection of paintings, carvings and pottery produced by Black artists and craftsmen. In his spare time he attends plays, dance, opera, carnival, diwali celebrations, films, read books and travels as much as he can.

OUT AND ABOUT: 2011 Reggae Film Festival Special

THE 'REEL' LIFE: The 2011 Reggae Film Festival is off and running, commencing the week-long schedule of activities on Monday with an opening ceremony and the screening of a handful of shorts, trailers, animated pieces and feature-length documentaries, including the long-awaited Jamaican premiere of Holding on to Jah, from directors Roger Hall and Harrison Stafford. It was a fairly large crowd that filled the Studio 38 courtyard in New Kingston, comprised of folks from the entertainment set, the diplomatic corps and the local, regional and wider film communities. Some highlights of faces in the crowd:


'QUEENS' REUNION: Show of hands those who can call recall that Audrey Reid (right) and Cherine played the fearless mother-daughter duo in Dancehall Queen, the hit 1995 Jamaican movie? The fab twosome reunited for the cameras at the fest Monday evening in New Kingston. Great seeing you, girls!


I'VE GOT THE GLOW: While discussing her sweetly provocative 12-minute clip, Dinner, with chief festival organizer, Barbara Blake-Hannah, Antiguan writer and filmmaker Tameka Jarvis-George (left) could hardly conceal her thrill. With a film as poetic and blush-inducing as hers, you totally understand.






SHE'S ROYAL:
In between duties backstage (like getting the films in the correct running order), and introducing the night's special guests, Barbara Blake-Hannah somehow managed to keep her smart, gorgeously royal look in complete check.


GIMME SOME: At any event that Digicel sponsors, one can expect loads of freeness, and these lucky customers, armed with their Blackberry Bold phones, were all too eager to partake of the fun giveaways.

Spanish 
Ambassador H.E. Celsa Nuno and RBTT/RBC Senior Vice President Roxanne Lindsay.