Just to let you know we now have 10 YouTube videos which have recently been put up which cover the highlights of the first 2 nights or the February 2008 Festival, you can view them all at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aEFZ0ay_gY
We are now preparing for the 2009 Reggae Film Festival and have some very special films this time round including some oldies which most of you won't have heard of before which we promise to be a treat for all you reggae fans.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Thursday, 7 August 2008
JAMAICA FILM NEWS
JAMAICA FILM NEWS
GET READY TO ROCKSTEADY
Acting on a recommendation made by the Jamaica Film Academy Commissioners, the Jamaican government has taken a pioneering step to gain economics benefits for the preservation of Jamaican culture, by participating in a profit sharing agreement with the producers of a new reggae documentary, ‘GET READY TO ROCKSTEADY”. In an agreement signed by Minister of Information, Culture, Youth & Sports Olivia Grange, royalties of 2% on all gross profits will be paid into a Cultural Enhancement Fund whose set-up is presently in process in the Ministry.
The documentary was made with the production assistance and facilitation of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, a division of the Ministry, with Minister Olivia Grange acting as Executive Producer, alaong with Project Co-ordinators Trevor Nairne, Sharon Burke and Ronnie Burke, and features several artists from the Rock Steady era of Jamaican music including Alton "Mr. Rocksteady" Ellis, Dawn Penn, Ken Boothe, the Tamlins and Judy Mowatt.
The Cultural Industries Fund will provide financing for Jamican film production and training.
CUBAN FILM FESTIVAL
The Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) is once again organizing a traveling Festival of Caribbean Films, this year dedicated to films for and about children. Jamaica sent a collection of films to a selection meeting in Havana, from which the national contribution was chosen. The films were collected by a committee of 3 consisting of Women in Film executives Natalie Thompson, Tanya Batson-Savage and JTI Film Commissioner Del Crooks, but the final list was not made public.
The collection was taken to Cuba by Batson-Savage in her capacity as Director of Entertainment in the Ministry of Information & Culture on a trip arranged at very short notice by the Ministry of Information & Culture’s Principal Director of Culture, Sidney Bartley, who apologised for the fact that the collection was not as comprehensive as anticipated due to the short time allocated for the selection process.
CANADIAN FILM FESTIVAL
The Jamaica Trade & Invest division of the Ministry of Industry & Investment contributed to the staging of a Caribbean Tales film festival in Toronto recently. The festival was organized by Frances Ann Solomon, director of “A Winter Tale”, a Canadian film starring Jamaican actress Leonie Forbes, who was among those honoured at the Festival.
Others were Trinidadian-Jamaican cinematographer Franklyn “Chappie” St. Juste, and ace videographer Ras Kassa. Women In Film’s Mary Wells’ short film about the Jamaican premiere of “A Winter Tale” in May this year, was the featured documentary at the festival.
Among the films shown in what was announced as a tribute to Jamaican film making and film makers were “Africa Unite”, a documentary by American film maker Stephanie Black shot in Ethiopia about a Bob Marley tribute concert, the late Perry Henzell’s 35-year-old cult classic “The Harder They Come”, and oldies-but-goodies “Third World Cop” and “Dance Hall Queen”. However, no release has yet been issued about the value of goods traded at the event, nor the investments resulting from Jamaica Trade and Invest’s investment in the Festival.
WOMEN IN FILM
Women In Film & Televison (Jamaica) called a General Meeting recently to hold elections for its executive posts. Unfortunately, according to a WIFT press release, the elections were cancelled due to lack of a quorum, and postponed to October 2008. Until that time, the current executive of Natalie Thompson, Tanya Taylor and Maxine Walters will continue to hold office.
GET READY TO ROCKSTEADY
Acting on a recommendation made by the Jamaica Film Academy Commissioners, the Jamaican government has taken a pioneering step to gain economics benefits for the preservation of Jamaican culture, by participating in a profit sharing agreement with the producers of a new reggae documentary, ‘GET READY TO ROCKSTEADY”. In an agreement signed by Minister of Information, Culture, Youth & Sports Olivia Grange, royalties of 2% on all gross profits will be paid into a Cultural Enhancement Fund whose set-up is presently in process in the Ministry.
The documentary was made with the production assistance and facilitation of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, a division of the Ministry, with Minister Olivia Grange acting as Executive Producer, alaong with Project Co-ordinators Trevor Nairne, Sharon Burke and Ronnie Burke, and features several artists from the Rock Steady era of Jamaican music including Alton "Mr. Rocksteady" Ellis, Dawn Penn, Ken Boothe, the Tamlins and Judy Mowatt.
The Cultural Industries Fund will provide financing for Jamican film production and training.
CUBAN FILM FESTIVAL
The Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) is once again organizing a traveling Festival of Caribbean Films, this year dedicated to films for and about children. Jamaica sent a collection of films to a selection meeting in Havana, from which the national contribution was chosen. The films were collected by a committee of 3 consisting of Women in Film executives Natalie Thompson, Tanya Batson-Savage and JTI Film Commissioner Del Crooks, but the final list was not made public.
The collection was taken to Cuba by Batson-Savage in her capacity as Director of Entertainment in the Ministry of Information & Culture on a trip arranged at very short notice by the Ministry of Information & Culture’s Principal Director of Culture, Sidney Bartley, who apologised for the fact that the collection was not as comprehensive as anticipated due to the short time allocated for the selection process.
CANADIAN FILM FESTIVAL
The Jamaica Trade & Invest division of the Ministry of Industry & Investment contributed to the staging of a Caribbean Tales film festival in Toronto recently. The festival was organized by Frances Ann Solomon, director of “A Winter Tale”, a Canadian film starring Jamaican actress Leonie Forbes, who was among those honoured at the Festival.
Others were Trinidadian-Jamaican cinematographer Franklyn “Chappie” St. Juste, and ace videographer Ras Kassa. Women In Film’s Mary Wells’ short film about the Jamaican premiere of “A Winter Tale” in May this year, was the featured documentary at the festival.
Among the films shown in what was announced as a tribute to Jamaican film making and film makers were “Africa Unite”, a documentary by American film maker Stephanie Black shot in Ethiopia about a Bob Marley tribute concert, the late Perry Henzell’s 35-year-old cult classic “The Harder They Come”, and oldies-but-goodies “Third World Cop” and “Dance Hall Queen”. However, no release has yet been issued about the value of goods traded at the event, nor the investments resulting from Jamaica Trade and Invest’s investment in the Festival.
WOMEN IN FILM
Women In Film & Televison (Jamaica) called a General Meeting recently to hold elections for its executive posts. Unfortunately, according to a WIFT press release, the elections were cancelled due to lack of a quorum, and postponed to October 2008. Until that time, the current executive of Natalie Thompson, Tanya Taylor and Maxine Walters will continue to hold office.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Update (30th July 2008)
Sorry we've not posted up on the blog for a while, we hope to get a new website before too long.
Anyway, time is moving on and the 2nd Reggae Film Festival is only 6 months away, we've already started preparing for the event, next year will be bigger and better with plenty of great new films and documentaries from around the world, we will also be reviving some old and relatively unseen films aswell as some obscure titles that never made it to the big screen.
Anyone wishing to sponsor or support the Reggae film Festival, please contact us as we are currently dealing with sponsor packages for the event, we also have a new 'Friends of The Reggae Film Festival' scheme for smaller websites and businesses wishing to support us so if you like what we are doing and would like to show your support please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
We are planning a world tour of the Reggae Film Festival in 2010, we already have a few interested parties so if you'd like to see the Reggae Film Festival come to your town or city no matter what country you are in then please contact us.
Anyone wishing to fly to Jamaica for the event then please get in touch and we will help with any info you need. We've found that alot of people are deciding to come out to Jamaica for the film festival, it's the perfect excuse to choose Jamaica as your next holiday destintation, the film festival tie's in with 'Reggae Month' and also 'The Global Reggae Conference' so it's the perfect time to come to Jamaica, February really is a Reggae fans dream.
The Reggae Film Festival is situated in New Kingston right next to the Hilton Hotel and Pegasus Hotel, it's a very nice area of Kingston just a 30mins drive from the beautiful Hellshire beach.
We will post up more info on next years festival later in the year.....
You can also now find us at www.reggaefilmfestival.com which points to the JFA website.
Anyway, time is moving on and the 2nd Reggae Film Festival is only 6 months away, we've already started preparing for the event, next year will be bigger and better with plenty of great new films and documentaries from around the world, we will also be reviving some old and relatively unseen films aswell as some obscure titles that never made it to the big screen.
Anyone wishing to sponsor or support the Reggae film Festival, please contact us as we are currently dealing with sponsor packages for the event, we also have a new 'Friends of The Reggae Film Festival' scheme for smaller websites and businesses wishing to support us so if you like what we are doing and would like to show your support please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
We are planning a world tour of the Reggae Film Festival in 2010, we already have a few interested parties so if you'd like to see the Reggae Film Festival come to your town or city no matter what country you are in then please contact us.
Anyone wishing to fly to Jamaica for the event then please get in touch and we will help with any info you need. We've found that alot of people are deciding to come out to Jamaica for the film festival, it's the perfect excuse to choose Jamaica as your next holiday destintation, the film festival tie's in with 'Reggae Month' and also 'The Global Reggae Conference' so it's the perfect time to come to Jamaica, February really is a Reggae fans dream.
The Reggae Film Festival is situated in New Kingston right next to the Hilton Hotel and Pegasus Hotel, it's a very nice area of Kingston just a 30mins drive from the beautiful Hellshire beach.
We will post up more info on next years festival later in the year.....
You can also now find us at www.reggaefilmfestival.com which points to the JFA website.
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Reggae Film Festival Video....
Just wanted to share these nice videos that Jungle George kindly provided us with recently, hope you enjoy them....(more vids comming soon...)
Monday, 3 March 2008
Film Festival Photos...
I just came across this excellent photo album from the Reggae Film Festival, they've done a wonderful job over at http://www.jamaicapage.com/ hosting these nice pictures, thankyou to whoever took these.....
VIEW PICTURES HERE
More pictures comming soon....
Pictures From Day 1 (Emancipation Park)
Add your own pictures of the film festival to the slide show above.
More pictures comming soon...
VIEW PICTURES HERE
More pictures comming soon....
Pictures From Day 1 (Emancipation Park)
Add your own pictures of the film festival to the slide show above.
More pictures comming soon...
Friday, 29 February 2008
First Annual Reggae Film Festival
First Annual Reggae Film Festival on Show
KINGSTON, (JIS)Friday, February 22, 2008
KINGSTON, (JIS)Friday, February 22, 2008
Director and producer, Bill Parker (2nd left) presents a copy of the soundtrack of the movie 'Klash', which he produced and directed, to Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, the Hon. Olivia Grange following Wednesday's (Feb. 20) press conference where Minister Grange, updated the press on the line-up of activities for the inaugural reggae film festival, which kicked off on (Feb. 20), at Emancipation Park. At right is coordinator of the Reggae Film Festival Barbara Blake Hannah, and United Kingdom-based reggae archivist, Peter Gittins is at left.
Jamaicans will be treated to the best of local feature films, documentaries and music videos, as part of activities to mark Reggae Month (February), during the first annual reggae film festival, which is being held in Kingston from February 20 - 22.
The film screenings kicked off last night (February 20), at Emancipation Park and will, over the period, feature more than 30 films, according to Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange.
Speaking at a press conference on February 20, she noted that a number of Jamaican premieres would be screened, including: 'Roots Time', an amusing feature by Argentinian, Derek Jacobi; 'Almost Heaven', a German film about a would-be country and western singer who gets on a plane to Nashville and ends up in Jamaica.
Among the documentaries are the much acclaimed 'Roots of Reggae', the Ernie Ranglin Story by noted Hollywood producer, Arthur Gorson; 'Dub Echoes', by Brazil's Bruno Natal, which traces the roots of reggae music, with interviews and clips. The documentary of Peter Tosh by Wayne Jobson and titled 'Stepping Razor, RedX', is also featured; 'Destination Jamaica', by Canadian-Jamaican George Tait; and 'Portrait of Mr. Pink', by English film-maker Helen Appio.
The music video category has the largest number of entries, including the series called 'Duppy Arts', which feature animated characters of local artistes, such as Yellow Man. Special guest for the festival is Peter Gittens, a United Kingdom archivist of reggae films, who has spearheaded the submission of most of the festival's films. Other special guests are United States Hollywood producer, Arthur Gorson, of box office hits, such as 'Night Watch' and 'Better Watch Out'; Jep Jorba from Brazil, who is the director of 'Dub Echoes'; and Bill Parker, the director of 'Klash'.
Special Jamaican guests are producer/directors, Wayne and Dickie Jobson as well as Carl Bradshaw. The reggae film festival continues for two nights at the Courtleigh auditorium. Tomorrow (February 22), there will be a gala night and the induction of six Jamaican pioneers in film. There will also be screening at the University of the West Indies global reggae conference on February 22 and February 23 and the screening of rastafarian-themed films at the Marley Museum today.
The film festival continues tonight beginning at 7:30 p.m. along with reggae academy opening night reception and showcase at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
Inductees in the Jamaica Film Academy, Minister Grange said, include film producer, Chris Blackwell, who began his career as the main financial backer of Perry Henzel's 'The Harder They Come'; actor Carl Bradshaw; Sally Henzel, widow of Perry Henzel, who is to be inducted on his behalf; and Trevor Rhone, whose stage play, 'Smile Orange', became one of the earliest Jamaican feature films.
Also to be inducted are: cinematographer, Franklyn St. Juste, who began his film career as a cinematographer at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS); and documentarian, Cynthia Wilmot, who joined the JIS in the mid-1960s to make short documentaries on government topics. She partnered with Hillary Nicholson to produce several documentaries on heritage, environmental and historic themes, including a six-part documentary on national hero, Norman Manley.
Sponsors of the festival are the Jamaica Tourist Board, Altamont Court Hotel, Strawberry Hill Hotel, Virgin Airlines, Irie FM, CVM-TV, Hype TV, and Courtleigh Hotel and Suites.
Film Festival Goes to Island Village........
Just a quick update to let you know that the Reggae Film Festival will have one night at the Island Village in Ocho Rios this evening 29th Feb. where we will show 2 feature films and 2 documentaries.
More pictures and reviews to come soon......
Picture of Barbara blake Hannah and Olivia 'Babsy' Grange presenting Trevor Rhone with his inductee certificate to the Jamaica Film Academy.
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