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Come February 2009, the Jamaica Film Academy (JFA), through the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports (MICYS), will host the second annual Reggae Film Festival, at Emancipation Park, in Kingston. This will be carried out under the direction of the Ministry's Consultant, Barbara Blake Hannah, and British film archivist, Peter Gittins.
In an interview with JIS News, Ms. Hannah said she hoped that the second staging of the Festival would serve as a catalyst for the development of the JFA, as well as Jamaica's film industry.
"For this film festival, we want to use it to solidify the aims and objectives of the JFA, to really establish an umbrella under which the training of film makers and the production and creation of Jamaican Films can take place, in a very fruitful and supportive environment," she said.
As to what patrons should expect at the Festival, Ms. Hannah said they would see films that they have never seen in Jamaica and probably would never see in Jamaica, but for the Festival. "These are films that have been made about Jamaica's reggae music culture," she noted.
Persons who want to register to have their films shown at the Festival, should "go to the film festival website: http://www.jamaicafilmacademy.
The Festival is scheduled for Monday, February 23 to Friday February 27, 2009. There will be screenings in the day under a large tent and during the nights in the open air. Ms. Hannah is encouraging all Jamaicans to come out and support the event, which is free to the public.
A "Make a Film in 24 Hours" competition will be one of a number of special activities at the second annual Reggae Film Festival (RFF) scheduled for February 23 - 27, 2009 at Emancipation Park in Kingston.
In the meantime, she is calling for more sponsorship given the international appeal of the festival and the international interest that it has generated since the first staging in February 2008. "I think what we really need is complete sponsorship. We have partial sponsorship and we are looking to complete the sponsorship roll out. We have had a lot of international interest in the RFF and in fact it's appropriate because it's from international film makers that we have gotten most of our films," she emphasises.
RFF 2009 is being organised by the Jamaica Film Academy (JFA), through the MICYS and under the direction of Ms. Hannah and British film archivist, Peter Gittins.
Source: Jamaica Film Academy