REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL 2010: A mixed bag of screen treasures, gritty pics

Japanese filmmaker Shizuo Ishii (left) and his son, Sabe, share a moment at the 2010 Reggae Film Festival.

An independent spirit of filmmaking descended on the Hilton Kingston in New Kingston recently for the staging of the third annual Reggae Film Festival, a largely pleasing, but still evolving calendar event that should improve, hopefully, with the years.

Opening this year on February 23 inside the Hilton ballroom of the Hilton Kingston Hotel, the festival showcased a diverse collection of reggae-based and universal-themed films, features, documentaries, shorts, animation vids and music videos – all of varying quality – with numerous prizes and awards up for grabs. A competition for short films made within 24 hours stood out as one of the most exciting additions to the fest.

Meanwhile, filmmakers and video directors from as far as Japan (Shizuo Ishii), Hawaii (Joe Trivigno), the United Kingdom (Wayne Saunders), Germany (Peter Braatz), Canada (Jungle George) and the Caribbean (Ras Kassa, Kurt Fuller) brought their artsy, low- and medium- budget projects to share with festivalgoers.

Though the word ‘reggae’ is part of the title of the festival, not only music-based work was brought to the screens. Instead, viewers enjoyed an assortment of themes and subjects. Absorbing topics explored ranged from the evolution of reggae and Rastafarian philosophy to sports, crime/violence and black hair. Aside from the occasional poor editing, shaky camera angles and other flaws, most of the works showcased over the three days left a good impression. Many were informative, entertaining and bearing evidence of laudable effort.

“[The film festival] represents the birth of something new in Jamaican filmmaking. Like reggae, it didn’t start with anything big but with the work of a few creative people. That’s how the festival came about,” chief organizer Barbara Blake-Hannah told reporters inside the Hilton’s Jonkanoo Lounge. “As Jamaicans, we are still not comfortable with where we are in the film industry creatively. It feels like we are sleeping. Jamaica has a lot of cultural heritage that needs to be explored. People have stories to tell. We have a lot to say.”