PLANS UNVEILED FOR THE 2013 REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL IN OCHO RIOS!

Plans are going well for the staging of the sixth Reggae FilmFestival at Island Village, Ocho Rios, during Independence Week, August 1-5.

Delroy Morgan, Island Village manager, says the venue is pulling out all the stops to ensure the success of the event, to which he brings his experience of three years as a Sundance Film Festival volunteer.

There will be seats on the Island Village central lawn under the statue of Bob Marley, facing a large onstage screen under the classic bamboo roof.

Each night, a programme of feature films, shorts, documentaries, and music videos will be shown. In between screenings, live reggae performances will entertain audiences, who will have a chance to vote on the Best Music Video.

Premium screenings will also take place nightly in the Cove Cinema in the Village, which will host the Film Festival Gala opening reception.

The Reggae Film Festival ends August 5 with the presentation of awards and award-winning films.

In the daytime, Reggae Film Festival activities will include the midday start on Saturday, August 3, of the Make A Film In 24 Hours Competition, which ends the following day. On Sunday afternoon, the film festival seminar will take place on the topic: ‘Film: The Business of the Show’.

Among the VIP guests who have already confirmed their presence are US actor Bokeem Woodbine, star of Total Recall and Dead Presidents.

Also coming is Guyanese-American actress Rhona Fox, who heads her own successful music promotion and management company, FoxFuze, which has had reggae star Shaggy as a client.

Both will be among the judges of the festival films, as will Bruno Chatelin, chief operating officer of the respected website and magazineFilmFestivals.com, who is also a board member of the European Film Academy, a member of Cesar, and advisory member of IFFS.

REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FILMS

Among the films to be screened are six feature films, including the first from Austria, as well as the first from Antigua – The Skin – starring Jamaica’s Carl Bradshaw.

Reggae documentaries include the first from Israel – Keeper of Zion Gate –which is about Joe ‘Culture’ Hill’s peace mission to that country; and a rare view of The Land of Look Behind, a vintage documentary about rastafarianism and reggae by noted German film-maker Werner Herzog.

International documentaries include 16 Acres, a film from the United States in its Jamaican and Caribbean premiere about the struggle to build a suitable tribute to 9/11 at the World Trade Center; a documentary on Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe; and a special look at Jamaican sprint legend, Usain Bolt.

Films by Jamaican film-makers will be screened on CINE JAMAICA night, Friday, August 2, and will include several animated films, shorts and The Croft, a new feature film by Wayne Benjamin.

CINE JAMAICA films will form a special night’s programme at the upcoming Portobello Film Festival in London

Awards in several categories will be presented on Tuesday, August 5, at a gala ceremony at which a leading Jamaican reggae star will be the guest performer.

An after-party will bring the curtains down on another Jamaica International Reggae Film Festival.