Last night KOTE presented an eclectic group of short films at Redbones demonstrating that Jamaica’s film industry is alive and well.  The night which was hosted and curated by David Morrison presented films which were well produced for the most part and ranged from one minute to thirty minutes in duration. The films dealt with such topics as one of Jamaica’s more colorful terms “Bl…d Cl…t.” to selling “punany” to death.  

Two films in particular stood out.  The first one was Massa God Fish Can Done, shown here, which is a documentary produced for The Nature Conservancy.  The film looks at the current issues facing Jamaican fishermen who make their living from the depleted waters of Jamaica’s Pedro Bank.  Spearheaded by Nathalie Zenny and Esther Figueroa, this film follows the local fishermen as they travel to Belize where they discover Belize’s teeming reefs and gain new insights into what can be done to save Pedro Bank and Jamaica’s over-fished waters.

Jamaica is the most over-fished country in the Caribbean and the Pedro Bank is one of the few places where people can still eke out a living from fishing.  However the documentary points out that if current practices don’t change, this will be the last generation to make its living from the sea. 

This is a great documentary…check it out and support!

The second noteworthy film which we will review in the next post was The Last Don, produced by the Rickards Bros. and which was simply outstanding.