Two brand-new, must-see documentaries filmed in Jamaica recently, “The First
Rasta” and “Bad Friday,” will be premiered at the Broward Coronation Film
Festival’s “Tribute to the Patriarchs” on Friday, December 9, 2011.
The double-bill at the Joseph C. Carter Park, 1450 W. Sunrise Boulevard, Fort
Lauderdale, starts at 7:00 pm with “First Rasta,” a documentary that gives an
authentic and comprehensive account of the little known historical origins of
the Rastafari Movement.
Produced by award-winning French music journalist Hélène Lee, First
Rasta, traces the exceptional journey of Leonard Percival Howell,
a Jamaican revolutionary/religious figure who has virtually disappeared
from the history books. Also known as the “Gong”, Howell established a Rasta
community of 4,500 members at Pinnacle in the hills of St. Catherine, Jamaica,
where the Rastafari philosophy and Way of Life was formalized, along the first
agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana among other produce.
The second documentary film on the double bill, Bad Friday: Rastafari
After Coral Gardens, starts at 9:00 pm. Bad Friday
chronicles the history of state violence against Rastafari in Jamaica during the
infamous “Coral Gardens Incident” of Easter 1963. The “Coral Gardens Incident"
was a brutal moment in the history of Jamaica just after independence from
Britain, when the Jamaican police shot and killed a number of Rastafarians and
rounded up, jailed and tortured hundreds more all over the island.
Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens is directed by
Deborah A. Thomas and John L. Jackson, Jr., who both
have production credits along with Rasta musician Junior “Gabu”
Wedderburn, and the late Rasta activist Junior “Ista J” Manning. The documentary
was shot on location in Jamaica, and the original score features modern
renderings of the traditional musical forms that comprise the roots of Reggae
music.
Admission to the Broward Coronation Film Festival is $10.00 at the door and
Under-12s are free. Food and refreshments will be on sale. Part proceeds from
the event will be in aid of the Anthony White Scholarship Fund.
The “Tribute to the Patriarchs” will be the climax of a month-long
celebration of the 81st Anniversary of the Royal Coronation of H.I.M.
Emperor Haile Selassie I and Empress Waizero Menen of Ethiopia. The Film
Festival Tribute is presented by the Rootz Foundation Inc. in association with
the City of Fort Lauderdale Parks & Recreation Department.
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