By Claudia Gardner:
Hanover and other western parishes are set to become a greater focus of the Jamaica Film and Television Association (JAFTA) as the organisation moves to expand its reach beyond Kingston with new film training, screening and industry development programmes.
JAFTA president Nadean Rawlins made the revelation during an interview with Negril Times following the Hanover premiere of Behind Her Lens: Women and Children in the Wake of Hurricane Melissa, a partnership between UNICEF and JAFTA that used film to document the experiences of women and children recovering from Hurricane Melissa in western Jamaica. The screenings formed part of a wider advocacy campaign designed to amplify community voices and encourage dialogue around disaster recovery.
While the event focused on the power of film to tell the stories of women and children affected by Hurricane Melissa, Rawlins explained that it also reinforced JAFTA’s commitment to developing Jamaica’s film industry across the island.
“We understand it, because everything is Kingston,” Rawlins said while reflecting on comments from Hanover residents during the film premiere who described themselves as living in a forgotten parish.
“I want to tell you that the new board, one of our initiatives, in our tenure is actually extending our tentacles into other parishes. We always say filmmaking is not about Kingston”, she said, adding that the decision to launch the documentary screenings in Hanover was deliberate as it was “one of the most affected parishes”.
The visit, she noted, also highlighted the creative potential already existing in western Jamaica. And so, rather than simply bringing films to western Jamaica, Rawlins said JAFTA wants to establish meaningful programmes that help build local filmmaking capacity.
“We are so happy we started here. … we were so happy to come here to showcase the film, because I’ve met actually three filmmakers here in Hanover,” she said.
“We want to do more work. We want to do more development programmes in these other parishes and not just Kingston. We want to actually do some more screening, because there are so many initiatives that JAFTA has,” she added.
Among those initiatives is Propella, JAFTA’s flagship script-to-screen programme that develops original Jamaican films, and The Shot List, the association’s film screening and industry networking series in Kingston. Referring to The Shot List, Rawlins noted that the programme could easily be introduced in western Jamaica.
She added that many of the films shown at Negril’s Skylark Beach Resort have already come through JAFTA-supported initiatives. The possibility of a dedicated film festival for Hanover also emerged during the discussion.
When the idea was suggested, Rawlins responded enthusiastically.
“I’m telling you, that sounds like a great idea.”
However, she stressed that JAFTA’s philosophy goes beyond simply hosting screenings.
“Anything that we do, anything that JAFTA does, if we screen, there has to be a developmental component. “So if we come here and screen, we want to know, okay, can we get a bunch of filmmakers and train them in whatever discipline, whether it’s directing, writing, whatever. That is what we’re doing. Of course, we get partners to help us.”
Founded in 2015, JAFTA is a government-endorsed, not-for-profit association representing Jamaica’s film and television professionals, including producers, directors, writers, actors, technicians and other industry practitioners. The organisation focuses on advocacy, training, skills development, community outreach and strengthening Jamaica’s audiovisual sector.
Rawlins said the organisation has reached a significant milestone nationally, revealing that JAFTA was recently invited to present before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee examining Jamaica’s Green Paper on Culture, the first in Jamaica’s history. She described the recognition as evidence that Jamaica’s film industry is gaining greater national importance.
“It is a billion-dollar industry… and there are so many stories to be told in Jamaica by people, by us. And so we know that our industry is one that is thriving, and the government has recognized it.”
