I was invited to the premier of the short film "Crucible" by Rickroy "Quest " Williams - Writer/Actor/Director/Editor || Writer/Artiste/Producer/Engineer. The film stars Rickroy "Quest" Williams, Darren Lindsay, Alexia Young and Richard Gardner. The Director of Photography was Wentworth Kelly, Producer Adrienne Pinnock, Production Assistant Shari Kelly, Assistant Director & Audio Mixer & Film Scoring Asst. - Ariff Butler just to name a few of the crew members . The premier was in Mandeville on the roof of Regie's Bistro https://www.facebook.com/regiesbistro.

The event got off to a late start as the actor ran into some problems on the way. You know how these things go, Murphy's law always kicks right when you are about to do something really important. None the less, when the movie got underway, everyone sat back and got immersed in the story. Without giving too much away, it is a story about a man who faces several tests in his life as a consequence of his actions. Faced with the tragic reality of several events he must make a choice to change. A change he is not sure he can make, because he has only ever one way of life.

The movie was 23 minutes long, shot with a Black Magic Pocket Camera. The cinematography, both day and night shots were good and for the most part the acting was good. What really stood out, was it's sound track. Excellent lyrics that truly fit every aspect of the story telling. This film was really a portfolio piece for the young actor "Quest" who showcased a variety of talent.

I caught up with the actor and director to find out what plans they had for the film and it seems you will get to see it soon on youtube and vimeo. Look out for it, it's a pretty nice watch that speaks about a very prevalent topic in our society. Check out some of the pictures from the event.

I had the privilege of attending the UWI Community Film Project class of 2014 graduation on Thursday, January 22 at the University of the West Indies Law Faculty. The room was quite packed with lecturers, family members, guests, camera crews and the UWI Film Project volunteers. 

The guest Speaker was the Film Commissioner Ms. Carole Beckford and MP Andre Hylton who opened the ceremony MC'd by radio and TV personality Jenny Jenny. Special honours went to Lenny Little White and RETV for their contribution to the project as well as their companies hiring some of the past graduates.

We were not only witnesses to the graduation of these Montego Bay, Portland and Kingston cohorts, but we also had the privilege of viewing their final projects. These students had never written a script before or held a camera much less edited or acted and they had only 6 weeks to learn all of this and produce a film. I remember when I was just starting out in film, how horrible my sophomore efforts were. So no doubt I was not going to be too harsh judging them. As expected with only 6 weeks and no prior experience in video production there was definite room for improvement in all of the films, but they all showed potential. You could tell given more time and practice they would easily produce better visuals and narratives the second time around. There was one film however, which really stood out. Well shot, well edited and the story translated really well. It was called "Forever New". The story of a couple who met by divine circumstances and stayed together even when things got challenging. Their love lived in memory even when one passed on. It was the last film and it was obvious they saved the best for last and the crowd reacted with applause.

After the viewing were cocktails and discussion about the films and the project which were very positive and of course the discussion was heavy on the upcoming GATFFEST festival open to all filmmakers. I entered last year and I am planning to enter again this year. It's my hopes that we will see animations, horror, Sci Fi, documentaries and music this year, as they are distinct categories on their flyer. Check out all the information above and go to their facebook page for details. https://www.facebook.com/TheUwiCommunityFilmProject

Here are some pictures from the graduation. Forgive the fuzziness, I used my phone.