March is Movie Month at Mona

Filmmaker Barbara Blake Hannah gave a public lecture on the topic, 'Harder and Betta: Fifty Years of Jamaican Cinema', last Friday at the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre (N1) at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus.

The talk launched a month of activities on the theme, 'March is Movie Month at Mona', hosted by the Department of Literatures in English, in association with the Institute of Caribbean Studies.

Every Friday at 6 p.m. during March, lectures, discussions or film screenings will be held at the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre.

The activities, which will focus on Jamaican film, are intended to raise awareness and create interest in film studies as the Department of Literatures in English, in collaboration with the Institute of Caribbean Studies, prepares to introduce a film-studies minor for UWI students in September 2012.

The main driving force behind the Reggae Film Festival, Hannah, has made six documentaries and two feature films for television. She is also an author and music journalist.

This Friday, director Chris Browne will be the featured presenter. Browne is the director of the recently released, highly acclaimed Ghett'A Life, a film about the divisive party politics of the 1970s.

Browne also directed the very popular 1999 action movie Third World Cop.

On March 23, Dr Esther Figueroa will talk about her work as an activist and independent filmmaker.

Dr Figueroa has been involved in making various types of films and media products over the past 25 years. Her work gives voice to those outside of mainstream media, and aims to counter the dominant values, information and world views portrayed in commercial media.

One of her better known films is Jamaica For Sale, a 2008 documentary about tourism and unsustainable development.

The sessions on March 16 and 30 will feature film screenings followed by discussion.

The public is invited to attend.