JAMAICA REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL, 17th-21st May 2012 The Jamaica Film Academy announces the Call for Entries in the 2012 Jamaica Reggae Film Festival, to be held 17th-21st May 2012 in Kingston, Jamaica.(Venue to be confirmed) In keeping with the format initiated at the inaugural event in February 2008, the Festival will showcase films in which aspects of Jamaica's Reggae music culture are displayed, documented and memorialized in feature, documentary and short films, animation and music videos. In the five years since its inception, the Reggae Film Festival has included films made by Jamaicans, as well as global reggae researchers and fans from the Caribbean, UK, USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, Serbia, Italy, Japan, Iran, France and Ethiopia. The focus of many documentaries on the history of Jamaican music and music makers, ensures an archive of historical material on the genre that preserves the oral memories of a culture that has spread to and been honored by the world. In 2012, in recognition of the 50th year of Jamaica's independence, the Jamaica Reggae Film Festival will be presented internationally in cities of the Jamaican Diaspora, with selected screenings of The Best of the Reggae Film Festival in Toronto, London, Birmingham and New York. In keeping with the objective of the Jamaica Film Academy to increase and improve the output of Jamaican film making, the annual Make A Film In 24 Hours competition has inspired and produced new Jamaican film making talent, while the Festival has discovered a surprising wealth of Jamaican talent in digital animation. The acknowledged expertise and innovation of Jamaican music video makers exposing the talents of Jamaica's powerful musical artists, provides another area highlighted by the Reggae Film Festival. Annual Awards are presented in several categories and and the international interest in the unique music and culture of Jamaica. has given prize-winning films further international awards and distribution. The Festival's identification of the genre of 'reggae films' creates a digital archive of films available for research into a variety of aspects of the Jamaican culture that emerged from the Rastafari movement and spread with the music of reggae legend Bob Marley.

The Jamaica Film Academy has moved the dates of the REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL 2011 from February to May 23-27, 2011, to be held at the Whitter Village, Ironshore, Montego Bay.  With its commitment to highlighting Jamaica's reggae culture in film, the Reggae Film Festival will celebrate two international milestones during the week-long event. The birthday of Emperor Haile Selassie I will be honoured at the Opening Night Gala on May 23, while the UN Year of African Descendants will be celebrated with a special programme of films on May 25, African Liberation Day. Other features of the Festival include the Make a Film in 24 Hours competition, a Children's Film programme, a Film Seminar featuring specially invited VIP Guests and a final night Honour Awards showcase of the winning films.

The REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL has been invited to be part of two major cultural events in Britain this year. The Drum Arts Centre in Birmingham, the largest venue for Black arts in Europe, will present the REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL as part of its Summer season's theme of Reggae & Revolution, while the Wandsworth Festival to be held in London in August, is designed to showcase Caribbean Culture. The Best of the Reggae Film FEstival will be presented at programmes in Atlanta, USA in June and in South Africa in July, while in August the Festival will once again be a feature of the Rototom Reggae Sunsplash in Spain.

Films already entered include the US feature film 'ROCKSTEADY' featuring David Hinds of Steel Pulse; SUPERSTONIC SOUND, a tribute to Black British film maker and dubmaster DJ Don Letts; EVERYDAY SUNSHINE,a documentary about the US rock-punk-reggae group Fishbone narrated by Laurence Fishbourne; and THE SKIN by HamaFilms Antigua, featuring Carl Bradshaw. Invited international guests include Laurence Fishbourne, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lennox Lewis, Carl Lumley and Mitzi Allen, as well as Jamaican film makers Chris Browne, Ras Kassa and Storm Saulter.

There are several advantages to moving the event to the new date in May.  Since announcing the February date, the organizers have received notification of several important films that wish to be included in the Festival, but that are not yet ready for screening in February. They include a major British TV series and several Jamaican feature and documentary films that hope to include the Reggae Film Festival in their film's resume and hopefully, awards. 

The Whitter Village welcomes the new dates. "I am pleased to have more time for the Village to settle in after its December opening," says proprietor Angela Whitter, "and to make sure that everything is in place for what know will be the most unusual and interesting event taking place in Montego Bay this year, at the most unusual and interesting place in Montego Bay."

The REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL continues its plans to make the 2011 event a worthy showcase of Jamaican film culture.