A documentary using the recording of an acoustic album of reggae classics to examine Jamaica and its cultural history. Its goal is to come to grips with a musical style, reggae, like other big music documentaries, such as Buena Vista Social Club, Sugar Man, and Amy and at the same time tell of the intimate lives of the legendary personalities that created it.
Director Peter Webber & Jamaican singer Ken Boothe.
Ken Boothe.
Peter Webber.
At red carpets, “everyone” can get in the picture: Selfie, news media, TFF staff.
2019 Tribeca Film Festival Staffer being interviewed.
Opens in Theaters July 10
Synopsis Based on Press Material from Borsalino Productions and Tribeca Film Festival 2019
The goal of this eponymous documentary is to come to grips with a musical style, reggae, like other big music documentaries, such as Buena Vista Social Club, Sugar Man, and Amy and at the same time tell of the intimate lives of the legendary personalities that created it. The film is built around a series of portraits, and gives star billing to the reggae music that permeate sit from beginning to end.
Legendary voices Reggae Ken Boothe, Winston McAnuff, Kiddus I, Juddy Mowatt, and Cedric Myron reunited in a yard to revisit the biggest standards of their repertoire and record a unique acoustic album, returning to the sources of their music. On this occasion, they share the mic with younger singers, representatives of the new reggae stage.
All these musicians are Rastafarians, and they embody a Jamaica with a strong identity, which has fascinated the entire world since the 60s. They are rebels, and come from all social classes; children of vicars or atheists, descendants of slaves or the emancipated, fishermen or jewellery craftsmen, they are either city-dwellers or they live on the coast or in the countryside. They believe in the virtues of plants, in the almighty power of nature … and in the success of this new beginning, which might represent a form of rebirth to them.
With this musical session as the basis of the documentary, Director Peter Webber, created a portrait of the Rasta artists who have passed through the generations with different levels of fortune. They are the last witnesses of the explosion and recognition of reggae. It’s a story in which they’ve each played a part, as each of them have been individually recognized as one of the biggest artists of this musical style by the media and the international press.
99 Minutes
Director Peter WEBBER
Director of Photography Bernard Benant
Sound, Delroy Johnson
Editing, Giles Gardner
Co-Producer Yann Legay
Producers Laurent Baudens Laurent Flahault Gaël Nouaille
Gregg W. Morris can be reached at gmorris@hunter.cuny.edu