''Kingston Paradise'' is a 2013
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n feature-length film written and directed by Mary Wells and starring popular Jamaican entertainer Christopher 'Johnny' Daley.
Plot
Life on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica is about frantic survival for small-time hustler Rocksy—a taxi driver/part-time pimp—and Rosie, a prostitute, his roomie and business investment. They dream of something different, another life with a future. On the peeling walls of their tenement, Rosie prominently places a painting she owns that gives them both hope and something tangible to cling to. It's an exotic beach view of another more peaceful world, but they exist miles and worlds a part. So with his friend and cohort Malt, Rocksy eyes a fancy sports car nearby and together they devise a plot to steal it to sell for parts. The car belongs to a local Lebanese businessman, Faris and they figure the money could change their lives immediately, but of course it’s only temporary. Their plot is also risky and not well thought out. Rosie is dead set against it and fed up. She dreams for the beach view, she wants out, out of being entangled and out of the life. But she's bait and Rocksy cannot manage without her. When she finally leaves Rocksy becomes even more desperate and devastated. He does the unthinkable. In the chaos something changes within him, something rises and like the sun, it sets. In the context and contrasts of the Jamaican landscape its backstory is political, as the current embedded system doesn't allow for change...
Production and release
''Kingston Paradise'' is the first feature by the well-noted Jamaican filmmaker Mary Wells
who also produced the film. Kingston Paradise had a September 2013 premiere at Toronto's CaribbeanTales Film Festival.
[
The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the CaribbeanTales Festival in 2013;][ the Festival Programmer's Award for Narrative Feature at the ]Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an ar ...
in 2014;[ and Best Diaspora Film at the 2014 ]Africa Movie Academy Awards
The Africa Movie Academy Awards, popularly known as AMAA and The AMA Awards, is presented annually to recognize excellence among professionals working in, or non-African professionals who have contributed to, the African film industry. It was fou ...
. The production company is CaribbeanTalesFlix, along with sales representative California Pictures, took the title to 2014's Cannes Film Market
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ci ...
.
See also
*List of Jamaican films
This is a list of films produced or shot on location in Jamaica, in alphabetical order.
#
* ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film), 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea'' (1954), the cannibals scene
B
* ''Belly (film), Belly'' (1998)
C
* ''Club Para ...
References
External links
Official site
Facebook page
{{Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Diaspora Feature
Jamaican drama films
2013 comedy-drama films
2013 directorial debut films
2013 films
Best Diaspora Feature Africa Movie Academy Award winners
Jamaican comedy films
2010s English-language films