Virgin1 commissions Caribbean Cops series.....

by Jacquie Bowser Brand Republic


LONDON - Virgin1 is to air a new factual TV series called 'Caribbean Cops' that follows policemen on the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia.

The eight-part series tracks the islands' police as they continue their on-going battles against international drug smuggling, gun crime, homicide, armed robbery, pick-pocketing and car thefts. Some of the highlights include jungle safaris, hot-foot pursuits through the downtown districts, beachside weddings and stag nights, the capture of French drug smugglers intercepted at sea, the finding and eradicating of hidden cannabis fields, and even preparing for the festivities of Prince Charles' Royal Visit to St. Lucia.

****
The show broadcasts ever Wednesday night on V1, and repeats on Sunday evenings, next wednesday will be episode 3.

Update.....

Just a quick update....

The new Reggae Sound System documentary 'Musically Mad' from Swedish film makers will be out on DVD very soon, will post up release date as soon as we get this.....

Attack Of The Show: 420 Jamaica
I think i forgot to mention this show, it was a 2hr special that recently broadcast on G4 channel in the USA, it was a show to celebrate so called '420' which from what i understand is a name used in the USA for Ganaja/Weed/Marijuana, aparently the name 420 originates from some group of hippy smokers who used to meet everyday at 4:20pm to hang aout and smoke! and the whole thing caught on and spread all round the USA, this is what the video explained i watched recently on G4's website.
I never got to watch the show so can;t really say much more about it, althought i did see them filming at the bob marley museum, hope rd. in February which is why i was so keen to see the show. Maybe it will turn up online sometime......

Bruce Golding - BBC Hardtalk
Watching this program was horrible! for those of you in the UK, you can watch the full show in high quality on the BBC Website via the iplayer, if your outside the UK then you might want to check the videos below:



Watching this made me cringe, i felt that the interviewer was unfair and was just trying to make Bruce Golding look bad. Make up your own minds......

Tivoli Fight Nights!!(Video Clip)

Just wanted to share this little clip with you, it's a short report from the BBC showing weekly organized fights(Boxing) in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston. The fights are said to unite the community and help to stop violence, it's an interesting clip, even the kids join in!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7400579.stm


(I'm going to start posting up more links to various video clips relating to Reggae or Jamaica just top make the blog a little more interesting.)

Dreadlock Rock - By Jack Miller (Premiere)

At last we have news of the completion of Jack Millers new documentary "Dreadlock Rock", we have talked about the film before and you can find an entry for the film on our 2006-2007 film list.

The final edit of the film will premiere 11th-15th June, at the 'Maui Film Festival', and what a beautiful place to premiere your film, then the film may do a european tour before getting a dvd release, so this is definatley one to look out for.

ABOUT DREADLOCK ROCK:
"Dreadlock Rock is an incredible musical and spiritual journey told through the lives of the brilliantly talented Jamaican musicians who's "Reggae, Rasta Revolution" of one love, one heart would forever change the musical world. In 1977, California musician, Jack Miller went to Jamaica beginning a passionate, life long pilgrimage into the heart of the Kingston recording scene. Miller befriended, recorded & toured with a who's who of Reggae superstars including Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare, the Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth, Rebel Rockers, the Reggae All-Stars, Blue Riddim Band, The Soul Syndicate and members of Third World and the Wailers. Documenting legendary recording sessions at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studio, Harry J's and Channel One Studios in Kingston, live concert performances and revealing interviews with Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Third World, Willie Nelson, Sly & Robbie, Tabby Diamond and Bob Marley & the Wailers. It's a thirty year musical journey that comes full circle in a powerful climax at the "Reggae Summit" in Jamaica with the Love, Peace & Unity Band. This is a true insiders story about a musical family that has influenced the contemporary World culture."

(www.jamaicans.com)

Jamaican Film Festivals for 2008

FLASHPOINT FILM FESTIVAL - JAMAICA(5-8th June)
Just wanted to mention this years 'Flashpoint Film Festival', for those of you who don't know, Flashpoint Film Festival is a festival setup by Firefly films who are a group of film makers based in JA, the festival runs from 5th - 8th June 2008 and is located at Fort Charles in Port Royal, Jamaica.

The festival will host not only films but Acting Workshops, Script development classes, talks on film distribution, production, plus a photo exhibition of film stills, the list goes on. It's well worth a visit if your in JA in June, plus don't forget all the wonderful films, they will also have a Rasta Film section this year so i hear, plus you can get to see some of Firefly's long awaited films.
Click hear for the Official Schedule

Check the website at www.flashpointfestival.com


SHOOT-ME FILM FESTIVAL - AMSTERDAM (16-22nd June)

Shoot-Me is a annual film festival in the Hague, Netherlands. This year they have an excellent Jamaican film section which i hear has some great Jamaican films from people like Helena Appio, David Garonzik, Silvestre Jacobi, Rick Elgood just to name a few.
The festival takes place from the 16th-22nd June 2008, and they will also hold a talk about Jamaican film at the event hosted by some of Jamaica's existing film makers.

For more info checkout the Official Website Hear

News... Sting DVD set mystery...

I recently came across 2x Sting concert dvds for 2001 + 2002, i later heard that these 2 dvds released by a company in Canada are advertized as part of a 24x dvd set of the Sting Concerts, it states that the set includes concerts beetween 1981 - 2004 and is 24x dvds in all, so as you can imagine i was pretty excited to hear that some of the early Sting concerts where now available on dvd. So i did some searching round and could not find any other years from this dvd set, i looked everywhere.

The 2001+2002 dvds where released in 2005 according to the covers, so you'd have thought that there would be others available, the website listed on the dvd no longer exists, i have some in Canada whose kindly offered to go and check out the adress of these guys to see if they still exist, so i will post an update if anything comes from this.

The other mystery is the fact that Sting has only been going since 1985 so i was told the other day, if this is true then how can they have 1981-84 in this dvd set, so this mystery goes on, if anyone has anymore info on this dvd set then please leave a comment below....

Champion Sound - Documentary

Just heard about this nice new documentary all about Sound system history in Coventry! i'm sure this will be a very nice film, it's great to see a film about the history of the UK Reggae scene, as sound systems in the UK where a big part of spreading reggae throughout the world i guess and helped make reggae what it is today.

The film titled "Champion Sound" officially launched in Coventry on 3rd May.