New Jamaican action drama set to premiere in Toronto

Ghett’a Life, the long-awaited and much-anticipated film by respected director Chris Browne of Third World Cop, made its North American debut on September 13, as part of CaribbeanTales 2011 Toronto Film Showcase. The action drama will screen at Harbourfront Centre’s Studio Theatre. Ten years in the making, the wholly Jamaican film, funded by local investors and featuring indigenous talent and music, is a high octane no holds-barred depiction of what life is and can be like in inner city Kingston.

The “against-the-odds” drama is set in a politically turbulent community and tells the story of Derrick, a determined teenager, struggling to realise his dream of becoming a champion boxer despite a country, community and family torn apart by divisive politics. Ghett’a Life, a Jamrock film production, is written and directed by Chris Browne and stars Teddy Price, O’Daine Clarke, Chris McFarlane, Etana and Lenford Salmon. Browne, winner of the grand prize at the Hartley Merrill International Screenwriting Competition for Ghett’a Life at Cannes in 2006, has made it his passion to grow a film culture in the Jamaica. Ghett’a Life is his second feature film. His first, Third World Cop, released in 1999, still holds the record as the largest grossing Jamaican film of all time.

The CaribbeanTales Toronto Film Showcase, among other goals, aims to raise the international profile of Caribbean film, support the growth of a vibrant world-class Caribbean film and television industry, and serve as a platform for promoting the Caribbean as a premier warm weather travel destination and location for film production.  Now in its sixth year, the 2011 Toronto Film Showcase, and the recently introduced Market Incubator, will run until Saturday, engaging families, youth, community groups, and the celluloid industry in a programme that includes workshops, screenings, networking sessions, and other activities all celebrating the burgeoning film and television sector in the Caribbean.

Many exciting films will be screened during the ten-day showcase, which also features a market access incubator for Caribbean filmmakers, including Antigua’s The Skin, a mythological thriller that draws on Caribbean mythology which will have its Red Carpet Launch tomorrow.