Traveling to Jamaica, I had two contrasting images in my head.

An attractive couple in their 20s, bodies toned to the core, dive into a river.

Reggae star Jimmy Cliff█s “Shelter of Your Love” orchestrates this lover's montage of sensuality.

Jamaica as paradise.

Cut to another pair in the throes.

We hear aggressive knocking on the door.

[knock, knock, knock.]

And by the end of the opening scene to “Third World Cop,” three characters are shot dead.

Jamaica as danger-zone.

[sound of gunshot.]

♪ ♪ Steadee█s Back In The Groove theme song plays ♪ ♪ Hi, I'm Stephanie the Cinema Nomad.

Join me on brand new adventures.

The world is a wonderful place where people overcome incredible odds to make their mark.

We'll meet filmmakers who are as courageous as they are inspiring.

Cinema Nomad connects across cultures: to learn, explore, share, and carry on a heritage of cinematic storytelling.

Hey guys!

My name is Stacy-Ann Sutherland.

I'm a filmmaker from Kingston, Jamaica, and I'm 30-years-old.

I'm 30, 30, 30.

90 miles south of Cuba, Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean and the largest of the region's English speaking islands.

Tourism is one of its biggest industries.

Known colloquially as The Rock, Jamaica is slightly smaller than the U.S.

state of Connecticut and has a population of just under 3 million.

For decades, there was a boom of Hollywood film activity shooting on the island.

From the excitement of OO7 being birthed here in Jamaica to many a RomCom I watched in my young adult years.

Yet growing up, I heard very little about local Jamaican made films.

As the creators of Mento, Ska and Reggae, Jamaica is a musical powerhouse.

Additionally, she boasts strong athletes, notably the likes of Usain Bolt, who became the fastest man in the world in 2008.

Jamaica's national motto is “Out Of Many One People.” The theme of unity and brotherly love is strong.

Yet Jamaica is full of contradictions.

Over the years, the government has declared multiple states of emergencies due to rises in violent crimes and high murder rates.

Heading into this Caribbean island, I wanted to explore the PR problem that is Jamaica.

Through media, popular culture and the movies, Jamaica is often presented as one of two extremes: a honeymoon paradise, or a crime ridden danger zone.

So where does the reality lie, and how do the filmmakers of Jamaica perceive their home country?

When I was growing up, I know there would be, I heard stories of people saying like, they literally thought that like, we live in trees, and it's just beaches and palm trees and coconuts and, You know you█d never think that we have, you know, beautiful homes or highways and all these things, which literally just came around probably in the last decade.

But the reality is that we're just as advanced, but we're still a “third world country” due to the economy and stuff.

When I went away to college, that's when I actually had more of a connection with the misconceptions.

These were just things that I would hear.

Because you went to school in Florida, right?

Yeah.

Orlando.

And so how did your classmates perceive you or treat you?

They love me.

They love the accent.

I was thrilled to find my way to Stacy-Ann Sutherland, or, SAS, as she is known to her friends.

To me, SAS is a rock star.

She is a woman of her own making.

SAS is a single mother raising a son named King, named for the great ambitions she has for him.

King has a condition where he does not speak nor walk on his own, but SAS is a mama bear who fights for her cub, and when she wasn't getting the answers she needed in Jamaica, she sought medical assistance in Philadelphia.

After some years, she learned that King has an ultra rare genetic disease, Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1D, which affects the entire functioning of his body.

At the time of King's diagnosis, he was one of only 25 known cases worldwide.

Okay, okay okay okay.

As a filmmaker, SAS is a one woman band, often working on projects as the Director, Producer, Cinematographer, and Editor all at once.

It's when you love what you do, it just makes it so much easier to do it, you know?

And I also believe the value of pre-production and not rushing that process, because what you're putting is literally what you're going to get at the end.

SAS fell in love with movies from an early age.

And I was in love with Steven Spielberg after I watched “E.T” So in my head, I knew I was like, you know, I want to be the next female Steven Spielberg.

But just the reality of there weren't much, there weren't any creative schools out here or schools that or universities that cater to the arts.

At three-years-old, Stacy-Ann took up dancing, and throughout grade school she excelled at dance, creative writing, netball and track and field.

At 12, she received a black belt in martial arts and later became a martial arts teacher, specializing in judo.

Her room, full of trophies is testament to this.

And realistically what I thought I wanted to do was more... I wanted to become a dancer, because dancing was the first thing, first touch of creative energy that I... I wanna say I birthed within myself.

You know, My parents didn't like the idea of their daughter wanting to become a dancer... So unfortunately, they cut funding and I took a step back from dancing.

And that's where I transitioned more into martial arts.

Still had the love to want to do something in film, but just the reality of not anything or any resources in Jamaica.

She briefly considered becoming a lawyer, but took a personality test that confirmed her initial desire to be a filmmaker.

Went on-line, I went to Google, [ to King ] yes, papa... I typed in “personality quizze” and I filled out this quiz and it gave me a list of careers that would fit me based on my personality.

But the filmmaker side stood out to me because I knew that I had a love for the arts.

At 18, SAS traveled to Florida for college and studied filmmaking at Full Sail University in Orlando.

My boyfriend at the time, had mentioned that he was going away to college, and I was so in love.

I was just like, anywhere you go, I go.

So I was like, okay, I'm going to go to Florida for school.

While in Florida, she worked as a production assistant on “ La Voz.” In 2014, Stacy-Ann returned to Jamaica to work in a small and struggling film industry.

But SAS doesn't give up.

I wanted to come back to Jamaica because I felt in my spirit that there was like something happening in Jamaica that I needed to be here for.

And that was actually when the Reggae Revival they called it started happening, when Chronixx and Protoje, and all them were coming out.

For hire, SAS works mostly on short documentaries and docu-series for nonprofit causes.

She's also worked for a local news station in Kingston, where she produced the TV morning show five days a week.

In addition, SAS has worked on reality shows, music videos, commercials, and produced a TV series, “Savannah,” by DSE Jamaica.

[ film clip ] Yo, cuz, we ready.

We visited SAS at her home in Kingston.

I've noticed you do a lot of reality TV, you do music videos, commercials some documentary.

Do you have, like one niche that you're most interested in?

Or do you want to do the feature narrative films eventually?

Or...?

Yes, yes, I want to making movies.

That's ultimately... because they don't make a lot of movies out here.

Like, Storm█s the only person that I feel has been making movies like that on a proper consistent basis.

[ Stephanie ] “Better Mus█ Come?” Yeah, “Better Mus█ Come.” And then he did “Sprinter” that most recently came out with Jada and Will.

So I would love to do feature lengths, because when I went to Full Sail, that's what they were preparing us for.

So what, when you get to make your feature, what are the kind of stories you want to tell in your narrative filmmaking?

Definitely something based off of a true story.

Like, I feel like there is so much... There█s so much information within Jamaica that's just, you know, unspoken.

So I would definitely want to do something tailored to that, because, we are unfortunately diluted by a lot of the media coming from Europe and America.

And it starts off disconnecting people from their roots.

You know?

So I feel like if we are more connected with our roots, then, you know, we can build a better foundation for the youths, you know.

The original inhabitants considered to be the Ciboney, while the last of which are known as the Taino, a subgroup of the Arawak arriving from South America around 700 CE.

They called their new home Xaymaca, which translates to “land of wood and water.” In 1494, Christopher Columbus in the name of the Spanish Empire claimed the island as his own personal property.

He named it “Santiago” and his son Diego inherited the island in 1506.

After which the Spanish began importing enslaved Africans to the island.

Because no gold was found, the Spanish nearly forgot about the island.

And in 1655 Oliver Cromwell, on behalf of the British Empire, conquered Jamaica as part of a larger plan deemed the Western Design with a goal to destroy the Spanish trade monopoly.

Jamaica became Britain's wealthiest colony on the backs of enslaved Africans who cultivated sugar.

In 1690, there was a major revolt from the Maroon population who raided the plantations.

The Maroons were escaped slaves and descendants of free slaves.

By 1807, Britain officially abolished the slave trade.

However, this did not prevent slavery from continuing.

As a result, in 1831, was the Christmas Rebellion, where plantations were razed and slaveholders killed.

This hit home for the British, as in 1834, emancipation was finally passed by the British Parliament.

The Maroons still exists today and are a strong symbol of Jamaican resistance.

SAS and I visited Emancipation Park in New Kingston, and we walked the well-manicured greens lined with statues of Jamaica's national heroes, including the celebrated Nanny, a queen of the Maroons, a revolutionary woman who led a guerrilla warfare against British authority.

We also admired the controversial statue “Redemption Song” by Laura Facey Cooper.

This 11 foot high, bronze sculpture depicts a nude couple facing each other, gazing into the heavens, rising above to freedom, despite the hardships of past centuries.

[Reggae music plays on car radio] On the outskirts of Kingston, I visited Port Royal to see Jamaica█s past merge with the present.

Today a small fishing village, in 1655, Port Royal was founded by the British to help with the defense of the colony.

It became the capital of Jamaica and quite the thriving harbor.

By the late 1600s, Port Royal was one of the largest and richest European cities in the New World.

It was a den of sin, full of prostitution, booze and, yes, pirates.

The British paid the pirates to ransack Spanish ships to help in the takeover of Jamaica.

On June 7th, 1692, Port Royal was hit with a destructive earthquake, killing around one-third of the population.

The survivors headed to Kingston, which eventually became the new capital.

Named the Creative City of Music by UNESCO, Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, with a population of around 600,000.

It lies between the Blue Mountains, where the famous coffee is cultivated, and the world's 7th largest natural harbor.

In 1872, Kingston was officially named the capital, but in 1907, an earthquake leveled the city, which ultimately divided it.

And as the decades went on, the wealthy moved uptown while the downtown cultivated the new Rastafarian movement.

In the 1960s and 70s, unemployment soared along with crime.

Today, Kingston is Jamaica's foodie capital, where patties rule the day and music revives the night.

[from “Ceiba” film clip] Ceiba was created to be magical, majestic, a memorial to our Jamaican people.

Hurricane Sandy brought her down.

For three years, she lay on the banks of the White River in Saint Ann, tantalizing me.

After gathering courage, men with muscle and white rum, we started carving Ceiba in January 2016.

It took nine months to carve Ceiba.

SAS filmed “Ceiba,” documenting a project by artist Laura Facey.

Tracing the after life of a massive ceiba tree that was knocked down by hurricane Sandy in Saint Ann, Laura turned this into a drum and she transported it across the country to the National Gallery in Kingston, where it took 50 soldiers to lift it inside.

[ “Ceiba” film clip ] It was an amazing feat.

[Soldiers grunt and cheer] [SAS] Alright, so Laura Facey, I met through a company that I was working with when I first started working in the industry.

[Stephanie] Is that the same Laura Facey who did the statue?

[SAS] Yup.

Yeah.

[Stephanie] Oh, no way!

[SAS] God is good.

God is great.

Bless the hands who prepared this plate, and for all those who eat, let it make it make us great.

Amen.

- Amen.

So she had her ceiba drum, and they transported it from Saint Ann to the National Gallery.

And I filmed the whole thing.

And that was pretty cool.

Pretty, pretty cool.

Because the drum could play on both sides.

It could play.

[ Stephanie] ...so cool.

[”Ceiba” film clip] My intention was to have a fair-skinned person at one end and a dark-skinned person at the other.

And they would talk to each other.

And talk to the ancestors.

And create healing for our land.

Yeah.

Yes.

Ready for your close up?

Ready for your close up.

Big smile.

Big smile!

vrmm.. vrmm ..vrmm... So, what's it like being a filmmaker and a mom and juggling all of that?

I█m not going to lie, it█s when I have to edit, that's when it's tedious.

So it's just finding a rhythm that when I have to break and become a mom, that I get back into that rhythm quickly.

Well, it seems like you're a really good mom.

Oh, thank you, Stephanie.

Did you hear that King?

Deciding to become a mom, because it definitely was a decision, I knew it was going to change me in some way.

I was scared to the death, because it was my first time giving birth.

You know, you hear all these horror stories about the pain, and the needle, of the epidural and all these things, and the fact that I was able to complete that task ...task... in like five hours.

It definitely shifted in me that I can almost do anything that I put my mind to.

Initially when I had him, I definitely wanted to do something.

I wanted to do something in terms of like an A, B, C like a Jamaican version, because I was searching for black content for him to watch because a lot of it is, you know, it's pretty centered of the European race, and I wanted him to see that diversity from an early age.

King is two now.

But when he was around seven months, we realized that things were not progressing the way they were supposed to.

And, his pediatrician basically said that we should have him see a physical therapist.

Like accepting that for a time I was blaming myself, like I did something wrong.

You know, the lack of support that I had around me, made it a bit difficult, because I'm a single mom.

So, you know, his dad is in the picture, but not having, you know, that constant support was an issue.

But I've learned to adapt to that, you know, because once I realized what I have to deal with I just tap in and deal with it.

It didn't hit me until I went to go to the MRI.

And it was the first time I was around parents whose children have similar situations.

And... Yo, I had to hold back tears that whole day, because in that moment I█m just like, “Okay, so this is why I█m a filmmaker” I need to bring awareness to this, you know?

So that is, I believe on anything else that that is part of the reason why this is happening to me.

You're like sweating bricks.

Jamaica is so hot.

In the 1980s came a flood of movies set in Jamaica, which portray the island as a “lover's paradise.” Such romantic portrayals include: “Club Paradise,” a goofy comedy starring Robin Williams with Jimmy Cliff, which brought in an estimated $5.3 million to the Jamaican economy.

My favorite, “Cocktail” with Tom Cruise in his heart throb years.

“Cool Runnings,” the Disney overly stereotyped feel good Jamaican bobsled movie, and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” a romantic comedy starring Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, and Taye Diggs.

Tom Cruise returned to Jamaica in 2010 with co-star Cameron Diaz for some scenes of “Knight and Day,” an entertaining spoof on the type of spy-thrillers Cruise is used to acting in.

[film clip] We did the yoga part, whereas then, we did the media prep.

What else did we do?

We had a drink.

We had a drink.

Very, very key.

We had a drink.

But self-defense is another real part.

Gender violence.

I have to tell you that's a big part of the motivation for this whole project for us.

SAS is really proud of a four part docu-series she worked on about women in music.

This series follows women musicians who each have similar struggles.

Sharing the stories of these strong women musicians in a male dominated industry came full circle for SAS: she was pregnant with King at the time of the shoot.

I wanted to talk about more your “Women In Music” series and what was the impetus behind creating that?

It█s about the struggles that women faced being musicians from back in the days, like, you know, just the reality of because you're a woman, they expect you to do certain things to make it, or they didn't want you to be a part of it, for the simple fact that you're a woman, you know.

So you would see how things start to come full circle, because we would speak to people who are in the music industry from as way back as the 60s and 70s, and even persons who are upcoming now and they share the same struggles, you know, they share the same trials.

So it holds a very sacred space in my heart.

Aside from the fact that I was pregnant with him, and he actually kicked for the first time while I was on set.

There█s one artist that was a part of it, she was actually the person in the Randaes Boutique video, Minori.

She's an upcoming artist now, and you know, she lost her parents.

And, you know, she's literally been toughen it out by herself for a very long time.

And she's such a talented artist, so just being able to give her that platform to share her story is what made it that much better for me.

The episode I saw was, you were in the workshop, they were doing yoga and then they did the the defense class.

Yeah.

Yes.

And it really struck me, that how much they were talking about like, Jamaica as an aggressive place.

And is it really tough as a woman here in Jamaica?

Do you feel that?

Yeah.

I stepped in front of the camera for that episode, because I, I mean, being a first degree black belt, I thought it was important, as a Director to speak my truth, because part of the reason why I got into martial arts, even though I was, as I said earlier, invited in, is that the reality is that rape is real out here.

You know, my martial arts instructor, she actually told us stories of she had to fight off three guys from raping her.

You know, I am blessed to have never been in a situation like that.

And I honestly want to say, martial arts had a big impact on that.

As well as I'm just the type of person where I like to feel out a space.

And if I just feel off about something, I take myself out of the space.

Do you think it█s changing or improving?

One thing I've heard is that it's not talked about here, that it's actually a taboo subject to even talk about in Jamaican society.

It is not really spoken about because of the same fact I told you earlier, that Jamaica is a male driven society.

Even pay.

Like I know there are situations where men, male managers will get paid more than female managers.

You know that classism is real.

Sexism is very real.

I would want to say I have some very strong women out here, though.

We have some real lioness women that will stand up for their rights and not take less than what they deserve.

But I'm all about history and where it█s coming from and I mean, this stems back from slavery.

You know, it stems from that mindset of the man is in charge and the man is the one that is superior.

And the woman is supposed to stay home and cook and clean and all these bag of foolishness.

We're supposed to be, quote-unquote a “matriarchal society.” I think that's legally.

But in reality, we aren't.

How Jamaican men grew up is that they are not necessarily in touch with their emotional intelligence.

So just expressing themselves emotionally, just even trying to understand who they are as a person, it is difficult for some.

A prime example of the next generation of Jamaican filmmakers is Gabrielle Blackwood.

Gabrielle is a director and cinematographer that shoots and colors short films, commercials, and documentaries.

Her motto is “Tell me I can't, and I can.” She says she's “a sucker for anything imaginative, challenging, and out of the box.” “A lover of all things, period and Western.” Gabrielle has a Master of Arts in Screen Production from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and a BA in Media and Communications from the University of West Indies in Jamaica.

She is a Past-President of the Jamaican Film and Television Association.

Gabrielle spoke to me about a documentary series she was making about masculinity in Jamaica.

[in film clip] I am tall, with dreads, and a beard.

Black Jamaican.

Even this series that I'm doing is not just to understand the masculine, but it's also to celebrate the achievements of those who are NOT that way.

[Stephanie] It's a great approach.

So, you know, it's one of those exercises where you're hoping that the message within the film can, I don't know, affect change.

But it is a reality that we live in.

[Stephanie] Where do you think that stems from?

[Gabrielle] That's definitely upbringing.

Definitely upbringing and upbringing... So, for example, and I don't wanna say the inner city, because not everybody from the inner city█s like that.

But also, if you look at the inner city and just the conditions that they have to live on and how they're even treated by society, you just have to be like, well, that's where that comes from.

So, you know, when I'm speaking with one of the people I was working with in the documentary, I think it█s... One of the episodes is “Wrongly Accused.” And he is wrongly accused.

He█s mistreated by the police, because the police don█t like the community that he has lived in.

Now, if you've lived in a completely hard life all your life, then what example is that?

What are you going to teach your children?

You're going to teach them to defend themselves and to act out a particular way, to be rough and tough.

And, you know, we don't, you know, it's not like a culture where you have your dad saying, you know, “I love you.” “Give me a hug, give me a kiss” It's more like, “no, you're a big boy.” Nuh-uh, I'm not like that.

[Stephanie] Do you think it stems back deeper to, like, the colonialism and slavery and all that?

It could.

What a lot of people don't know is we have an internal culture in Jamaica where anything outside is better.

And that definitely stems from colonialism.

And so we have I think now we're getting to the point where we're realizing that, but anything outside is better than what we have.

Even like the films that you've seen, why are we catering to a particular market when, you know there's so many other stories that we can tell?

But that, all it ties back into that whole mindset of, we're not good enough.

But, we're very proud of, you know, our music we're very proud of, you know, how we perform in sports.

We're a very proud people, and we're a very loving people.

But we still... there's still that subconscious.

While in Jamaica, I wanted to explore what I had previously seen as stereotypes of Jamaica, and came to realize these things are still deeply rooted in Jamaica's culture: Reggae, Rasta and Ganja.

Reggae is a musical form born out of Mento, and later Ska.

Mento is a distinctly Jamaican musical genre, a blend of African and European rhythms just like the island itself.

As Jamaica was coming out of British colonialism, the music and lyrics of reggae helped shape and what it meant to be a free people, a free nation.

In Jamaica and the rest of the world, Reggae became a symbol for freedom and revolution.

Reggae has a close association with Rastafarianism.

So in order to truly understand reggae, one must also understand the origins of Rasta.

Back in the 1920s, Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican living in Harlem, mobilized a Pan-African movement to encourage Africans in the diaspora to embrace their black heritage and return to Africa.

He said, “Look to Africa where a black king will be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near.” Garvey's followers in Jamaica took this black king to mean the Ethiopian Ras Tafari Makonnen, who became His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie the First.

Reggae music became the main carrier of this message, focusing on themes of, quote, exploitation of the black masses and is often an homage to the history and struggle of Afro Jamaicans and Africans across the world, seeking liberty, redemption, respect and spreading their love while holding on to their identities.

[SAS] Marcus Garvey!

This is my favorite national hero.

“A people without the knowledge of their past, history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.

Up you mighty race!

You can accomplish what you will.” That's what I'm talking about, why, when I say that it's important for us to know our roots.

That's why me personally, moving forward, apart from the passion project that I had, I definitely want to do things that link us back to our African roots.

Yeah, because if you don't know where we█re coming from, we don't know where we're going.

1972 was a monumental year for Jamaican cinema.

“The Harder They Come” was released.

Director Perry Henzell was born in 1936, in the north coast town of Annotto Bay.

He was born in the same decade as the rise of Rastafari, and the Rastafari commune of Pinnacle was near where he grew up.

The Rastas were nice to him, and this had a great impact on his life and work.

You see this influence in “The Harder They Come,” and even more so in his follow up film, “No Place Like Home.” “The Harder They Come” is considered to be the first feature length film shot in Jamaica with a full Jamaican cast and crew.

Cinematically, it influenced nearly every Jamaican film to follow.

Musically, it changed the world.

“The Harder They Come” helped spread Reggae music around the globe.

While Reggae was popular on the island and in the UK, the music had yet to spread to a more international mainstream.

The lead actor, Jimmy Cliff, went on to become one of Reggae█s biggest stars, and he wrote four original songs for this movie.

The plot revolves around Cliff's character Ivanhoe, who dreams of making it big as a pop singer.

Ivan manages to record a stellar record, but he turns down the piddly compensation the tyrannical record producer Hilton offers him.

Ivan soon learns you can't get anywhere in this business without Hilton.

So, Ivan turns to a life of crime and murder, and spends the rest of the movie on the run.

But as a result, his song “The Harder They Come” is a huge hit.

[film clip] So it goes something like this.

Dig it.

[in film clip] ♪♪ The Harder They Come song ♪♪ The music encapsulates the rebellious themes of the movie.

A woman fighting for the future of Jamaican filmmaking is Film Producer, Justine Henzell, the daughter of Perry and Sally Henzell, who were the Director and Art Director, respectively, of “The Harder They Come.” Justine founded 10A, a creative hub on the site of her childhood home in Kingston, It█s also where Perry filmed “The Harder They Come.” We are sitting in the courtyard, which actually above our heads is a DCP projector and we do outdoor screenings.

So film is very important here at 10A, ‘cause this is where Perry, my father, made “The Harder They Come.” And before he made “The Harder They Come” here, he made literally hundreds of commercials out of this property.

So we lived here, but he also had his editing room and his production office.

And at the back was the backlot.

You know, I really grew up, you know, riding around on a dolly.

And the crew were part of the extended family and sitting in the editing room, splicing ends of film because it was only place that had air conditioning, and it was cold and dark, and I got to be near my father while he was working.

So why do you think “The Harder They Come” still has such a strong legacy and is still important to Jamaica popular culture today?

I think because it was authentic.

Because Perry said he was making it for a Jamaican audience and not for anyone else.

I think, because, I mean you can't... Nothing can ever be the first again.

So it was the first time that a Jamaican audience saw themselves on screen: not watered down, not trying to speak standard English, speaking Jamaican English, and being very honest about who we are.

The music is iconic.

Jimmy Cliff█s performance is just... incredible.

The intensity that he has in that role is fantastic, and you can't help being drawn into that.

So... I think that's why; I think it's because it was true.

And I think anything that's true will continue to resonate through decades.

People saw “The Harder They Come” as speaking a truth to the harsh realities of life in Jamaica.

It is a direct contrast to the films that were coming out of Hollywood set in Jamaica.

The films made in Jamaica by Jamaicans since “The Harder They Come” seem to emulate many of the elements of this seminal film.

It's almost as if there's a list of required tropes to put into each Jamaican made movie.

While the films tend to show a more realistic side of life in Jamaica, they are often gritty, urban crime dramas with music at the core of its plot.

Wannabe musicians down on their luck trying to make it big in the city, get screwed over, and then caught up in a drug-fueled gang war.

Other tropes show off Rasta culture, and often the persecution of Rastafarians.

There's often what I'd call a “Christian revival scene,” and a shocking amount of violence.

Some notable films since “The Harder They Come” include “Rockers,” “Countryman,” “Third World Cop” “Dancehall Queen,” “Shottas,” “Made In Jamaica,” “Better Must Come,” “Holding On To Jah,” “Marley,” ”Sprinter,” and “Yardie.” [in “Yardie” film clip] D for Daddy.

[ women speaks in background ] D for Dennis.

While I appreciate the groundbreaking moment “The Harder They Come” had to Jamaican cinema, I prefer “No Place Like Home.” A lovely, poignant film with a production journey that is stranger than fiction.

So my father always wanted to tell three stories.

“Harder They Come” was the first one.

And that was “a country boy comes to town.” “No Place Like Home” was the second one in the series, which was “a city woman who comes to Jamaica.” “No Place Like Home” was the story of her exploration of Jamaica, but also self-discovery.

And he started that film right after “The Harder They Come” in the 1970s.

But like “The Harder They Come” he kept running out of money.

But “No Place Like Home” was even more experimental than “The Harder They Come.” So... He stopped and start.

Stopped and start.

And one of those times he went to New York to go and retrieve the footage, because he had found some money.

And when he went to the storage facility in New Jersey, they brought him a film, put it up, and it was a porn film.

And he was like, “that's not my movie.” And the way he tells the story, he said he stumbled out of that storage facility in New Jersey.

He looked at the Manhattan skyline and he said, “I have to get out of here.” “I have to forget about this film.” “Otherwise I'm going to go crazy.” Because he had invested all the money and all his time and energy in doing that.

And so he came home to Jamaica and he never did film again.

And then years passed, and a lady called and got in touch with me and said, “I think I may have found your film.” And I was like, “What?

!” And I remember getting the cans of film in New York in a hallway, with a restorer with me at the time, and holding my breath until they opened them, and they were fine.

And, so... Perry was able to look at the footage that he had already shot.

He came up with the idea for an insert shoot, which is when I got to actually be on location with my father, and he was able to do a work-in-progress cut of “No Place Like Home” before he died.

So in September 2006, he showed the work-in-progress in Toronto, and in November, he passed on.

And I really feel like he was able to release having that piece of unfinished business much further along.

[Stephanie] It's a beautiful story.

It's pretty incredible.

[Stephanie] I█m struck by the fact that the Jamaican films I█ve seen have largely had the same story and it often centers around violence.

So it's almost like this is what you have to do to succeed.

This is what I need to do to succeed.

So it's almost like just sticking to that concept.

Do you think cinema has the power to change some of that?

Can you as a woman filmmaker by the stories you tell can help change some of that?

Definitely.

Definitely.

Definitely.

Which is, I mean, I produced a short film, it was it a couple of years ago called “Savannah.” Right.

So that's a love story.

That's part of the reason what Donisha and Kush tried to do.

They wanted to change the narrative of stories being told in Jamaica.

Donisha is a beautiful writer, and I was blessed to be a part of that production for that very reason, because I was sick and tired of the “Shottas” and the gun and the violence.

But it also is because that's the market is like, you know what they expect, give them what they want.

But there's been a change in probably the past two years.

But the reason why is it's not being marketed as much... That is probably the problem.

[ phone rings ] [ softly singing ] something in the way she.. [in film clip] Hello.

James residence.

I think it's an important point, because when I went to school in New Zealand for my thesis film, they said, okay, present two ideas.

One was about, a lawyer in a gypsy kind of town, and it had a whole storyline to it.

And then another one was about a street boy who got involved with the wrong, on the wrong side of the tracks.

And they chose the street boy.

And I was a bit frustrated because in my head I was like, I came here to do the opposite of what you're telling me to do.

And I think now, when I say now, I would say in the last 2 to 3 years that we have actually come together as a film community and consciously, you know, not decided “oh we're not going to do those stories,” but consciously decided that we're going to expand the narrative that we've been selling of Jamaica.

And so there are, including mine, there are other features which are coming up, which are in script form right now, which are telling those different stories.

So I'm actually excited to see, I would say in the next five years, how that turns out.

But I mean, at the same time, we can always put the content on paper, but where we need funding for films, that's something that we have to improve upon in Jamaica significantly.

What we do for a living, Steph, is intangible.

So you really can't put a price on it.

And that is the freaky part about this industry, is that you don't see the value in putting something on a screen that can change a little girl's life.

You know like, it█s a majority of people, I'm assuming, in Jamaica have access to local television.

So imagine if we were just pushing out positivity.

I mean, at some point, I thought the only way to really create change is to become a politician.

But that's not really my style.

I don't really want to get like all corrupt and... ...I don█t have time for that.

I don█t have time for it.

So, yeah I plan to find another way.

Whether it is... well, I opened my own company recently.

So whether it is fueling content through that way, if it has to be on YouTube and you just market it, and you put up posters, and people take businesses more serious than individuals.

And just to be a professional.

And I reached a point in my career where I just wanted to be taken really seriously.

I honestly don't think people were taking me that seriously before, you know?

One, because I'm a female.

Two, because of how I look.

Yeah, like [Stephanie ] ...meaning?

Because you're brown.

And you're so called “uptown,” they think you're not smart.

They think you can't hold a conversation.

Like, I've had conversations with guys, they're just like “I didn't know you could hold a conversation.” “I thought you were just like ditzy in your head.” That type of thing.

So, when they actually have a reasoning with me now, then they'd be like, “Okay.” From the early days of tourism on the island, tourism and filmmaking have gone hand in hand.

In the late 1800█s came the growing banana trade, which eventually led to the creation of the United Fruit Company, which led to a massive export trade that ultimately led to tourism.

Filmmaking in Jamaica dates back to the early 1900s.

In 1916, “A Daughter Of The Gods,” starring Australian swimmer, Annette Kellermann, was filmed in Jamaica.

This Fox production was considered one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time, with a $1 million budget.

It was also one of the first films to ever show nudity.

Also shot in Jamaica from 1939 was “The Devil's Daughter,” in a rare example of a Hollywood film with an all black cast.

Around this time, the people of Jamaica were organizing themselves to demand better working conditions, and the British became overwhelmed by Jamaican-led strikes and riots.

At the dawn of World War II and after, Jamaica attracted Hollywood stars such as Errol Flynn, who built a home in Port Antonio in Portland.

He would throw big parties.

And according to legend, Flynn was the first to commercialize river trips on traditional bamboo rafts, still a popular tourist activity.

Productions flooded into Jamaica in the following decades of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” “A Passionate Summer,” “A High Wind In Jamaica,” “In Like Flint,” and the original “Papillon,” a prison drama set in French Guiana.

At the National Library of Jamaica, I had the pleasure to meet Mr.

Rolforde Johnston who oversees the preservation of audiovisual content, newsreels, speeches, and films, which they are working on digitizing.

The audiovisual preservation program began in 1998 with a grant from the Japanese government, who gave them the equipment and some funding to begin.

The library is meant to be a research destination and is visited by scholars from around the world.

The thing is that when you are able to actually go through some of the materials that are here, through this work, I█m preserving the nation's heritage, and I'm thinking, hey, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren and my friends█ grandchildren, are able to see things that happened back in the days.

Like, for instance, we have one thing that is highly, asked for, is... the lowering of the Union Jack and the hiring of the... OUR national flag at the National Stadium.

It's... The film is called “A Nation is Born.” And so, when you can actually have that to show the next generation and the generation after that it for me, it brings joy and pride.

One person inspired by the landscapes of Jamaica was Ian Fleming, author and writer of the James Bond novels, which led to one of the most successful and popular movie franchises in history.

Born in 1909 in London, Fleming became a naval intelligence officer during World War II.

In 1942, his work took him to Jamaica for an intelligence summit, and Ian decided that after the war he would move there.

He did, and in 1946 he built a house on 15 acres of a former donkey racetrack in the banana port town of Oracabessa Bay, and named his new dwellings GoldenEye, after a codename of one of the operations he oversaw during the war.

From GoldenEye, Fleming wrote all of his Bond novels.

Three of his books were set in Jamaica: Dr.

No, Live And Let Die, and The Man With The Golden Gun.

Today, GoldenEye is an upscale resort owned by another prominent persona who calls Oracabessa home: British-Jamaican Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records.

I stayed at GoldenEye for a few nights and got to geek out over a tour of Fleming's digs.

In addition to Ian's writing desk, the production schedule of “To Russia With Love” is on display.

“Dr.

No” was chosen to be the first Bond book made into a movie, and naturally, Fleming suggested that Jamaica be its filming location.

“Dr.

No” starred a dashing, young Sean Connery, with Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder.

It was released in 1962, the same year that Jamaica achieved its independence.

A decade later, “Live and Let Die” from 1973 was filmed in Jamaica.

Directed by Guy Hamilton, with Roger Moore's debut as the new James Bond.

I delighted in visiting several of the “Dr.

No” and “Live And Let Die” locations around Jamaica.

We took a road trip to Ocho Rios known as “Ochi” by the locals.

Situated on a wide bay, “Ochi” was developed for tourism in the mid 1980s.

Next we drove to Dunn's River Falls.

In “Dr.

No,” Dunn's River Falls is where Bond, Honey and Quarrel wash themselves off and hide after escaping from the guards.

Onwards to the Green Grotto Caves, one of Jamaica's largest underground walk through cave systems.

It█s believed to be approximately 28-million-years-old.

We visited Green Grotto, because it is what inspired the villain's hideaway office in “Live And Let Die.” The caves in real life were also a hideaway for the Maroons, who fought for their freedom against the British and used these caves as a pseudo underground railroad network.

In the North, between Ochi and Montego Bay, is Falmouth, where the Jamaica Swamp Safari is located.

Here, scenes from “Live And Let Die” were filmed, where Bond gets trapped in a lagoon of killer crocodiles.

I made an impromptu visit and got to meet some of the crocodiles who reside here.

Swamp Safari had been owned by a man named Kananga, who was the stunt double for Roger Moore in “Live And Let Die.” He handled the crocodiles.

The villain in “Live And Let Die is actually named Dr.

Kananga.

Named after Bond█s stunt double.

Back in Kingston, SAS and I visited 41 Fleet Street, an underserved neighborhood in the Parade Gardens district of Kingston.

And a few years back, SAS directed a music video here.

In 2014, a French woman named Marianna Farag founded Paint Jamaica.

She wanted to create something to have a positive influence on the community.

Artists came together from all over the world and from within Jamaica to paint giant murals.

SAS and I were shown around by DJ Zim and Michael.

Michael has an interest in being a filmmaker, and Zim shared his passion for music.

Zim and Michael explained the artwork and described the philosophies behind it.

Mainly, love and unity, peace.

One love.

One nation,one people.

The national motto.

All refreshing and simple ideas.

If only the world worked this way.

See, I love the Jamaican mindset and I wish I could say that Jamaica is this Utopia.

And maybe in some Rasta village with a little herb, sounds of the ocean, Reggae blasting, and the concept of peace, love and unity permeating the air, it is.

But it's hard to see a Utopia with so much economic hardships and daily struggles to put food on the table.

You know, there is a lack of employment.

You know, people literally have to be probably living from paycheck to paycheck.

So there's just frustration in general.

You know.

As I said, I'm very big on energy.

So when you think about the fact that imagine in one whole city or one whole community, you have every, every household, every husband or wife coming home from work feeling frustrated.

That energy in one space would just, you know, become bigger.

And it will spread.

To me, a Utopia is when everyone has a fighting chance.

Let's add some peace, love and unity to economic stability, so that not only the corrupt or well off or powerful can enjoy paradise.

You have this great quote in your bio.

You said, “Life is promised to no man, so be present within yourself and live a life filled with love and laughter.

It will make the journey move that much faster, and assist you get through any disaster.” Yep.

“Carpe diem.” Yup, actually I have that tattooed on me.

That█s one of my tattoos.

Carpe Diem.

Yeah.

It speaks to literally how I live my life.

You know, like, if you just focus on being positive and appreciative of the present, living in the now, it makes a difference.

If you focus on the things that bring you joy and peace and happiness, it makes a difference in just how carry yourself, and how your relationships go and everything.

I mean, I've been through a lot.

I battled depression for a good year when I came back from college, suicidal and everything.

And... That whole experience was something, but, before that, that was always core to me being positive.

SAS is one of the filmmakers I instantly connected with.

But it's more than that.

I am genuinely in awe of her.

As a filmmaker, we often ask ourselves why?

Why this story?

Why now?

Why make films?

SAS has found her purpose despite the challenges of her son's diagnosis and the less than ideal economic situations for filmmakers in Jamaica, she is determined to go on; with positivity and a creative spirit; in an effort to bring hope and information to other parents who have kids with rare diseases; and to fight for representation on screen.

When writing my next screenplay, I hope that I can create a character half as amazing as SAS is in real life.

You know, you obviously have to do things that make it easy for you to do positivity.

So I do yoga, I meditate, you know, I watch movies that make me happy.

I'm not into the violent movies all the time.

You know, I love music.

If I feel like I really am drained, you know, as a creative, sometimes you█re drained and you feel like you need a charge up.

I listen to some music and I dance.

So I will literally record a freestyle of me dancing, edit it up and put it out, and that's charged me up to go do an edit.

You know.

That's great.

I want there to be a sense of hope, a sense of revitalization, a sense of ingenuity, most importantly, confidence.

Confidence within us as Jamaicans to produce the top quality in any area, because we have the resources to do it.

Yeah man.

Everything Irie.

One love.

Out of many, one people.

These are some of the many good things about Jamaica.

The nice things.

Inspiring.

The aspects of the island I hope to remember and carry with me.

Despite the challenges the country and society brings, the creative people we spoke to were positive and filled with optimism, young and full of energy.

I'm so inspired by the women I met in Jamaica, SAS , who continues to fight for her child while finding her voice as a woman filmmaker from Jamaica, using the power of cinema for good to bring awareness and education to the world.

Justine, a beacon for the creative arts in Kingston; and Gabrielle, creatively working to change the narrative and tell fresh, relatable stories.

I only wish the best for them and hope that the world can take a cue from the Jamaicans aspiration for peace, love and unity.

Thank you for having me!

[SAS laughs joyfully.]

To learn more about the Cinema Nomad filmmakers, and dive deeper into the exciting world of global cinema, visit our website: CinemaNomad.TV [Steadman█s footsteps] Steadee On!

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