Collywood comes to Jamaica

Producer and film maker tries to make Hollywood knockoffs from the island viable

André Gordon • Gleaner Writer

Roll film, cut, that's a wrap! No, we are not on the scene of a Hollywood film - the place is Jamaica and we are on the set of the latest Collywood production.

Led by Jamaica-born Junior Heart, this new phenomenon has taken over the creative industry in Jamaica over the last 12 months. Collywood is much like Bollywood movies, or the Jamaican version of Hollywood. Collywood Productions is a division of Renk International, a United Kingdom-based record label which was founded by Heart in 1989.

After dubbing the company Collywood Jamaica, the Jamaican Hollywood, Junior Heart has made Jamaica his home for the last 12 months and has been shooting movies and developing the local film industry inclusive of film animation and digital distribution.

Heart was born in black River, St Elizabeth but migrated to the united kingdom when he was only eight years old.

He attended the City of London College before going on to film school where he majored in film management and production. His creative energies could not wait, however, so he dropped out of film school and started his first solo project, Renk records, in 1989.

Renk records later became known for being a pioneer in the creation of jungle music in the United Kingdom (UK), which became popular in 1994 when Incredible became a number-one hit.

A new day

That success brought Renk records to the attention of the world-renowned Emi Publishing, which bought a portion of the Renk catalogue for over £200,000.

This was the start of a new day for Junior Heart and a new chapter for Renk records.

Heart now had the capital for tours in Europe and Japan, markets which had seen steady growth in their consumption of jungle music.

Even though music was proving quite profitable for Heart, he was intent on a career in film. During a vacation in Africa, Heart learnt of the concept he now presents.

According to him, while in Africa he saw the emergence of a young music and movie industry and realised how Jamaican content was viewed by this immense marketplace.

Bold step

Heart's Jamaican heritage had always weighed heavily on him, and over the years he had made a ritual of returning to the island annually.

So after returning from Africa, Heart made the bold step to leave his life in the UK to pursue his dreams of becoming a film producer.

The Jamaican potential for successful cinema was what drove the decision, he said. He identified a global billion-dollar industry in Jamaican culture and yearned to reproduce it for local and international markets.

"I have always looked at Jamaica and thought that if we had a genuine movie industry we could harness the creative energies of the people and provide employment," said Heart in a recent interview with The Sunday Gleaner.

While praising the success of recent Jamaica films such as Better Mus' Come by Storm Saulter and RiseUp, which was directed by Mark Hart and Carlo 'Amlak', Heart was keen to point out that these were one-off projects and not a significant long-term investment in the industry.

What he wants to do is to work with the many players in the market to, not only share ideas, but to also advocate as a group.

"We need a constant flow of material to satisfy the growing needs of the international market, especially in Africa, Europe and Asia where a serious fascination with Jamaican culture exists.

"We at Collywood are concentrating on building our catalogue at the present but we will be launching our cinematic tours early in the New Year," Heart explained.

When asked for specific dates Heart would only divulge that Collywood had already booked a major hotel in Kingston to launch the local leg of the cinematic tours.

Following closely on the local tour, the Collywood team will hit the Caribbean circuit before heading off to Africa and Europe.

At the centre of the Collywood project is digital distribution and this is where Heart believes he has a competitive advantage in the international marketplace, having already inked a deal with a global leader in digital distribution.

"This is the business end of what we do," he stated.

"We intend to help other local film-makers to market and distribute content in a manner in which is beneficial to all parties. People want to see Jamaican content and we have the means to distribute to the furthest reaches of the world," Heart said.

Collywood has also invested in a pay-per-view feature on its website.

That feature allows viewers from around the world to pay and view the various movies, cartoons and soap operas that are being produced by Collywood.

While tight-lipped on the company's foray into the mobile market, Heart did say Collywood was already in talks with one of the giants in the mobile market to offer pay-per-view content much in the way one downloads ring tones.

"Local video content has not been introduced in a sustained way to the Caribbean market and we are ready to lead that charge," said a smiling Heart.