‘Pickney Sinting’ a hit at PBCJ Watch Party

Closing out Child Month with a bang, the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) staged their quarterly Watch Party last Saturday under the theme ‘Pickney Sinting Edition’. The series started in 2025 when the organisers resurrected old archival tapes of local films, commercials, sitcoms, comedies, panel discussions, and game shows shot at the studios of the then Broadcasting Corporation in the mid- to late-20th) century. They have also incorporated new short films and documentaries that have won awards, demonstrating how the past shapes the current and future media landscape.

Studio National played host to the Watch Party, which saw former child stars reliving some of their funniest moments on screen with all the innocence and hilarity of being children in front of a camera. Special guests included songbird Alaine Laughton, who had fun seeing her eight-year-old self on screen in various child-friendly shows, as they showed clips from local series such as Children’s Corner, Rappin’, Teen Time, It’s A Smart World and Vibrations.

PBCJ’s Corporate Communication and New Media Manager Joan Andrea Hutchinson told the gathering that it was important to have children present, as well as former child stars, because it highlighted how critical it is to preserve the legacy of local media for the present and future generations to see what was topical and what was relevant decades prior.

Entertainment strategist Ewan Simpson was on hand to take the children on a musical journey as he taught them ring games and songs in a segment dubbed ‘A guided sing-along’. Here, games their parents and grandparents played were highlighted, including Brown Girl in the Ring, Manuel Road, Chi-Chi-Bud-O  and Jane and Louisa. This was then cemented with the NDTC Singers doing a musical routine, featuring a few of Jamaica’s beloved folk songs that had practically everyone in the room singing and dancing along.

The studio setting was decorated like a big classroom from the late 20th century, with a globe, naughty corner, wooden desk and chair, and even a cardboard cut-out of two primary school children in utraditional school uniform. During the intermission, the children learnt to play hopscotch, Chiney skip, hula hoop, and gig. A short video presentation of PBCJ’s recent internship of three special-needs students from the Best Care Special Education School was shown. They not only successfully completed their internship, where they learned videography and editing, but were able to step in and produce the news segment one day when the PBCJ crew was short-staffed.

A short film titled Flight, sponsored by the CHASE Fund and JAMPRO, closed out the evening. The film, written by Kia Moses and directed by Adrian McDonald, chronicles the journey of a Jamaican boy who dreamt of being an astronaut and going to Mars, and how what was once considered his silly daydream brought his family back together after a tragic loss. 

nicola.cunningham@gleanerjm.com