St. Elizabeth Students Debut Short Film

The auditorium at the St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in Santa Cruz came alive with excitement on December 13 as 14 young filmmakers premiered their first movie, a 15-minute short film titled ‘The Take Down’.

The film involved a group of friends dealing with betrayal and is hailed as a groundbreaking initiative that is bringing the Hollywood dreams to rural Jamaica.

The project emerged from an innovative collaboration between the Black River Film Festival and Yaad Bridge Entertainment, under the newly established Delroy Slowley Creative Arts Centre.

It drew together talented youngsters from various secondary institutions across the breadbasket parish, such as Aberdeen High School, Munro College, Hampton School, Sydney Pagan STEM Academy, and Black River High School, among others.

The initiative is touted as a beacon of creative opportunity for the budding filmmakers who embraced the process of scriptwriting, acting, and production to bring their vision to life.

Fourteen-year-old ninth-grader from Aberdeen High School, Cryshanae Stewart, described the process as challenging, yet rewarding.

“It was very exhausting, and we had to do several takes… but at the end of the day, we got it done. We shot the film in a day at Aberdeen High School,” she explained.

The young filmmakers were guided by industry professionals, including former Jamaica Animation Nation Network President, Kevin Jackson, Yaad Bridge Entertainment’s Sharonda Ferrell and other cinematographers.

The mentors provided invaluable insights into camera work, lighting, character development, and storytelling.
Mikhel Brown, a 13-year-old eighth grader from Munro College, said he found cinematography training particularly inspiring.

“The biggest thing was probably cinematography because I learned the most things in that scenario. We learned about the camera, the lighting, the parts of the camera, stuff like that. I feel like I took away more information in that session than any other session,” Mikhel pointed out.

For Amekia Green, the experience was a lesson in stepping out of her comfort zone.

The 15-year-old student from Sydney Pagan STEM Academy stated that she initially struggled with her role as a bully but grew more confident with each take.

She also stated how “amazing” it was to work alongside everyone involved.

Amekia also acknowledged the hard work and dedication it took for the team to bring the project to life, from acting to generating and executing their creative ideas.

The Delroy Slowley Creative Arts Centre was born out of a collaboration between founder of the Black River Film Festival, Dr. Ava Brown, and Member of Parliament for St. Elizabeth North Eastern, Delroy Slowley.

Dr. Brown praised the initiative, noting that it was the Member of Parliament’s dream to empower youth through the creative arts.

“He said he wanted to do something in the creative space with young people and so he formalised the Delroy Slowley Creative Arts Centre. The dream came just at the right time when the Black River Film Festival was launched [earlier this year],” she stated.

“So, we started just putting a call-out for students who were interested… from the various schools. They came together, and that’s how the children came to be a part of the project,” she added.

Dr. Brown believes the programme has opened new horizons for students who might never have considered careers in the creative arts. Moreover, skills gained through the initiative will benefit the young boys and girls beyond the arts by further supporting their education, teamwork, and self-expression.

“It was hard for some of them. It was tough, but in the end, they were grateful that they went through the rigorous process. They did a great job, and I think it’s going to help them in education, in terms of writing their own exams.

It’s going to help them with teamwork, and the creative arts is now something that these young people are thinking about that, ordinarily, children in this part of the island would never have had the opportunity to think about,” Dr. Brown stated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Slowley is encouraged by the growing interest from other young people in St. Elizabeth, who are eager to participate in the programme.

As such, the Member of Parliament plans to expand the Creative Arts Centre’s activities to include public speaking, school debating competitions and musical instrument training to enhance opportunities for the youth on a wider scale.

“There are so many talented persons with skill set in certain areas, but they have not been given the opportunity or they have not been exposed. What we’re seeing coming out of this project is the acting skills. They are really blossoming and really making such a great difference. I believe that there’s a whole lot more that we can tap into,” Mr. Slowley stated.

The short film can be viewed on YouTube page ‘O’Maro Bekele’ Mazlyn’.